Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1879-03-25
Village Boards of Health.


Writing in Scr55ner Of DIR. Roosa's
recent address before the New York
State Medical society on the &C Relations
of the Medical Profession to the State, -
DR.. Holland thus discusses a very i'm
portant topic:
Doctor Roosa very wisely says that
there should be board of health in
every county and every town, and that
there should be no man upon it who has
not scientific, medical OF legal educa
ton. He furthermore seJs that not a
schoolhouse, not jail, not hospital,
not sewer, should be built unless COM
petent sanitary advice, with power to
enforce it, be given" This is all right
as far as it goes, but it does not 90 half
fsr enough. the truth is that every
private house that goes up should be
bnilt under public sanitary supervision.
Men are dying in New York every day
because houses are built improperly.
The. arrangements for plumbing and
ventilation are not only incompetent,
b utterly vicious and murderous.
4 put up buildings all over the coun-
= just as they please. We have built
houses for human dwellings, and we
nave never yet been questioned by any
public officer as to how many fatal traps
We Lad set for human life. House
poisoning has now become the most
common form OF poisoning. Diphtheria,
pneumonia and typhoid fever are the
constant, daily demonstration Of vicious
modes of building, and there Is no au--
thoiity, apparently, to prevent the form
alton of these diseases. A builder
puts up block. and offers his houses
for sale. The buyer sees everything
fair, for the sources OF disease are COW
cred from sight; but he moves in, and
one after another of his family sickens
and dies, and he learns, at last, that he
has dealt with criminal, and that the
municipality or State has afforded him
no protection.
The truth is that we not only need to
have boards of health established in
many places where they are not, but we
need to have their powers much en-
larged where they exist. No one, ne
suppose, can doubt the great useful
ness of our New York board of health;
but if they could be armed with powers
that would enable them to act more di-
rectly upon the prevention OF disease,
they could be much more useful. If
they could have authority to dictate the
plumbing and ventilation of every struc-
ture, private as well az public, erected
in this city, they could save the city
large percentage of its cruelest mertali-
ty. II they could have the control of
the cleaning of the streets, does any one
doubt that they would greatly improve
the health Of the city, We talk about
the adulteration of food as if it were
great thing, and our board of health
busies itself about it in the absence of
other work; but the adulteration, the
absolute poisoning, of the air we breathe,
is Of almost infinitely more Importance.
Doctor Roosa speaks OF what is done
In the way of preventive medicine by
our wise system of quarantine, by which
the city has been saved from epidemics.
With our yellow fever lesson OF last
year fresh in memory, it really seems as
There is no question that all these cpl
denies become fatal in the degree in
which the air is yitiated by poisonous
odors. When yellow fever or cholera
visits place, it becomes q terrible or
a mild visitation, according to the con-
dition which it finds. If It finds peo-
pie already poisoned with foul streets
and bad drainage, it finds food for
great and grave mortality. III it finds a
place where everything is pure and
sweet, it does not stay long or work
such mischief. There are some States
which have board of heath, or may
have one, in every town, armed with
considerable amount OF power-with
the power, at least, OF holding inquest
on private premises, and determining
what shall be done to remedy evils;
but what We really want most is wider
power Of prevention, such as shall make
it incumbent upon every builder to se-
cure the approval OF such board be-
fore he can live in his house himself or
offer it for sale or rent