Morning journal and courier., 1880-01-07
The Health onicer's Report.


 Haven thc HealthiesG Seaport City In
 the World The FOrethOuxht of Ex-
 Mayor LeVVts-Vl0latIon of Law by
 she Town AushOrities-0ther Inter-
 estiDg Matters.
 From the annual report of Health kOfdcer Dr. 0. A. Lindsley, submitted to the Board of Health last evening, we take the following, which will be read with interest by our citi- zens In the opening of his report Dr. Linds- ley says:
 In retrospective view of matters of sani- tary importance during the year just closed the most conspicuous and interesting fact that presents itself is the very remarkable degree of good health which the citizens of New Ha- ven have enjoyed. During the year we have. been wholly exempt from every form of epi- demic of fatal kind. Even the sporadic diseases which have invaded our families and claimed their victims, have done so with far less frequency than usual Of the largely fa- tai disorders, only consumption has main tained it's customary destructive activity, and drafted its full annual quota to recruit the great army of the departed The total nor tality for the year was 1,O03, as against nor tality of 1,079 of the previous year, and an average of l, III annually for the preceding six years. One of the best, if not the best, criterion by which to estimate the sanitary condition of large town, is the percentage AOoAASA0S As these are to very great extent preventa- ble, or avoideble, their comparative preva- lence affords standard by which to measure the care and attention which is given to pub lie hygiene. In all cases in which the nor tality from the so-calIed zymotic diseases is large percentage of the whole, it may be as- sumed as 8 fact, capable of demonstration, that any community so afflicted is the victim of unsanitary conditions, which are suscepti- ble of removal or avoidance. And, when the Zymotic diseases are infrequent and cause but small percentage of deaths in any popula-
 tion. 1t is equally safe to assert that the people are living under good sanitary surroundings. In this light the study of the causes of death last year is peculiarly interesting and satisfac- tory, as illustrating the real practical value of your work in promoting the public health. The average number of deaths annually from this class of diseases during the exist ! ence of the Board of Health up to the bsgin- ming of the last year is SIS. In the year 1876 | there were 394 fatal results from zymotics, ! but the mortality since that year has been steadily decreasing, until during the last year | (1879) there have been only 172 deaths from | these causes. This is most conspicuously stated in the following form:
 Average annual mortality for six preceding years from zymotic diseases, SIS.
 Mortality for last year, 172. Average annual mortality from all other | classes of disease, SIP.
 | IOtHI IrOu Ill OLQ6E cIaSS6B 1ASG year, O1O. ! From these statistics it is quite clear that 1 the diminished death rate is wholly due to the
 lessened prevalence and fatality of those dis eases whose causes are most under human | control The greater proportion of deaths | from other causes are chased as constitutional diseases and diseases of local organs. * | The administration of public hygiene can have. of course, but limited control over such l influences, and therefore your work has scarce | ly made perceptible impression upon those | causes. Still less can you diminish the fatal | ity of developmental diseases and violence | which comprise the remaining causes of death. So that it happens that the total deaths from diseases during the past year has
 been, as might be expected, the same
 as the average for several years before. * You may well be excused if you feel e sense of self satisfaction in being able to announce
 to the public that during the past year and in tality of preventible disease has been reduced nearly fifty per cent in New Haven. On the \ contrary, in several cities, notably Hartford, | Bridgeport and Meriden, where the sanitary | conditions are notoriously bad, the deaths from these diseases during the past year have | made larger percentage of the whole mor- tality than usual.
 If it is true, as it has been officially an | nounced, that New Haven has the lowest | death rate Of any seaport town of it's sizs in I the world, it is a proud distinction of which | our city authorities should take note, remem-
 bering also that this high eminence has been
 attained at very triding cost to the public treasury I might also encourage them to be 1 even more liberal in their appropriations to your Board to aid you in carrying on the lau | dable work in which you are so successfully Il engaged.
 It seems eminently proper in this connec-
 tiop, while speaking of the agencies which
 have brought about this happy result, not to \ ignore the wise forethought of ex-Mayo1 Henry G. Lewis, to whom belongs the credit, | while chief magistrate of the city, not only o1 founding your Board of Health, butssalso of in.
 augurating and carrying into effect anothe,
 enterprise of great importance in sanitary
 sense, namely. the admirable system of sewer. age of which New Haven is now the fortunate | possessor.
 Among the more important acts of the Board during the past year is the enactment | of 8 sanitary regulation requiring that all
 vaults intended for the storage of ordure or
 sewage within limited distance of houses o, wells shall be made tight
 It is much to be regretted that the mos, | dangerous violation of the law has been com. ! mitted by the town authorities in preparing | large pit at the new almshouse, walled up or
 the sides with loose stone, but having the | opening in the top dramatically sealed with 6 | flat stone laid in mortar, thus preventing any
 ventilation excepting through the ground apG
 through the pipe which connects the said pit | with the laundry, the water closets and the | kitchen of the house. For the discharges | from all these different sources are delivered | through the same pipe and collected in this
 same pit. This inexcusable arrangement is | made worse by placing the cesspool within
 only thirty feet of the building. It is in g
 soil composed wholly of sand and gravel, I very pervious and having little power of dis | infection. If all the laws of nature which usually govern under such conditions are moi | reversed by some miraculous power, then some of the gases of decay that are sure to be ! generated in that horrible compound of | washtub suds, human ordure and kitchen slops, will inevitably find their way into the
 building, and poison more or less of the one
 hundred and forty unfortunates who are | lodged there.
 l The report refers in very satisfactory terms to the great benefits arising from the work of | the Sanitary Inspectors, which has improved | the sanitary condition of the city more than | can ever be fully known and measured. It
 is of no small importance that the forcs of
 these influences should continue unabated, | and hence it would seem 8 mistaken policy
 and much to be depIored, which influenced l the authorities to make so small an appropria-
 tion for the service of sanitary inspectors, that 1t cannot be continued through the year. | Special diseases, such as measles and | whooping cough among children, are referred
 to at length, and the importance of consid-
 ering that they are not trihing ailments, but
 are often malignant and deadly Children
 that under favorable conditions will pass l through them with comparative safety, will l under unfavorable circumstances often per- | ish, or if they survive the immediate attack,
 will have their health more or less permanent ly broken in consequence. would therefore l earnestly advise all parents whose children l have not had the measles or whooping cough, especially if in delicate and feeble health, to withdraw them from the schools until this
 danger is over.
 Ia conclusion the Health Officer refers to his tabulary statement, which will be present ed in connection with the report at future meeting.
 Police Notes.
 It was discovered on Monday evening that the house No. A Trumbuu street, the resi- dence of Mrs. LAignoux, had been entered and thoroughly ransacked by burglars. The house is owned by l.. W. Sperry and the lady who occupied it is in Europe. The bureaus, trunks, etc, in the house were thoroughly ransacked, the contents being emptied on the floor Mir Suerrv thinks if anything was