The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-10-03
SCIENCE.
Meeting of the County Medical SOciety-A
Paper and Discussion on Drainage
and the Public Health,

The Marion County Medical Society met last
night. There were present Drs. J. L. Thompson,
Cook, Ferguson, John Oliver, Brayton, Tingley,
HOss, Elder, Newcomer, Coningor, Morrison,
Hodges, Todd, Porter, Waterman, Raymond,
swain, Wooden, Stevens, Haugh, Morrow, aud
others.
DR.. George w. Sloan read the following paper
on drainage and the public health:"
Those Of you who have been engaged in the
practice of medicine tor fifteen or twenty years
or longer, have noticed a marked change in
many of the forms OF disease incident to This Loo
callty, and especially a dimlnutlon In the
amount of that form commonly known as bilious
fever and fever and ague. My object III this is
TO draw your attention to some of the causes for
this as gathered by observation through a period
Of years.
in the first place it will be that
this State was for the most part densely tim
bered, and this was supplemented by q thick
mating of underbrush. These combined in
huences protected the surface from the direct
rays or the sun, hence there was but little
chance for rapid evaporation; the result was a
thick slimy ooze that was kept
renewed by each rain during the
early summer months. This condition
extended over a large portion OF this and adj
lOlnlng States, especially IN the valleys formed
by the various water-courSes. We here have,
With the addition OF heat, The proper conditions
for decay aud the production of the nOXious
gases incident thereto, whlch gases during the
early summer are absorbed by the tender, sue
culent leaves of the plants and trees. But as
the summer advances these leaves become hard
ened by the heat ana continued dryness of the
later summer and their power OF absorption very
much lessened.
Hence, the aforementioned products of de-
com pOsltlonw were given off into the atmosphere
from an extended surface of country, and the
consequent result was "a poisonous air. In adui-
ton, the people, or at least Il large portion OF
them, lived in poorly constructed houses, often
built of logs, with the AoOr resting upon the
ground, and were compelled to breathe an air
tainted with decaying woody matter. And fire.
UuentlY The same Apartment was used Tor the
purposes of cooking, eating and sleeping, while
the food was often the same article three
times Il day, viz: Pork in some form, corn
bread aHd coffee. 1t would be difficult
to naCIe three more articles more difficult OF d.
gest1On. The wafer was often of poor quality,
owing, in many cases, to the shallowness of the
wells. and no care being taken TO protect them
from surface pollution.
From the foregoing statement of the condl-
ton of things within a few years past, in which
We have all unwholesOme atmosphere TO breathe,
poor and unhealthy homes TO i've in, indigesti-
bic food to eat, and polluted water TO drink, Is
1T TO be wondered that sickness was rltel 1t Is
within my own memory that the sick wore more
numerous than the well, when the fail sickness
was as confidently expected (and they were
rarely Disappointed and prepared for as was
the winter fuel and provender. These were the
influences that made Indiana known as the OUT
nine State, when one of our drug houses could
spring tine price of that staple by simply t6le-
graphing to the eastern markets for one or two
Thousand ounces. This State was also the para
disc for the patent medicine men who made
liver pills and ague remedies.
NOW InlS COuulllOH HIS very WATERWAY
changed within a few years, consequent upon
a clearing off of the timber, the ditohlng and
draining of the swalnps and tile. draining of the
surface of the couutrv-thls, together with the
replacing Of the cabins with good brick or frame
dwellings,, with cellars, plasteTed walls, sepa-
rate apartm ents for living, eating and sleeping,
an abundance of the best of food, pure air and
good water. These have removed the causes
from which a great deal of the bilious type of
disease was derived.
Again, another effect of the drying of the sur
face has been TO equalize the temperature of the
days and nights. AS the low, swampy mOrasses
dis not contain water or sufficient depth TO re-
tain an adequate amount of heat to radiate dur
ing the night, the consequence was, when the
heat of day was past, condensation began
almost simultaneously with the setting of the
sun, the result being hot days and cool nights,
To this latter cause many thinking minds have
attributed the sO-called malarious disturbance;
nevertheless, my mimi cllngs TO the former, and
as an additional argument IN Its favor, will cite
you to what frequently happens in the spring
of the year, especially in our cities, after n
severe winter. The remnants OF last years
vegetation with the droppings from the dOmes-
tic animals, together with the usual amount of
kitchen refuse, has accumulated during the
winter months. This has been held, as it were,
solid by the ice and snow, until perhaps the last
of March, at which time the sun has mounted
almost to IA perpendicular height, and his power
is great; the result is that almost at once this
mass OF matter begins the process OF decompo-
sition under the combined Influence OF heat and
moisture.
You nave all observed that this period of the
year is fruitful with neuralgia, rheumatism and
other diseases that are attributed to a malari-
GUS cause, ana that this condition lasts
until the fresh leaves put forth upon
the trees and the green grass appears, when
in almost one weeks time the major part of
the sickness disappears, and then ensues the
most heafthful portion of the year. I season
when the vegetation is fresh and its aUsorbant
powerful,
"The blue sky is smiling, =
The warm sun beguiling
The spirit of life from the chambers of gloom,
And timid young flowers
In hedges and bowers
Respond to his kisses with fragrance and
bloom"
The paper was discussed by Drs. Newcomer,
Comingor, Wooden, Elder, Hodges, Thompson
and Waterman, the general tenor of the discus
sion being that drainage decreased malaria,
though rhe opening of a ditch might produce it.
The type of malaria has changed and is not what
it was tN enJy Years ago.
DIR. Comingor thought that much of rhe sick
ness of to-day was due to the fact of building
cottage houses with floors but a few inches
above the ground; thought iJ better to sleep III
the second story. There should be SANITARY
laws cOmpellinr good locations with dry founda-
lions and high floors.