The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1879-10-19
SANITARY ASSOCIATION.
Interesting Reports From the SAM
tary Officers.
The Condition or Certain Schools and
Of Private Residences in tho City.

The executive committee OF the New Orlean
4 Auxiliary Sanitary Association assembled Il
weekly session last night. Acting Presiden
Tenner NTH chair.
Il communication from the National Boar
of Health, propounding interroRatories relaf
1n0to contagious diseases. was read.
There was read communication from WIN
81. Rogers, Chief Superintendent Of Publ
Schools In this city. conveying the Information
that the Lincoln School nuisance would q
j abated.
NDr. white. sanitary director. submitted th'
ss- INTERESTING REPORT
from Mir. u. Mnmford sanitary officer:
y Dr. u, b. White Medical director:
St,.-- The above ID d diagram OF school, room
ri lilo MCCARTHY school lboys'. wnite) situate,'
Third Distri III which / this day inspected. to
Hethsr with balance OF said school. There ar
fen rooms In building. with an attendance
fidF plantation house originally and under
at3od II was beaueathed to the city years ngt
Tor school purposes. by the person who's
HE 4 rooms s ii the main building are OF goot
9 sfge aud quite well ventilated. being two
etqry building and having gallery ri around Y. {.
Iii tie innumerable quantity OF bats which IN
fest this building. made personal examina.
q ae here Viii sueh
less velocity that one hnd to dodge them the pest
he could. while others were clinging to rafter,
from ten I'd fifty and the little saueakinE noises
produced by these animals ma heard them,
was anything but pleasant to near.
About three months RgO sevanty-Beyen bar.
rels OF but Ruano were taken from tue garret Oh
f1fa building, and ut INV inspection ri the sam
the oor q a nces y ID
from said batss and the roof being an old
ghingle one. every time " rains the water, runs
Ight tne f re- I'M sns gnano and 1ao
tho side walls of all the rooms OF this school !:
and tU such an extent IL tn Ia the case. when IT
rninH that the poitreas IL obliged 10 take q
bucket Of water and cloth aud wipe down tie
The air In these school rooms 10 30 impure
that nof only the principal and teachers get
sick and complain OF headaches. but the schol-
Ara also Only few days since boy Of few
summers old. who was an attendant OF this
school, RETURNED homo and complained Of feel
Inc badly, and Iii the short space OF i've or six
days liz died Ut diphtheria:,
There nre two privy vnults epnnectea to this
school. and the mere fact thin AE,y haya not
been emptied In over two years. and neither Of
them having any ventilation. thor present con-
lition for tllthiness can easily % IMAGINED La
the rear of this school there Is pig3tys about
thirty feet distant. and the same not being kept
lii u worry good sanitary condition the foul DIR
arising from 1t and mi&ii q wi h that VI The bats
mud putTid privy vaults, creates mixture Of
ffeiifh, Beside other work which has been done
by me- this week, have made few inspections
i pf so.cnlied English vaults In the Fourth Dis
trict.. Out of ak examined. four Of them were
very bad. permitting tho odor OF the oil of pep
pernint. which had been previously inserted
lflto bath rooms, and from thence to the other
parts eli the house. Another, one. would haze
shown the same result were 1t not fer an nn-
aog the priyy vault 70 The street gutter, thereby
allowing gasses and foe3al matter to pass OUT
~ ingenuous way OF emptying y vault.
8 il. MUMFORD. Sanitary Off!eer
The sanitary director read the following
elaborate report. which attracted much atten-
! ton from the association:
SPECIAL REPORT.
citizen, having leased d house Ia the Third
District as Il residence Tor. his family. ascer-
eases 81 i dphthera In the house. and death
from that disease. Apprshending that the
premises might have afforded local causes
inaflon Of The premises. Tho, yard Is we'll
tilled. except the rear portion where some out
buildings exist. their floors resting upon the
0ayed. Though the house stands on y double
1ot, stretching from street to street. owing To
excess OF shrubbery. uncut grass and weeds.
! the whole place Ia needlessly aad iniuriously
The house Is "two-step" brick, cottage. tho
phraaestwo. three four step. etc being tech,
thehoor Of house above the bandue'te. The
gallery ID front ~ provided with u few vsntila-
sp as each a prae s h Utterly Werhsss
10 secure proper circulation Of air. and III con
sequence The gallery floor was much decayed.
q No ventilation whatever existed in the walls
of tho house below the level Of the floor.
and the afr SPACE below the floor was there
fore Theoretically sealed. This resulted In
81 lis upper surface exposed 70 the afr,
Al some pointsithe joists supporting the floor
had rotted of where they entes ed the walls and
the floor swung loosely, held mainly by It's thin
nndecayed upper surface. r. one place the
fIoor had fallen through piece of the floor
pulled out fer examination was filled and over
a blow from the foot. aud examination. Of the
ground beneath showed It's damp and pasty
the family previously occupying the house Il
not due to It's unhealthy condition. was aggra-
vated. and perhaps one case made fatal BY the
low state Of health induced by unsanitary sur
roundings, and the opinion was given that IN
loss entirely nsw floors were laid. and large
Tentilatlng apertures made IN the walls below
unit for human habltation.
present, ii this connection some facts rela-
tive To another portion OF the Third District.
va In 1871 and 1878 destructive FL es occurred In
the district. From Dr.. Devron's report to the
Board Of Health In, 1874. and from recent
comrnunication received from him. it appears
less than 100000 oecasioned BY q defective
water supply. BY this fire (of 1879 more than
one 0uHuEeu houses OF TWO nunureu ten8meutS
were destroyed. ana more than thousand peo-
pie driven into the streets. The houses de-
stroyed were sone and two-step houses, on low
foundations. the streets and surrounding lots
having been filled up during the course OF
years. There was beneath hose houses an I'M
healthy condition Of things. which the fire has
either. destroyed or given an opportunity to
remedy.
The Intense heat destroyed all vegetable and
animal matter, and # q purely mineral ma
we're too low were. By order Of the Board Of
Health. under direction Of DR.. Deyron. filled to
the required grade: the houses we're rebuilt on
HIGHER foundations and are either, four or five
step houses. The sanitary result is that with
lots well filed with sound material better ele-
yafion and consequent ventilation. with new
houses. new sinks and new cisterns. that blocks
which never before. passed a year without one
OF several deaths. when rebuilt passed one to
four years without death. When the fact in
considered that every death represents not less
than twenty five cases Of marked Illness. the
san tary result Is still more intereating and re-
markabie. OF the year 1874. that Immediately
after the great fire. DR.. Devron. in his report,
aAys; .n,
S,S~ fhnr, Ir1