The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1881-12-02

Man himself would never have ex.
isted on the earth had tie conditions
for his existence not been favorable.
The crude notions OF our youth take
produced them cease. Myths and
mythologies and the opinions of bar.
barrie ages pass away when new con.
ditions of intelligence expel them
from the human mind. Many species
of plants and animals have existed in
geologic time, but have passed away
never to return when the conditions
suited to their continued existence
passed away (; and SO will disease pass
away from the earth, if ever. when
the conditions of its existence are
eliminated from mans constitution
and from his environment.
But disease is in the world. 1t
rankles in the blood, brought there
by the sins Of the fOrefathers. 1t
testers there on account of our own
violation of natural laws. 1t lies
wall0wing in heaps of pntrid fifth in
towns and cities. 1t skirts the mas.
matte swamp and the reeking pool,
and laughs its laugh of demoniac JOY
when the morning. and evening eXha.
latiOns rise. 1t sits upon our thresh-
Odds, laZar-like, with ontStretched
arms and horrible eyes. 1t coils its
loathsome length among our little
ones and piteously strangles and de-
strOys. Its infectious breath pollutes
the air so that we breathe the germs
of death; it turks where peace and
joy and feStivity reign, and turns
laughter into bitter wailing. What
shall we do with the mOnsteri The
answer is, do what we can and if
we do that we will accomplish much.
We may rest assured that Nature
will not oppose the labor, nor place
barriers to it's accomplishment. In
her loving kindness and president
care. she laid the foundations for this
work before she had prepared the
world for us. Before mans voice
was heard in the earth. long before
any of his petty empires had had their
beginnings. she had, with Titanic
strength and elaborate skill, cut vast
channels the length and breadth of
every land, into which the smaller
streams and little rivuletS and the
copiOus rains which wash the earth of
mans pollutions might run; and so
that all habitable places near stood Oh
higher ground; and into this vast
natural sewerage system of the world,
man may, with comparatively little
labor, spew out from his habitations
and from his filthy towns and cities
most things dangerous to health or
offensive to the senses, which. putri-
flying as they go, may finally reach the
great salt sea. She has laid deep in
her foundations vast natural aque-
ducts and thick strata of porous rock
which receive and transmit much of
the waters which fail to flow into the
rivers. And the comminuted earth
which for ages she has been prepar-
ing to give life to plants as food for
man and beast, she has made per-
feet diSinfectant of all disease. so
that those hateful substances which
breed disease. when received into its
bosom are shorn of their Hateful and
pestilential powers, and now become
II benefaction, by enriching the soil
for growths of beauty and utility She
has given the clear sunshine, the fall
ing rain, the pure air, the fruitful
earth and. more than all, she has
given birth to man himself, and con-
stitutcd him one of her natural agen-
cies, and the God of Nature has he.
slowed upon him reason. intelligence
and strength, wherewith he may, if
he will, keep his inheritance clean
and sweet and beautiful, SO that dis
ease may not dare to tread on the
green Or snow.white carpet of his
habitation.
Man produces the serpent which
stings him to death. He impiously
violates Natures laws !; he sacrilegi-
Ously dashes out his own life through
folly or recklcssness. by reason of
his criminal sloth or negligence, dis
ease breeds from his surroundings.
Most pestilences, no doubt, have their
origin in vice or filth and the inno-
cent suffer with the guilty. 1t is not
Natures work it is mans own he
corrupts Nature and renders her kind
ness abortive. If he would temper
his spirit to her equable laws, this
would all he changed. She will bring
the reformation about herself in due
time, 40 doubt; but it is the duty of
noble men and women to do what
they can to hasten the day.
Napoleon, in one of his converse.
tons with his physician ut st. Helena.
illustrated how comprehensive mind
was lost to science when he turned
his attention to war. The discussion
having turned on the causes of pesti-
lence and the differences between
pure and impure air, Napoleon eX-
claimed: How! is it not known
what in an aerifOrm state wounds
such and such an organ! Has 10 at
tempt been made to isolate the fatal
principle :" "The attempt has been
made" replied the physician, "but
in vain; it is too subtitle" But"
rejoined Napoleon, "the atmosphere
which surrounds q person infected
with the plague cannot offer the same
elements of composition as that of II
healthy individual"
Modern science has isolated the
fatal principle, and now it remains to
destroy it. Let the conditions which
give origin to the fatal principle be
| cut up root and branch. 1t may be
said that is impossible SO long as men
are ignorant and are not willing to
live in harmony with the dictates of
reason. Very true! But if the fatal
principle cannot be completely de-
stroyed, it may be hedged in, especi.
ally in civilized communities. Let
municipalities be clothed with reason
able laws and ample powers to en-.
force them, and let them be enforced.
Let ministers, without emitting the
weightier matters of the law, preach
occasionally a sanitary sermon. Let
one.half the idle time spent by strong
laboring men be devoted to sanitary
reform In their own homes, and their
households may remain intact,-and
the poor love their children. Let a
festival be gotten up, If need be, to
remove pool of stagnant water, as
we'll as to buy achurch organ. Money
spent for sanitary reform is money
saved in the end; it is life saved, too.
It will greatly decrease crime. that
great financial burden to the State |;
| It will measurably increase the pro.
Iductiveness of labor. Such a tax paid
for health will return hundred fold.
Gentlemen of the Sanitary Council:
lYOu worthily lead in this great re-
form. Your profession owes its orr
gin, its progress, its rank and its
benefcence to scientific principles.
and it is by means Of knowledge OF
these principles that the work you
propose to accomplish must be accom-.
plished. You need the cooperation