Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1881-11-12
Sanitary Condition q washirsseu.


Health Officer Townshend yesterday submitte,
10 the Commissioners his annual report. coverinp
the operations OF the health department for the
year ending June 30, 1881 The document cover
100 pages OF closely written manuscript The
health officer says "that cur showing To health
fulneSs is even better than that OF last year.
Seventy less deaths occurred during the yesi
ended June So 1851, than during the year prece:i
ing The total number or deaths was Aba O,
which number 2,soS We're OF white persons ana
1881 OF colored persons, showing a death rate @
ISIS per 200 per annum for the white. S1ss ftT
the colonel and .. 60 for the total population. O
the decedents l.67S were children under five year
of age while 1U1 were persons sixty years OF age
over. There Were 1856 births, sig marriages and
S6S stu births reported"
ON THE SUBJECT OF MA1ARraL DISEASES
he sayS:-''When an excuse Is wanted for any ali
normal condition OF the human system. malaria
comes Up as naturally as Quinine is taken down.
Ii has really become fashionable No one thinks
OF suffering from anything other than malaria
Now, It Is notmy Intention or desire TO attempt
4 denial that the conditions attendant upon what
IS supposed IN be m&larious atmosphere exists 10
atetaih extent ID certain portions OF the District
Of Columbus. but what | do want to assert and
proclaim, Is the fact that that prominence ana
Sltional col0f1ng given 10 everything coming from
the National Capital during the late exciting
period, has given undue prominence To this ques-
ton or Washington malaria and done gross in
justice TO the heaIthfulnesS OF cur climate IL is
generally accepted as a fact that the malaria,
which Goes exist in our cities arises from the at
or marshes on our river 'front.' and think oil are
persuaded oJ The necessity srhfch demands
action looking 10 the eradication or this
efaf from midst. At the same time we
know full WELL in the light OF present knowledge,
that what are known the malaral diseases de-
pend not alone upon the miaSma from marshes.
lor their origin. They are found td exist In loca-
tons far removed from any such influence. Filthy
streets a0d foul cutters In city; the Saturaton Of
the soil ahcut dwellings: the foul air from damp.
unyentilated cellars; the accumulated nth from
domestic animals; the defective drainage or
houses.t0 all these sources have been traced the
responsibility for just such an effect upon the
human system as Is accredited to tie malaria OF
the marshes Zymotic diseases are those which
the best of authority teach US are dependent upon
an impure air. They might be termed filth dis
eases. Filth OF some Kind, whether Ii be the de-
cayed vegetable matter on a marsh. the decayed
cabbage in country cellar, or the decaying re-
mains OF a domestic animal on city street, either
render the air impure, and the impurities taken
ease. Now, the principal diseases attendant upon
the breathing OF an air rendered impure from any
OF the causes named are diarrhPal diseases, ty-
phOd fever r1alaral fever scarlet lever diphtherta
and smallpox. Below is given list OF fourteen of
cur prominent cities, with comparative statement
showing the deaths occurring in each from the dis
eases above referred to- the percentage OF the
10 the total deaths, and the annual death rate
thefefrom, for the very period when such howl
was made about Nv ashiagton malaria" viz: From
the middle OF June to the middle OF September,
1881 The figures are those given by the authori-
ties OF the cities NAMED, and are assumed 70 be
correct:
COMPARATIVE STATEMENT SHOWING DEATHS FROM
NAMED DURL,G THE - WEEKS ENDING sEPTEM-
=, 1881.