Smyrna times., 1885-04-15
VT I7IV I7TItVT III" T q
Shall We be Prepared?

An unusual interest attaches to the
measures that are likely to be sug-
gestcd with regard to the sanitary con
diliOn of the town during the Summer
season now so close at hand. The i'm
minence of Cholera is predicted by
authorities too high and too favorably
known to be disregarded, and the dam
ger they suggest too serious to be treat
ed with contempt. There is an absO-
lutte certainty of dangerous, if not of
fatal maladies, such as the Summer or
dinarily brings, and which will surely
make their presence known, if proper
measures of prevention are not OBJ
served. The hour of thorough inspec-
ton and cleaning is now at hand. The
duty is one in which public effort and
individual influence are equally needed
and desired. 1t is likewise one too i'm
perative to be neglected and too i'm
mensely important to be imperfectlv
performed. The Board of Health will
labor in vain unless it have the earnest
sympathy and active cooperation of the
public mind. Culpable indifference
must not be allowed to violate. nor
criminal careleSsneSs suffered to inter-
fere with just and lawful demands for
the public safety and the general
health. Sanitary conditions, Judi
CiOusly enforced can, and do accom-
pllsh good results. BY far the larger
number of even the more fatal tvpes of
disease are amenable, and the whole
perhaps of the less dangerous class
greatly within the reach of appropro-
pirate preventive means. The general
conditions inviting disease are much
more numerous than are generally
supposed. They float in the air. flour
lsh in the water, lurk in sleeping
apartments, attach to the skin. exhale
from the lungs and by thousand un-
seen means breed pestilence and death.
They are sometime miasmatic in
ougln-arising from the constitution
and state of the soil, and water: vicin-
lty Of woods and vegetation. stagnant
pools, tetid water from impregnatiouO of
vegetable impurities and other and
more fatal germs Their development
Is fastened by vapOrs from ill-ventil-
lated sleeping apartments and audi
ence rooms, improper diet, insufficient
clothing, exposure to sudden changes
OF temperature, and conditions impair
ing vitality and encouraging the prop
agatiOn of disease. Besides these.
there are other conditions made more
fatal by certain animal impurities
caused by organic ferments in the
blood as intermediate causes of disease.
Their presence is only too often made
known by sudden and unexpected out
breaks of Diphtheria, Scarlet fever.
Cholera, and like types of endemic and
epidemic diseases. They infecttbe air.
contamnate the water, and exhale
morbid specific poisons that multiplv
and reproduce indefinitely their fatal
kind. Their conditions are found in
cess pools, hog pens, slaughter houses.
tetid illth heaps, fermentation, putres-
cence or decomposition of animal mat
ter; the absence Of effective street
sprnklers, relieving the air daily aud
hourly respired of animal germs.
ana an sources OF morbid poisons and
specific germs. And how sad. alas is
the environment Of society as it re-
spects individual safety and the public
health. Dwellings made noxious by
decOmposing filth, Public halls and
churches not always free of pestilential
gases, and fatal efiluVia of offending
SKIN ana lungs The atmosphere Of
an entire neighborhu0d rendered dan
gerous to health and even life itself
by conditions causing infectious dis
ease. And with what supreme indif-
ference are such and similar conditions
too frequently regarded aud the sug-
gestions made for removal treated as a
light anG trilling thing! How morti
tying to know that our homes at best
are teceptaoles Of noXious vapors. our
bodies and lungs the sources of or
ganic impurities reproducing and mul-
tiplying indefinitely their fatal kind
Mortitying it may be, but fortunate for
all, II an appreciation of their evils !
shall be thereby secured, and their
speedy removal be attained. Let the
work of cleansing begin. Dwellings. |
streets, lanes and alleys must speedily |
experience the energy ola thorough in
spection, and the healthful changes of
individual and public cleansing efforts.
Let the whitewash brush give us pri-
waite comfort and public health!