The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1881-08-04
Prevention Better Than Cure.

Prof. E. g. Janeway lectured before
the Young Mems Hebrew Association
about the prevention of disease, advising
that great attention should be paid to it
in order to obviate the necessity of cur
ing the disease when it should come.
All, he said, were familiar with the cost
of sickness, involving the expense of
medical attendance and loss of time,
work and wages, but many were igno-
rant of how to prevent it. A man should
first learn his hereditary tendencies, and
if he was likely to inherit disease he
should guard against it by his mode of
life, his choice of an occupation and of
dwelling-place, etc. After enlarging
somewhat upon the tendency to con-
sumption and gout, he spoke particu-
larly of hereditary insanity. If a child
were liable to that the greatest care
should be taken from the earliest infancy
first to develop the body. As he grew
older he should be trained to avoid worry
and anxiety. Action was desirable for
such person rather than undue refec-
ton. All mental shocks should be avoid
ed. 1t was bad for him to be wrapped
up in one idea, such as the acquisition
of money or power. He should choose
congenial pursuit and by no means be
forced by his parents into distasteful
one. There were good reasons why he
should not marry, but, if he did, he
should carefully choose a congenial
wife.
The lecturer then spoke at great
length on the necessity for pure air,
water and milk, giving several instances
of the deleterious effects of bad air,
among others that of the passengers on
the ship Londonderry in 1848, $50 of
whom were shut up by the Captain dur
ing storm, in the steerage, an apart
ment 18x12x7 feet. Seventy of them
died in an incredibly-short time, having
commissions and bleeding at the eyes and
ears. Speaking of the danger of i'm
proper air in dwelling houses, the lect-
urer described house he had examined
in which he found the cold-ai1 box of the
furnace connecting directly with the
sewer. In another house he knew Of
three cases of malaria where the tenant,
examining drain that the owner had
guaranteed to be all right, found cess
pool under the house. He had also
known people to put their garbage bar
rels under the cold-air box of the fur
mace. People should examine the
plumbing in their houses for themselves
ana uOG p6 SdtlS1Gu Wu0u b
said it was right. Whenever it was
possible, tenant, builder or purchaser
| of house should insist that the plumb
ing work be all in sight and not buried
in walls. If people would all insist
upon it houses would soon be built SO.
But if the plumbing is in the walls the
peppermint test should be applied. A
considerable quantity of the essence of
peppermint should be poured into the
highest trap in the house, and if there
was break anywhere the peppermint
odor would betTay it. Bad odors in a
house were like the rattles of rattle
snake. They meant bad plumbing and
danger.
He then spoke earnestly in regard to
vaccination, saying that 100 years ago
ten deaths in every 100 were caused by
smallpox. Now, by vaccination and
isolation, the prevalence of the disease
was checked. By being vaccinated in
infancy and once in fifteen or twenty
years afterward person was compare
lively safe; but, by being vaccinated
about once in seven years he was as safe
as he could be. He then concluded
with a few directions in regard to disin-
fecting and nursing in cases of infec-
tious diseases. York Herald.