Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1881-11-30

ratelv recording the most minute accretion,
the perfectly ordered seiensinc mind, Tree even
to- and appreciate the smallest increment or
fact no matter to which end OF the beam It
lay. In apparent antithesis, sucn a mind would
eign or novel ideas.
Far from neutral, it would be eager for
knowledge, penetrated with very hunger for
truth Therefore We may happily be enconr-
aged seeing that whilst man Is imperfect, and
his capacities limited and immature, so much
has been accomplished by a sincere desire or
truth. and an earnest purpose 20 lessen the
miseries and increase the enjoyments OF man.
kind
In periodicals and papers. and from the lee
ture stand. we hear OF NTH and NTH ois-
next to being Cody" for as the one insures
the salvation of the soul so the other saves the
BODY. Every outbreak OF disease IS announced
as due to neglect of some form of washing.
Next scientific commission reports that the
workmen and their families employed and
living for years at some "knackery" in the
ters breathing an atmosphere loaded with
animal particles and of stencil unbearable to
those not made tolerant by long exposure to it,
nevertheless enjoy good and continuous health.
All medical men have observed children born
and brought up in unwholesome localities,
with eminently unsaYory surroundings, scarce
| ly washed between birth aud marriage, yet
Enthusiastically In possession of firm health,
have in mind man whose domicil is in
swampy location and whose premises as
whole have been standing nuisance for thirty
years offensive to the nostrils and eyes of
neighbors and for whose exceeding bad condi-
| ton he has been subjected to repeated suits by
the health authorities. This man lives in mud
and manure, not over cleanly, and frequently
drunken his only water supply an above
ground uncovered wooden cistern, on whose
! margins chickens rooSt. having one sanitary
virtue-but that one the greatest of them all
he is a good eaterl Despite unfavorable envi-
ronments and habits he has high health, quick
II lV RECEIVERS from accidents, and unless untime-
| liz slain by one Of them, bids fair at some
future "All Saints Day" to visit the graves of
| the sanitary inspectors and officers who have
successfully assaulted him.
Il The existence of such facts, or the announce
ment of such statements as facts surprise and
confound most readers.
The experienced and fully informed mind re-
fleets that observations may not have been Suff-
GENTLY extensive or not sufficiently extended as
to time; that as vital questions involve many fac
tors, some may have been overlooked, or not
duly considered; that an important element
may be recognizable by consequences which
appear at a remote date; that the results Of
evil practices may be found nearer the end Of
life, as early, decrepit old age, instead of an
old age vigorous and late; or that children born
of those living in such unfortunate circum-
stances thence inherit feebler organization
and low viability.
The sanitarian Of broad views looks at the
healthy child, with dirt begrimed skin. but
underneath the filth the minds eye sees a tex
ture secretive, exhalent, extrusive, the exact
poisons from the interior, and practically i'm
passible to poisons from without.
The sanitarian perceives the air none too
savory, his microscopic ex animation of SINH
lar atmospheres has revealed spores, bacteria,
particles of animal matter, alive and dead, but
ne bethinks himself of the arrangements for
entangling and returning much of this matter
before it reaches the ultimate air cells. and
| especially of that wonderful lining tissue of
| the lung, which with chemical precision passes
| in oxygen and lets out carbonic acid and vapor
blood upon its other side that on9 may see a
| thousand cases Of that dread destroyer of tex
ture and blood yellow fever, and see but
Il single case of hemorrh age from the lungs, and
even that in our already consumptive.
Such reflections naturally suggest the widely
diverse nature and methods of the hygiene of
the individual and race hygiene
In the shipwreck we see single person out
lasting all others of the company, defying
| flaming sun and winters rigor, the pang of
hunger and the anguish of thirst; or in the dis
astrous retreat, those who outlive frost, fam
| inc or fever. If deadly epidemic rage we see
those who altogether resist it, or il attacked
recover, despite lack of professional care, vio
lation of the most ordinary rules OF prudence
and with every circumstance inimical to re-
covery Or we see the subject of some vast
| ing, generally fatal, disease, or the victim of
street conflict, or steamboat disaster, or rail
way accident. grooming with the groans of a
| it impossible to die and to the amazement OF
| the profession and on lockers outlasting all
malign prophecies, recovering health, and
again doing his part of the worlds work.
