Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1878-10-18

tive OF plaques in Ea-tern warfare. the pro-
verbally sickly city became one OF health.
Ia Chicago, after the fire. smallpox which
| had been marching steadily from the East.
| Philadelphia, Buffalo and other cities
having had epidemics Of it-maie its
appearance. The people wers huddled
| together in insecure dwellings without
proper food or clothing, hut by the efficient
measures adopted by the relief committee,
vaccinated. the disease was stopped and
| the city saved from having the horrors Of
| pcstilence added to that Of contligration.
In the study OF public hygiene, all the dis
haIm0nizing forces that disburh the vital
| forces should be considered. The atm0S-
phere We breathe should demand attention.
To maintain animal life the air should be
pure, ard everything that rOllutts it should
be ahated. In 1851 cholera made its ap-
pearanco in Columbia. Lancaster county,
Penn. 1t was not large. populOus town,
but had pleasant rural site on the Sas
qushanna river Cholera had never visited
that town h;iorc, and inquiry was made is
10 It's canSe, and i; WAS ascertained that 40
exceeding drouti had reduced the channel
oi the river to an unusually low cbb, and
that IN its btd, a short space above the
town, number OF earcas1cs OF sheep and
sun. The wind blew from that spot
across the towr, and the first subsistence
OF the disease occurred on decided
| change OF wind Water should be pure
and plentiful Il is needed for nutrition
aud cleanliness The only large hospital
IN London that escaped thr cholera epidemic
Of 1919 was the Bethlehem. Among it, 400
inmates, no ease ci cholera occurred. 1t
was the only ho,riial Supplied with sprins
water. In tho districts ui London supplied
| from the thames above the entrance OF the
sewers the mortality was from to IS in
10000 OF the inhabitants, and those below
the sewers from % to 205 of the same NUN
her.
Food should be wholesome The inspec-
ton ci all markets is impera.ively demand
cd. Washington is noted for the excellence
of its markets, made 81 by the vigilance of
it4 board of health. The sanitarans
IN five years, condemned As INF!
Tor food, IL, col pounds ri meat,
more than 5000 chickens, 2S ,69l lunches
OF fish, %, i79 bushels of oysters. lSS 900
clans. III $50 crabs. besides several tons OF
vegetables and hundreds Of barrels OF eggs.
etc. etc. Without their vigilance. this
poisonous food would have found its way
into the peoples stomachs.
The modern system OF expensive sewers
GeI-,unnelling our large cities, has not
the unqualified approval Of sanatarisns.
| Besides p0ilutlng oar water courses and de-
stroying an important article of food-fish :,
means Of carrying sewage gases into our
dwellings, and the sanitary reports OF New
| York city show that a large proportion Of
the malignant eases of diphtheria and low
levers were directly attributable to that
| cause. Mechanics have not yet
arrived ut that skill necessary to construct
traps sufficient To exclude these mephi;ic
gases. Openings u prevent explosions
from pressure, give exit to deadly gases,
carn0nic acid gas and ammonia. How to
use the offil Of the cities for iertilizing par
| poses IL study worth pursuing.
All these duties. and others, devolve upon
sanitary authorities, the so-ci!lei boards Of
health. 10 be useful they must have the
authority of law Their members should be
men OF science, Of independence. and wholly
free from political, medical and religious
prejudiees. They should be humaniti-
rians, whose sole aim Is the preservation
of human life. There i distrust
among some physicians regarding these
boards OF health. becadse that men
under the plausible title OF boards Of
health have arrayed themselves against the
| practitioners of hon m apathy. Any legi>la-
| tive bill that discriminate against any
| school of medicine is detective and vicious
in intent, and there are lew Representatives,
who can afford to or who will dare go
upon the record as endorsing an cncroach-
ment upon the rights of any citizen or
professional man. The homeopathic ply
sicians demand one representative upon
State Boards of Health and submitting to
no chance of evasion they have succeeded
XheIa thu contest has hnen maia