Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-08-15
STATE BOARD OF HEALTH.
Monthly Circular ISSUED by the Secre-
tary. DIR. G.. G. Tyrreu.

from various localities, show a remarkably
healthy condition Of the population of the
State. There IS no epidemic disease at
present recorded as existing anywhere
within our borders. Diphtheria, which has
prevailed extensively in San Francisco, is
daily lessening, owing to the vigilance of
that accomplished sanitarian and jealous
| officer OF health, DR.. J. l.. Meares, who if
clothed with the necessary authority, will
| adopt such further sanitary measures as
will et1ectually remove the cause Of this
| destructive disease.
No deaths are reported this month from
| Redding, Uaywards, Ukiah and vicinity,
Castrovile, Wheatland, Cotton, College
City, Calf, Nicolaus, Shasta Durham, Wat
sonville Crescent City or Fort Bidwell
| DR.. c. A. Rogers reports from Bakersfield
| one death from sunstToke, the only one
| from this cause reported. If we compare
tins record with that furnished fiom the
Eastern States during the theTnlic wave we
| Will appreciate the salubrity of our climate
even upon It's warmest days. OF those dis |
| eases especially affecting the respiratory
| organs We find that consumption caused |
| ll3 deaths. This must not be taken as a |
| measure Of the prevalence of this disease in |
| this State, as the majority of those who die |
| from this cause have sought these shores |
| with the disease already well developed, |
and hoped to recover in our genial climate. |
! three OF which occurred in San Francisco,
three in Berkeley, one in Monterey, six in
Oakland, one in Los Angeles, two in
Woodland, one i'll WeaYervilIe, one in San
Jose, one in Angels Camp and one in |
Shasta With the exception of these latter
towns there We're no deaths from pneu-
monia III any of the interior counties.
Bronchitis was fatal in but two instan.
ces outside of San Francisco. where seven
deaths &c al, avid ]
that climatic conditions more frequently
determine the rise and fall of this affection
OF the respiratory apparatus than any other
cause. When the dryness Of the atmos- |
phere is marked and the temperature high,
as on the plains and in the interior valleys
IN summer, We find bronchitis in abeyance
but on the sea coast Where the temperature
IS lower and the humidity greater, this
disease is found 10 prevail to greater or
less extent with the variations of the
meteorological condition.
Group caused fourteen deaths; ten of
them III San Francisco one in Siskiyou
county, one iii Sacramento, one in Stockton
and one in Napa
Diphtheria is credited with forty seven
deaths; thirty-twO of which occurred in
San Francisco-a decrease of twelve from
last month. There was one death from
this cause in Placervilc, one in Stockton,
one IN Elk Grove, one in Plymouth, one in
berkeley, two in PetaluIna. three in Oak
land, three III San Jose and two in MERGED
DR.. J. II. Crane, writing from Petaluma.
says the disease was imported from San
Francisco and Dr. H. n Rucker writes
that those dying in MERGED were brought
from Mariposa. Thus are the seeds of this
dreadful disease sown from county to
county, when little sanitary care vigor
ously enforced would have absolutely
destroyed the infection and annihilated its
power.
Whooping- cough proved fatal in four in
stances.
Scarlet fever caused but one death, and
that in Los Angeles.
Measles shows the gratifying decrease
from thirty-two last month TO eleven this
month.
Smallpox we are glad to record is still
entirely absent from the State However,
from letter received from DR.. WoIfred
Nelson, dated Gulf Of California, July goth.
We learn that this loathsome and entirely
preyentable disease has made its appearance
IN La Paz, Lower California and may, with
out proper precaution, reach Us either over
land or by sea.
Diarrhea and dysentery, although pre-
yailing extensively, caused but three
deaths outside of San Francisco; in that
city II was fatal in nine cases, altogether a
very small mortality for this season of the
year.
Cholera infantum exhibits ike small
mortality, producing but fourteen deaths,
which, considering the high range of tenn
perature that has prevailed, is quite graft
flying
Typhoid fever has slightly increased its
death rate, numbering twenty-one-an in
crease over last month of five.
Reports have been received from sixty
nine localities, and they show that the dis
eases which prevail most extensively are
dIarrhna, dysentery and summer cholera |
They are reported in Ukiah, Hills Ferry,
San Francisco, Santa Ana, Fort Bidwell.
Newcastle, Cotton, Cottonwood, Shasta,
Woodland, NiColaus, Crescent City, Chico,
Anderson, Downieyille, Dixon, Truckee
Vallejo, Angels Camp, Bakersfield, Calico,
Daggett, Azusa, Willis, Sskiyou, Ar
buckle, Red Bluff and Paceryille. AL
though prevailing extensively the mortal
ity is limited, thus showing that the intes-
unal disorder is of a mild character and
depends more upon climatic conditions and
negligence of sanitary rules in the matter
of diet than upon any specific cause
Information having reached this Board
from trustworthy sources that the SANTA
ton of many of the favorite resorts of
those seeking health is SO bad as to further
endanger the lives Of those brought within
its influence, the State Board of Health,
therefore, takes this occasion to recon-
mend that the managers or proprietors of
our health resorts, especially those of
mineral springs which are supposed to |
have curative influence, and therefore
much sought after by the afflicted, make
careful inspection of their premises, and
see that no excreta is scattered about the
grounds, and that the out-houses, drains
and privies are daily deodorized and disin-
fected, and that such receptacles be semi
annually cleanSed of their contents, which
should be either burnt or buried, or, where |
practicable, used for fertilizing purposes. II
must not be forgotten that the visitors to
the different mineral springs are not as a
rule, those in robust health, but on the |
contrary, it is the delicate and the diseased
that seek these resorts to recuperate their
impaired constitutions. Such persons are
much more susceptible, if not actually |
the subjects of infectious disease them |
selves, to infection from emanatiOns that |
possibly would take no effect upon robust
constitutions hence the absolute necessity
of speedily rendering harmless all excreta |
and garbage of every kind. One of our
correspondents complains that the odors
perceptble about the grounds of one of our
most favored springs are positively sicken-
lng especially upon warm, calm even
ing, and that eXcreta is permitted to remain
day after day without any attempt |
being made to deodorize or disinfect it. A |
member of this Board is personally aware
of instances of typhoid fever contracted at
| such places and there is no doubt that |
wheie a number of invalids are congre- /
gated together drinking purgative waters,
and all using the same receptacles, the |
probabilities Of engendering infectious dis
ease are propoTtionately increased and the |
| dissemination of disease germs greatly |
facilitated. 1t is, therefore, strictly within |
the province of this Board to warn and |
! exhort all those interested in these health !
| resorts to look most conscientiously and |
carefully after their sanitation, and by per-
| sonal supervision see that thorough disin- |