Iron County register., 1883-07-12

bakers bread and tainted fruit and
vegetables. To read the writings and
listen to the talk of some people one
would suppose that deaths never occur
in the country except as the result of
old age, mOwing-machine accidents,
the bites of rattlesnakes, or discharges
of lightning. Sickly and debilitated
city people who desire to secure "a
lease of life are often advised to move
on a farm, or at least to. spend the sum-
mer months in the country, where they
can breathe air purified by pine boughs
and perfumed by clover blossoms,
drink the water that gushes hom a
spring of israised fronra deep Well by
means Of ,.an .Sld oakens sbuckAt' at.
tached to long sweep, and eat fresh
fruits and vegetables. That many peo-
,ple who have become enfeebled by long
confinement and close application to
business in city derive great benefit
by passing some time in leisure in the
country is altogether likely. That many
farmers and many more farmers wives
would derive a still greater benefit by
passing7a a considerable time in some
great oity is equally probable Rest
and change are / what sara wanted in
seither ease.ssThat the average country
place is more conducive to health than
the average city is, questionable. The
A11e,fcaaa Eng ginee7- has this to say on
the comparative healthfulness of the
country and city: - .,,
AS the summer season approaches the
prevailing idea that cities, according to
size, are unhealthy, or the larger the
city and the more densely populated it
is the more unhealthy it will prove, is
again brought to our attention. The
fresh air of the country, the salubrity of
certain locations, the advantages of sea
air and ocean breezes, are all enumer
ated as absolutely necessary # we, the
city inhabitants, would live. We are
advised, or coaxed- as the case may be,
to seek the quiet of a country town, viii
lage or place; we are recommended to
visit this or that watering place, this
one because of the salt air, that one be-
cause of the high mountain location.
But if we examine the records we find
that. as a matter of fact, the death rate
is much lower in crowded cities than in
the more thinly-populated suburbs of the
average country town. The enyirons
of most of our large cities are harassed
by malarial fevers and the like, from
which the older portions and more
densely-populated localities of the cities
are comparatively free. The demand
for quinine in the new districts, where
streets and roads are being upturned by
the progress of improvemeIlt, or in the
country where the fields and farms are
constantly being plowed into. or where
the swampy growth of non-inhabitation
existS-in all these localities it will
surely prevail to profitable extent for
the doctor or druggist. The city fash
1onable or the merchant townsman be-
takes Elimself and family off to the
country, brimful of visions of healthy
invigorations for winter follies, and is
sadly disappointed to find that as he gets
settled in this or that country place his
own igor and that of his family have
decreased instead of being
orenhanced; all We're in much
better health and spirits while in town
He is informed, however, by the corin-
try doctor that his trouble is only a re- +
action of his city excesses. whether of
business or pleasure, and that as he
STAYS longer the more his family will
>FE zt& 49,
1t is the same Sbone of contention.
While our city doctors, sanitarians and
dense population and sanitary improve
ments, street cleaning and unhealthy
gases from the waste and soil pipes, the
country physician is racking his brain
over a cure for malaria, where health
should presumably be the leading fea-
ture, and the necessity for medicine at
1t is a fact. confirmed by
statStics of gfhe most reliable character
t,,,f + hrp n hn would hn
towns or cities, or the more denselv
populated portions of the same, are
much more healthy than are the sub
urbs or the thinly populated portions. 4
Numerous cities might be mentioned tOe
bein4 of. the leading distances ) DIR.
Park a well-knOwn authority on such
subjeyts, comes out most emphatic in
this natter, and claims that density of /
populk kti6n-within certain well 7de- /
fined mits. those in which the oxygen
of thd( atmosphere is in its normal or
nearlI normal condition of
being Injurious during the prevalence
of endemic and epidemic diseases, is
actually beneficial" While this is true
in the hain. it is naturally attributable
to the tyatchfulness of the authorities as
we'll al the easy access to physicians in
time If need. The several causes of
the endemic or epidemic diseases are
more a ecessible and more easily reached
in hea populous- regions than in the
less crbwded portions of the cities or
in the more thinly inhabited portions of
the cd fIntry, where the extent is vast
as COMPARED to the population. Even
the POPULAR uncleanliness and offensive
odors hrising therefrom can not ac-
cordint to DR.. Parkin, offset the gen
eral Advantages of ia rnassing of the
pepula ion. n.LCAieasoA TIMES.