Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-08-21
An Address 20 the city Council.

cine. About forty or fifty years sincef
Edwin Chadwick, Southwood Smith, /
and Lyon Playfair made it subject Of
investigation, and they may be regarded
as pioneers in this field Of usefulness.
More recently Mr.. Simon and Drs.
Buchanan, Farr, Parks, Gardner, and |
others have contributed the fruits Of
their Investigations and enriched the |
science Of preventive medicine, as it is
termed, with many valuable facts.
From feeble beginnings it has made i'm
mense strides, and has saved many a
life which otherwise would have fallen
victim to disease.
Preventive medicine or sanitary sci
ence is founded on the laws Of physi-
ology and pathology, and is the appli-
cation Of sound judgment to the main
tenance of the health Of communities
by means of agencies in common use.
In the dark and middle ages the
plaques and pestiiential diseases which
devastated Europe were of frequent
occurrence. The ignorance and super
stition Of the people ascribed these
calamities to what they termed occult
causes, to the influence Of celestial
bodies. to cclipses of the sun, TO earth
quakes, and the dispensation Of
Providence, while the cause was really
attributable to the neglect Of the plain
and simple laws by which cleanliness
and the purity Of the water we
drink and Of the air we breathe
are maintained. The people should
he taught that to be healthy
these things are necessary-yiz..
a pure air. dryness and cleanliness Of
soil. and uncontaminated water. These
may be attained by a system of sew
age. particularly the former, without
which we cannot be healthy. Now, the
sewage Of this city is too limited, being
less than a third Of the length of the
graded streets, and, in the second place,
Of about l43 miles of sewage, 10 l-5
(more than two thirds Of the whole
discharge themselves directly or indi-
rectly in the slender and tortuous stream
of Shockoe creek. Richmond is thus
traversed its whole breadth and almost
at its centre by cesspool which ex-
hales noxious miasms and germs of dis
ease at every point. (See City Engi-
neer's report for 1S76.) AS stated
above, Shockoe creek drains every
ward in the city, either directly or in
directly, and its deadly stream, unfit
for animals to drink or to be
used for domestic purposes, is loaded
with solid and liquid ercreto, the house
water and washing Of streets, lanes,
and alleys, with the debris and refuse
of trade, slaughter-houses, and manu-
factories, and, in fine, with all animal
and vegetable remains. In the mean
time, as the almost stagnant stream
flows on to the river which it pollutes,
chemical aflinities are in action and
poisonous gases are formed which infest
the atmosphere, endanger life, and
drive away population. Hence is to
be accounted the fact that the mortuary
reports from the Board of Health
show that the rate of mortality
is too high, and that many lives are
sacrificed for the want Of sewage for
in towns which have good and adequat,
sewage, and consequently supply o.
pure water, the death rate has been re-
duced 10 per cent. in diseases general
ly. In typhoid-fever As per cent. is the
reduction. DiarrhTa has been dimin.
ished, and even cholera has been ren
dered practically harmless" (Se'
Parks Hygiene.) Municipal authOri
ties should ponder over and appreciat,
the immense significance Of this reduc
ton Of the death rates in epidemics
and estimate the absolute necessity 0
attending to the laws Of health.
Now, should any one urge agains
sewers the expense of their construc
: tion, let him weigh against it the hor
= rors and cost of epidemic diseases
In Savannah the pecuniary loss fron
the epidemic Of 1876 amounted t
S5,s00,000 to say nothing of the To-,
Of 900 lives. DR.. Bowditch, good an
= thority on this subject, estimates tina
200, 600 persons were lost in the Unite
States by preventable diseases in 1876
and Mr.. Simon puts down the loss G
England and Wales at the same figures
Smallpox, a preyentable disease b
l vaccination, assisted by cleanliness an
: sewage, cost Philadelphia in on
epidemic s20,000,000 in loss of bus
c ness. In 1879 the report of singl
: case of yellow-feyer in the South cause
= shrinkage in the provision mark,
in the city of Chicago of NOR
than a million of dollars in
: day, and the cholera in Marseille!
Toulon, Naples, &C., last year COS
Southern Europe not less than one hun
dred millions of dollars. In this cor
nection may adduce the history (
\ New Orleans as signal illustration {
the efficacy of systematic sanitary mel
sures in preventing disease. yellow
fever had prevailed there general
every other year since its hrst invasiC
Of that city. Yet during the four yea
Of military occupation, when at lea
100000 persons unacclimstsd passC
through the city, and when, moreove
it was crowded by other persO sOns, bot
4 civil and military, yet no sign Of ye
low-fever made its appearance. Th
: exemption is attributable to a rigid e
forcement Of sanitary measures, al
! speaks in trumpet tongue as to the n
cessity Of drainage and cleanliness
IN We see, moreover, how true is Il
scriptural phrase that cleanliness
d next to godliness and great gain.
In view of the incalculable benef
i resulting from sewage in protecti
life and warding off disease and in au
\. nenting the value Of property, it shOu
4 be the duty of the City Council to ma
,e large appropriations for that purpo
ard thus make Richmond the me
healthy as she is one Of the most bea
tiful cities in the Union. To sum
e, tie whole argument and exhibit it il
i'll nutshell, again We say give US the TIN
xe unities Of pure air, soil, and wat
to Fer whatever may be the theory OF