The Northern Pacific farmer. [volume] (Wadena, Minn.) 1878-1885, 1881-02-24
DR.: Hewitt thought boards Of health should

Dr. Hewitt thought boards Of health should
I be permanent and independent, CONSTANT lyook-
ing after sewerage, water supply and nuisances.
| Their office was to prevent disease not to wait
for it's appearance: The evils of the present
system were worse in the country than in cities.
lay with the legislature. For the benefit of those
| ignorant OF the law, he stated that the State
! board of health had the. right to go anywhere
and organize quarantine it the local boards re-
fused to act. Diphtherla was alarmingly on the
increase, and iii 1879, 10 per cent. of the
deaths in Minnesota occurred from this one
source. The people, and even the profession,
were slow to understand that this terrible
scourge was contagious.
Dr. Staples OF Wjnona, q member of the
! State Board read all elaborate paper on ''Diph-
! liberia in Minnesota-Its. relation to Public
| Health and Sanitary Science" in which he stat
ed that observation has established the follow
ing facts: - " 49,.
D;phtheria, not only in our own State, but in
nearly all the northern states of our country, is
increasing, if rot in the severity of individual
cases and particular epidemics, certainly in
i general prevalence. The largest number of
| deaths from any one cause IL the State of Min
nesota during the year 1879, was from diph-
| iberia, being upwards of - per cent. of the
| whole number Of deaths from all causes
The disease is, to great extent at Toast, pre-
vontablo by sanitary means.
Diphtheria is q contagious and infectious dis
| ease
Good regulations, rigidly enforced, would
render the chances for children to contract
diphtheria far less than is the case at the pres
ent time.
Every intelligent person in the state should
be SO instructed and impressed that no one
should be allowed to nurse cases Of diphtheria
and go directly from the infected house into the
presence of a family of children. There should
be no public funeral in case of death from
| diphtheria.
The unsanitary conditions Of air, water and
food, which not only intensity zymotic disease,
but are often the especial causes of the same,
are in great measure remedial.
DR.. Hewitt was happy to announce paper
by a county health officer-one who had made
gallant fight with diphtheria and crushed it
DR.. A. T. Conley of Cannon Falls, who read
very interesting account Of the complete sue
cess of proper sanitary measures under his
directions in stopping the spread of diphtheria.'
A discussion ensu"d in which DR.. Staples said.
The diphtheria poison was heavy .contagion,
far more likely to be communicated in clothing
than by the BREATH and gave additional instan-
ces as to it's retention in clothing and the walls
of houses. He had no dou'ot, however, that it
could be communicated by the BREATH
Mr. SchOtield of Cannon Falls, a member of
the sanitary committee, said in his town where
there was the most filth there was but one case;
while the cleanliest and most refined people in
the town suffered as much as those VIII o were
careless. The trouble was in free inter- COM
munication. In the co ntry everybody knew
everybody, and when any one was sick every
body in the neighborhood rushed in to see
hm-and in the country the disease is the
worst. Quarantine was the thing
DR.. Wedge said diphtheria was the most te-
nacious poison known; convalescent patients
would communicate the disease Too much
care could not be used
Rev. DR.. Thomas read letter from Bishop
Whipple, expressing warm sympathy and in:
terest in the work of the council dwelling up
on the sacredness of the body as the temple OF
the soul, and invoking the divine blessing upon
their labors.
Thursday afternoon Chief Justice Gilfllan
presided, and Rev. R. H. Sample of Minneapolis
read finely written paper on the s'Hyeseine of
the home" Special stress was laid upon clean
illness of the person-keeping the pores open.
more so, in the case of those who live in luxu-
RANT abodes as those who labor in shops and
kitchens. Regular and thorough additions
were urged, put too frequent cold baths dis
dwelt upon atlength, and the deletireous effects
of Illuminating gas shown. Headache, neural
ga, indigestion, cutaneous disorders, etc., were
often due to this cause alone.
The discussion upon diphtheria was resumed.
and DR.: Berry of New Ulm gave some illustra-
tons of it's contagicusness. The first was one
of contagion from sleeping in contaminated
house; the second resulting from one single
case, in Swedish settlement, where the Lu-
theran clergy regarded it as dispensatiOn OF
Providence, insisted upon holding public funer-
ais. The consequence was that two thirds of
the children in that settlement died. The Ger
man and Norwegian clergy co-operated with the
doctor in his efforts, and isolated their focks,
who almost wholly escaped the disease
DR.. Davis Of MankatO, thought much of the
virulence of the plague at thatplace was due to
keeping the schools open. It was the impress
sion at first that the original cases were indi-
genous, but investigation showed it bad been
transmitted from abroad He, too, gave num-
Der of instances to prove the contagiousness of
the disease.
President Folwell of the State university,
thought universities could and should establish
professorships of public health, and should do
so before they establish medical colleges; that
by taking such action Minnesota would profit
far more than by setting up q one-horse' medi-
cal college.
In the evening, there was lecture by Prof
Dodd Of the State university. on the adultera-
ton of food, Bishop Ireland presiding, who
closed the session with few remarks express
ing his sense of the value of the work done by
the council, and that body adjourned sine
die.
Scott Comfy Tressure1s Sentenced to Prison
Another chapter in the Scott county scandal
has been closed by the sentence of the two de-
faulting county treasurers. Ex-County Treas
urer John J. Ring was convicted at the last
term of court of embezzling county funds Sen
tonco xpas fhof Rirfr might show CauSe