The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1883-10-19
M. G. M. A.
Triennial Festival of the Associa-
tom.
Full Report of Last Nights Proceedings


their hall in Mechanics building, on Congress
street. During the past summer the hail was
tastily frescoed, and quite recentlv two electric
lights have been put in. The all llohts mn verv
prettily.
When, Just before eight O'Clock. the gathering
was called to order. several hundred members
OF the association, with their ladies and invited
guests were present. The exercises opened with
music nnder the direction of John b. Cvle Jr
TIE quartette was composed of j. B. Coyle. Jr..
Ira Stockbridge, Will Stockbridge John Morgan
They sang "Welcome Tonight by Cav. in fine
STYLE receiving great applause.
Nathan E, Redlon, Esq, one OF the yice nres;.
dents of the association, in the sbaenca of
President S. It. Leavitt, presided. After b,ief
Introductory remarks. M. Redlon presented Mr.
William H. penpell who delivered a thopebtrni
and we'll written address His enumeration was
very clear and distinct, and no one had any diff
Guilty in hearing every word We print the ad.
dress verbatim:
MR.. PENCILS sPEEoH
Mr.. President and friends Of the AZ. c. A. d.
Standing as do tonight before the representative
mechanics Of Portland, those who build cur houses
and lit them to become our homes, I have thought
it well to try to ,ell you how modern science is
teaching us to make our houses healthy and how to
,
can not expect to bring anything new to your at
enton, for since inyes tgaton has shown that very
many of IL called zymotic diseases are fostered
If not generated by impure air and bad drainage
there has been so much written upon the subject
and by men who have had leisure prepare careful
experiments all of which have been so widely pub
objectionable
country's history. "that the means of preventing
pestientiai levers are as much under the power of
human reason and Industry as preventing the evils
OF lightning or common fire.
81 am so satisfied he said sof the truth Of this
opinion that look for the time when our courts of
law snail punish cities and villages for permitting
any OF the sources of bilious and malignant feyers to
exist in our Jurisdiction" This prediction is being
fulfilled very RAPIDLY Nineteen States have already
established Boards of Health
The act establishing the Massachusetts Board of
Health defines their duties in this way: 'They shall
make sanitary investigation and inquiries, in re-
spect to the people the of disease and
tally of epidemics and the mortality and
the effects of localities employments conditions
and circumstances on the public health. and they
shall gather such in ormation in respect to these
among the people,
Upon tn S board of health some of the most emf.
nent physicians of the State placed and the re-
suits of their investigations have been wonderful
Improvement Of the condition of health in that State
Many of the cities of country have local boards
OF health to whom are given the care of all matters
pertaining to the removal of waste and TIL D. even
ton OF disease. They have in most cases almost sr
to be de emf for the benefit of Others No m n
would be allowed 10 maintain nuisance up II bis
premises because the property his own"-nor
wou man be allowed to maintain priyy vault
in thclsly settled locality we lind frequently in
our own City. Each must recognize the fact thar
all are unuer obligat obs to each other
These local boards composed of men Of intel
lgences generally with one more physicians of
recognized ability amoog them, aud composed of
shall be for the welfare of their own CITY STATE
boards of Health have the general oversight and
they procure the necessary leg latin while the To-
cal boa DIS carry out recommended for their own
special locality. From these local boards we learn
very much of the details found necessary in the
matter of healthy homes.
We find that they compel everyone owning a
building upon street where there is public sew err
to connect with it, but this must be in the way found
allowed to be used within house except it be of
iron with joint we'll .ullSed with lead No drain
pipe IS allowed to be buried but must be carrie /
above the cellar floor where they be readily
examined ami where careless workmanship will be
at oace defected; every water closet, sink basins
and wash trays must have traps placed as near the
fixtures as possible Every trap must be ventilated
Dy pipes of suitable size and the main sol pipe must
be carried up full size through the roof and left
OPEN Plans of all work proposed to be done must
be submit to the City En- ineer for his approval
before permission will be given to begin work: and
when the work is completed every part of it must
be examined by an expert and every defect leme-
died before any part OF it can be covered up This
is for all w work. but in houses where drains are
already laid it is provided that they shall be recon
structed whenever the board of health shall cosid-
necessary. And for any violation of any of these
proyisi ms ines not less than 500 may be imposed
tlhls is from regulations of Lawrence, Mass Board
of Healthy
The Medical Record says that the cases of sick
ness have been reduced by at least 10000 cases
since the establishment of the Board of Health in
New York City.
But the establishment of all the Boards possible
will not release the individual householder of re-
sponsbilty.
