The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1877-06-06
HEALTR coaTMrssIoNRRs.
What are They Going to Dop

The city council, at its last meeting,
appointed four gentlemen as health COM
missioners. Now what are these four men
going to do? In accepting the appointment
they have tacitly agreed to perform the
duties of the Office, and furthermore, by
accepting they, in fact, claim the kuowl-
edge and ability to perform all the duties
of their Office, They are judges of the
law in all matters that appertain to their
duties and the execution of the same.
They possess all the police authority that
is by law and custom guaranteed to the
city. Will not the public, if these state
ments be true, hold them responsible for
whatever serious results may come from
any negligence of duty or incompetence on
their part. The medical fraternity agree
that one-third of all deaths are from the
diseases which belong to the preventable
causes; most of the zymotic epidemic and
contagious) are preventable, and many are
filth disease, so called To guard against
these seems to be understood to be the
duty of these gentlemen. In 1869 the
citizens association of New York city, said:
'The daily records Of the medical gen.
tlemen who have carried On the work OF
sanitary inspection are full of testimony to
the fact that the prevalence of fever
typhoid and typhusl, smallpox, infantile
diarrh9a and dysentcry, with excessive
sickness and death-rates, are invariably
found associated with certain well-de6ned
and local conditions"
The correction of any such dangerous To-
cal conditions in this city belongs to the
four gentlemen whom the council has
named. They claim to be capable, will
they do it? DR.. Rush one of the keenest
of observers wrote that the means of pre-
venting pestilential fevers is as much
under the power of human reason and in
dustry as the means of preventing tbs
evils of lightning or common fire. Sc
satisfied was he of the truthof this opin
ion that he looked for the time when oul
courts of law should punish cities and vii
lagos for permitting any of the sources O.
bilious or malignant fever to exist within
their jurisdiction; and, we believe, it wal
Florence Nightingale who said there cal
be no stronger condemnation of any fowl
than the outbreak of fatal epidemic in it
Should there be one IN this city, on whom
will the responsibility rest? What d
these gentlemen say to that well defneC
principle Of law that whoever accelerate
death causes it? The public will expec
these four men to know how safely t
dispose Of garbage and dead animals
how to control gas companies sufficient,
to prevent them from poisoning the al
and soil; to teach practical plumbers hoy
to make traps that will not permit tn
sewer gases to escape into the bathroom
and chambers; and drain builders to ALLOW
| descent enough in their drains to carr
E off the water; and sewer buildings to hav
, them so tight and with fall enough to pre-
vent the escape of gas and carry off tn
feculence that comes often back in air.
forms into our poses, The smells of
city are not only disgusting, they are pois
onous The public health is
great and material interest, an
to the hands of these GENT men
together With the city council is enruste
D this interest. We believe the people wi
5 cooperate in this work and it should b
begun at once. To all we commend til
words of DR.. Schenck of the St. Loui
Female Hospital, who says:
r Avoid the damp oa!laT gpd house o
q damp ground; the pool, the ditch. the gur
ter, the water course, the foul privy, th
cesspool, the drain; any accumulation c
deposit of organic matter, Ii you do DC
9 place the seed into the ground it will nc
= grow; If you DO not Cow YOU will not reaI
Deither will you get the geFMs of Giseas
if you do not have around you the mate
rial upon which they subsist. Cultivat
j cleanliness; the voice of God thunders q
OF old wash and b. clean. Clean in pei
!, son and house; the food you eat the waite
you drink and the air you breathe; clea
: in thought Rpd 10 life. The air should b
= free from contamination with poison c
t miasm, from defective drainage, a8oompC
n sition, waste, either vegetable or aUima
The water should be guarded from all i'm
purities, such as are percolated from filth
S SOURCES, as cess pools, privies, pig-styles c
. the waste of manufactures. Pure all
G pure water, food fresh, GOOD, wholesome
well cooked and taken 10 due proportion
and sunlight are sources Of healthfI
Il ifo