The Memphis appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1886-1890, 1888-06-29

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had acqueducts to supply water and drains
by which the water from tho marshes and
low places about Rome were drained into
the Tber. The Cloaca Maxima, built by
the elder Tarquin and finished by Tarquin
the proud, is the only monument existing
that tells OF purpose to meet in any quail
lied degree the sanitary needs OF
an accommodating population-to drain
low lands and thus make them
dry and healthy, and at the same time
carry away some OF the elections OF the
populace. This was great deal for these
times But 1t was not enough. Nothing
was done by the Romans to proven. the
spread OF disease. They borrowed nothing
OF Egyptian medical lore, and those dis
eases, like cholera, which Prof. Gruber, OF
Vienna, holds, and rightly, are dissem-
mated through intercourse by human be-
ings, the exudations from the skin being
the primal agency and greatest danger and
the elections the secondary and more rapid
means OF their spread, had free play and
made an awful reckoning. The Romans,
80 cosmopolitan, who Incorporated the
gods OF conquered people and gave them
places in their pantheon, could not learn
OF the Jew the simple lesson in the laws OF
health that Moses formulated from the
learning and lore he acquired in Egypt,
had left that people, lesson so complete,
30 searching, so intimate MS to the person
and 40 sweeping in It's concentrations as to
challenge today the admiration Of the
sanitary scientist But she was far in adj
vance OF Egypt, Chaldea, Assyria, Media,
Babylonia, Persia and Greece. With some
OF these the open canal or river was the
only sewer, its exhalations poisoning the
atmosphere and fastening the death Of
multitudes. Other than this we read OF no
provision for the masses by ancient ma
tons. Like the slaves, they were not
deemed worthy OF any consideration. The
earliest sewers OF Paris, Vienna, London
and other cities OF Europe were also open
natural waterways, creeks and streams
that have since been covered in as parts Of
great systems Of sewers. What these then
relatively immense cities were under these
circumstances and with cutters in the
most frequented highways running over
with night soil, the literature Of England
and France will tell. As were the sewers
and cutters, so were the morals and man
ners Of the ago. We catch something OF
this in the language and ideas that have
come down TO us in the "The Heptamor-
an," Of Margaret, Queen Of Navarro, "The
Decainoran,h of Boccaccio, 1.-THE Droll
Stories," OF Balzac. The novels Of Mrs.
Behn, Mrs. Manly, Mrs. Haywood, of
Richardson, Fielding and Smollet and the
essays OF Swift and Steele, throw light
upon and fairly represent the liccntious-
ness OF an age OF filth. The pictures Of
Hogarth, that prince among particularists
and realisis, almost smell oil tho atmo-
sphere OF London, then so poisoned that il
| reduced the moral tone oil almost the
whole population 10 its degrading level.
From the reign OF the second Charles to
that OF the fourth George. drunken
ness, debauchcry, lechery, seduction and
| treachery practiced by near relations one
upon the other, were the strong points of
the comedies, farces and sometimes ro-
mances. and actresses were often forced to
read lines discreditins the honor OF their
sex, and which the best women OF society
complacently applaudcd, lines that even
men do not now caro- 10 read In their
closets. The manners Of men and women
were loud and lewd, and what was known
as plain speaking was coveted gift.
with low average Of popular health, I"
said the late Lord Derby, "you will have a
low average OF national morality. and
probably also OF national intellect" Filth
abounded in tho days OF Hogarth, and 10
dishonor man was 20 furnish a Jest 10
the town. vulgarity and immortality were
common, and chastity was deemed 10 be
worth only a varying price. Men were
hanged for crimes now punished with a
| few months, or at most years Of imprison-
ment; crime abounded in all ranks.
bribery and corruption were common In
official life, even princes sharing in the
profit. Filth was everywhere and In
every thing, even In the church itself.
Guizot, wise "A minister and historian,
said that ''in every country the value set
upon human life Is In proportion 20 tho
degree OF civilization" How barbarous
then must England, indeed the whole
Of Europe have been during this
period. There was merely a crust
Of polteness, beneath Il all was rotten
ness, deceit lying and lechcry. They ex-
emplihed dishonesty. turpitude and double
dealing, the highest diplomacy Of the pc
Rod being based on lies. How changed
the conditions OF the nations and peoples
today, although there Is still much 20 re-
form and amend. The Crown Prince OF
Austria, In an address ON the opening OF
the recent International Congress OF Hy-
giene nj Vienna, declared "that man
was the nations most precious capital, and
that every human life represented fixed
value, which humanity commanded should
DO preserved and maintained intact az
long % possible. Tho individual, he de-
clarcd, was powerless against the hurtful
influences surrounding everybody, and
common action acne was available for the
purpose OF protection, and this scientific
hygiene, assisted by demogaphy, would
supply. HYGIENE science touched every
house, every school, every towns produc.
ton. every Villages traffic, all indus
tries and war" Bishop spauldine
Ia his address on the recent occasion ol
laying the foundation stone OF the Catholic
university about 10 10 erected In Wash.
ton, boasted that ''our greater knowledge
had enabled us 10 lengthcn human life BY
overcoming some OF the most yirulent dis
cases, 10 make pestilsntial regions habit
able and 10 give tho laborr better cloth
ing and dwellings than princes enjoyed IN
other ages" This II true, but much re-
mains yet 10 be done before We can say w
have encountered and overcome natur,
lin man. In animals and In the earth, All
and water. SO long ~ there arc 5000
deaths In the United States every yea
from proventable or filth diseases, 70 lonI
will there be work for the sanitarian 10 do
To neduce the death rate OF the country b,
20 much would be 10 save the enormous
annual sum Of $3.50. 0o00 "But, n
the president Of tho recent Interstate Con
grcss held In Cincinnati said In his opening
addrcsS men arc morc than silver dollars