The prime condition of health in house depends
upon cleanliness, pure air, unpelluted water, the
m Nall afnco audi
cluson of all foul matters arising outside the house
There are four things about house that cannot be
too good; the Foundation, the roof, the plumbing
and the heating apparatus We see the outside of
house completed TO the utmost detail almost with
out regard to cost, while perhaps some of the
essentials of healthy home so sighted as to
render the house unfit for human habitation.
To proyide asai st danger arising from foul mat
ter various 0isinfectants have been devised Blu it
has come to be believed that heat an pure air are
the best disinfectaDts.
Prof. Tyndall exposed the poison of rattlesnake
TO the sunlight and open to the circulation of the az
mosphere and he found that in few aours all the
deadly effects of the virus had disappeared. This
elrect OF sunlight and fresh air may and probably
does explain the reason that many houses in the
country are comparatively healthy, although SO
offe sive to sight nd smell Foul odors are Natures
signals of danger and do not kill the evil effects
of a foul oder by creating another
An English school boy at recent examination
when asked to define Hygiene said, 't is sinking
sinks to make people open their Windows | have
faith the socalled disinfectants for pouring into
waste pipes &c. They may do for what lawyers cali
stay of proceedings, but in healthy honse proper
ly constructed they have no place.
A man who builds an isolated country house takes
the resi- onsibiiy of the sanitary arrangements into
his own hands; he has only to guard his house
against the evil effects of his waste 1t said TO
be the usual practice in such cases after he has
built his house to next dig two holes, from he
drinks into the other he throws all the dirt and
refuse of the household.
Those o us who have visited the summer resorts
in our vicinity must have suspicion that this is
true many cases.
The great mist Ike in these summer homes is that
do not realize that the fluid wastes from houses
as harmful as the solids Perhaps we to say
more So especially in a light sandy SOIL where but
little obstruction is offered to tie percolaton to
the source of the water supply.
We know that after year or two well water ac-
quires taste not disagreeable perhaps but what
has been called "pleasaut saline taste 1t is no
strange thing to your physician, when you come
home from your vacation with well defined malaria
or typhoid fever. He knows the risk you have run
and if you have escaped he knows how much great
er is the risk if you go to the place year after
year. The time will cone with doubt, when
the public will de Land that the summer resorts
ADOPT The plan found necessary in some European
cities, especially in Rome where strict sanitary in
spection maje with the hear cooperation of the
hotel proprie Lors for the benefit of tourists. Had
this been the custom amoung our hotels we should
not have heard of that outbreak of fever at York
Beach this summer, for The we'll that caused the
trouble would have been made safe and so the sick
ness and nea.h would have been prevented
"When diseases arise that we call preventable de-
pend upon it some one should have prevented it,
says DR.. Teale
The prompt and borough removal of all waste
matter can be best secured by the "Water carriage
SYSTEM and for this purpose We find houses in our
city fitted with Water closets and set wash stands
on every st ry,each in almost direct communication
with the air in the main sewers of the CITY, These
open to the full force of the wind at Ger.
tain states of the tide.
Our only defence in most cases is the little traps
beneath our household conveniences. These are
liable to break, t. corrode to wear out, in which
case the gases of the sewers may escape into the
very rooms in which we sleep.
No man would build b 8 house over an open cess
pool and yet in our city houses built over hid
den eesspool Thousand lines more dangerous than
Que above ground could be. Into it empty thous-
ands OF drains which in turn are connected with
waste-pipes and soil pipes and kitchen sinks. In
these are deposit d the waste OF human bodies and
the liquid waste of kitchens and aundries. ihe.e
waste pipes convey this filth TO the city
sewer much OF it in such q state as to
pr mote rapid decomposition. And so in the dark
ness and scclusion of these underg ound ways are
generated those gases that have become synonymous
with all that is vile and poisonous Wherever there
there is gas. If confined with the
do no harm. 1t is only when it finds its way into
our houses that it beco the enemy of The human
race.
Sewer gas, so called, is invisible sometimes inodor-
Gus, seldom violently offensive to SMELL but always
more or less injurious when taken into the human
lungs 1t IL seldom ms antaneous in its effects but 5
is no less certan what these effects upon the human
system are nave not been we'll explained Et seems
TO act as medium for arrying germs of disease to
those VINO are susceptible to them. 1t may be the
promoter of all the 50 called zymotic diseases IL
poiSons the blood of once healthy men and woman
and destroys crippes their capacity for business
or enjoyment. 1t robs men OF ambition and women