The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1879-11-29

But o, methinks ! trace the cause
To more substantial wings.
Enough I come. We druggist clerks
Compound your pills Of blue;
Prepare the bandage for my brOws.
Ye beEuteous landmarks true.
For now tonight athwart hoy breast
Shall nightmare broOding sit,
And up and down my chamber floor
Shall phantom turkeys fit.
The PHYSICIANS OF this city assert that its sani-
tary CONDITIONAL which attention has recently
been particularly drawn by the prevalence of
lingering fevers,-so far from improving is going
from bad TO worse, and that a great deal Of sick
ness prevails. This fact will be our excuse for
reverting again 10 the subject of sanitary reform.
upon which we have written at intervals in these
columns during the past five OF six years. By
some, the ill-health that has prevailed in Homo
lulu Of late years-generally in the form of low
and lingering ievers-is chiefly attributed to the
increase of trees and shrubbery, excluding the
sunlight and air from dwellings, together with
the irrigation consequent upon an abundant sup
ply of water from the government pipes, creating
a continual dampness and unwholesome exhala-
tons all over the city. That these causes may
have something to do with the existence Of mala-
ria and levers, can be fairly argued, but they can
hardly be the only ones, for the town of Lahaina
is deeply shaded with heavy groves of trees and
shrubbery, continually subject to irrigation, with
a large surface of pond water and swamps within
It's limits; and yet we have heard of no malaria or
feyers as prevailing there.
But in the opinion of many careful observers,
the cbiefcause of the malarious fevers of Honolulu,
Gas we have more than once before asserted) is
the foul condition Of priyies and the absence of
sewerage. or any means Of carrying off filth. The
disposal of the refuse of the human body is an
unpleasant subject to consider, but it is a very
important one in connection with the subject of
the public health. 1t was so regarded by the in
spIred ~lawgiver Moses, in his sanitary instructions
to the children of Israel. In the 23d Chapter of
Deuteronomy, 18th and 18th verses, an ordinance
is declared, which it would be well if observed at
the present day, and was most especially import
ant IN a camp of : : six hundred thousand foot
men " in the warm climate of Palestine. And
in the warm climate of Honolulu there can be no
question but that the neglected privies are rapid
ly running our once exceptionally salubrious eli
mate. They are the plague spots Of the city.
Many of such fostering pits, in the heart of the
city, have been poisoning the air for years past.
In many if not all of the large cities of Europe
and America a system of drainage exists by pipes
running through every street and leading to every
dwelling house, so that the filth of the city is car
ried off, by occasional flushing with water, into
some contiguous river or the sea. If this system
of cleansing is perfectly carried out, and no foul
air can return from the pipes INTO the houses, it
will do the required work, and should be all that
IL naadad Ruf this ia NOT alvvava rha case
Sometimes a poisonous gas exhaIes from a waste
pipe into a bedroom; or people have been struck
with disease when affected by gases coming from
a removed or repaired masterpieces in the case
of the Prince of Wales, who nearly died of q dan
gerous fever after lodging near a leaking waste
pipe-cr it may be that the neighborIng stream
or harbor is rendered putrid and exhales malaria
on account of the accumulation of foul d~ischarg-
es. All these things are to be taken into consid-
eratiOn-io say nothing of the cost in money
when any one suggests a system of sewerage for
Honolulu.
The plan Of returning human refuse to the
earth, like the simple regulation of Moses, is no
doubt the best calculated to preserve the public
health by the prevention of malaria. The longer
We delay in taking some general action in this
matter. the WOTee Will become the sdulIuTy CODul-
ton Of the city. Let us not wait until the in
creasing mortality forces action, but let the au-
tborities act at once. Under Section 2Sl of the
Civil Code ample authority is given, as follows:
80 The Board Of Health shall make such regula-
tions respecting nuisances, sources Of filth, and
causes If sickness, within the respective districts
Of the Kingdom, as it shall Judge
necessary for the public health and safety And
herewith we beg to make certain suggestions for
sanitary reforms in the direction indicated, which
if carried out, will in our humble opinion remove
the principal cause Of malaria and disease:
All privy pits that have been open and used
for a number of years, should be at once filled
up. New pits should be dug, say seven to ten feet
deep, without walls of stone, brick or plank, so
that the surrounding soil of the walls shall help
to obsorb and defecate the impurities cast in. A
barrel or box should be provided to stand inside
or near the house that covers the pit, this barrel
or box kept filed with dry soil, provided with a
scoop of any kind, with which to cast, every time
the place is used, a small quantity of dry earth
into the pit. New pits should be dug at stated
periods, and the old ones filled in.
The dry earth closet system, as explained IN the
Scientific American, is no doubt preferable to the
above, but involves the carrying away of the de-
pOsits, facilities for which our community are not
at present provided with.
The plan proposed will require more time and
labor than in the careless past, but we and our
families will be healthier, and the atmosphere of
our city will be purer.
I