This hmtlesS endurance, this clenched te-
nacity of life and enormous validity are at
once the evidence and the result Of race by.
giene.
Nature, by the process Of selection. merci-
lessly weeds out the feeble.
Careful as she would seem in securing
abounding numbers of the race. as whole,
she takes no thought OF the individual Nature,
too, would seem to exercise small judgment in
her severity. The tables of the worlds death
rates show that in cities more than one-half,
and in the country that nearly one-half born
into the world die on or before completing
the fifth year of their existence. Physicians
remember infants OF exceeding feebleness or
suffering from long and wasting sickness re-
tanning life even, contrary to all expecta-
ton. yet now developed int robust young
men, or healthy, strong and comedy women.
The hygiene of the individual only, would
here il applied, immensely and immediately
| decrease this death rate, so shocking to the
hum an mind.
1t is impossible 10 believe that one half Of
l the human race is born non-viable. If it were
true most appropriately this multitude of
| slain innocents might join in the tombstone So
liloquy of the infant buried in the London
cemetery, dead at one day old, IF so soon
am done for, 1 wonder what 1 was begun for
These much enduring disease, death-resiSt-
| ing specimens Of the human family, before
spoken of, show what a succession of for
tuuately environed generations can develop.
The surroundings of these persons may have
been altogether highly favorable, but it is the
continuance of them through series of gen.
eratiOns which has furnished the result. AS
education may do much for a man, but what
he was in the beginning before he re-
ceived education, what the product
Of the generations was is the main and true
reason Of what the man becomes. SO hygiene
of he individual like his education, has GER
tain and large value 10 him. but the Sanitary
Philosopher" while approaching this and earn
estly working for the best hygiene of the pres
sent. loves even more to look upon the great
result to the human race OF the hygiene Of the
individual maintained during series Of gem
CITATIONS His prophetic eye ia filled with
pleasant visions Of the race in posses
sion Of higher health, longer life and
greater intelligence, a better aptitude for scien-
tiac and literary pursuits, and every avocation
of life
The happy circle of his view shows man with
bad passions in control. his pleasures purer,
more numerous, more exquisite, and less ex-
hausting.
How fortunate for both the present and
future age, did parents appreciate the worth
of correct sani' airy practices and wisely think
and do for both themselves, their children and
their children's children Grateful and graphic
is the simple old world picture Of a city pros
porous and healthy: There shall yet old men
aud old women dwell IN Jerusalem, and every
man with his stsff in his hand for every age:
And the streets Of the city shall be full of
boys and girls playing in the streets thereof"
Were the laws of hygiene exactly Known,
certain isolated individuals, by careful and
continuous obedience, might expect to obtain
the largest tenehts in the way of life, and
health and enJoyme Mt, that their own careful
effort and the CONSTITUTE ms and practices OF
their ancestors permitted, and also to trans
nit to posterity still further improved he
redity; but, alas the epidemic diseases forci-
bly, intrude themselves bearing and peremp-
torily enforcing the lesson that no man liveth
unto himself. that personal hygienei is not sim
pie but complex; the interests Of the unit and
Of the sum total of the community, are found
to be one; the would-be selfish human monad
can neither live or perish to himself, and stale
Is a
human relations and a necessity.
There is nowhere Just or general apprecia-
ton Of the Importance which attaches to the
position of the representative of State medi-
cine, Health Officer or Board of Health. To
properly exercise their functions, as for a sim
gle example, to deal effectually with epidemic
diseases, includes the knowledge Of the nature
cause, habitat and habits of such sicknesses if
They must precisely be informed of what is
and what is not known, must have broad
views, executive ability and feArlessness of the
highest personal and moral order
The exceptional quality OF such labor de-
serves equally exceptional pay.
To the contrary, know of but one locality
in the United States where those responsible
for the public health are paid in such measure
as railroad companies, banks. or great mer-
camille corporations, recompense work of
similar high value.
The excuse for a contrary procedure some
times is, that the work does not require all
ssthe Doctors" time, that there is not much
sanitarian, thinks so too. To keep well in
formed in advancing hygiene, without doing
any original scientific work. will occupy the
time of any man who is practically engaged
even q part of the time.
That man is often the best employed, and
-. N4Ia s1sleu.