Milford chronicle., 1888-11-02

country inn, situated in a beautiful little
village, which from ita location should be the
abode Of health After dinner the New
Yorker fell into conversation with the pastor
Of one Of the village churches. 1t soon came
out that the clergyman had previously lived
for some years in one Of tho larger cities Of
New England, having been forced 10 abandon
the charge Of an important church there by
impaired health, which he was here seeking
TO recruit The stranger, naturally enough,
asked the minister whether he thought there
was more sickness or less in the village where
they were talking than enPchg people in
equally good circumstances who live in our
larger cities.
~ hardly know what to say" the clergy
man replied. "Of course there is more dis
ease to every thousand Of the whole popula-
ton in a city like New York than there is in
a rural county in Vermont by reason Of the
great excess in the tenement house districts;
but have grave doubts whether there is as
much sickness proportionally in those quar-
ters of cities where people live in comfort aud
under rigorous sanitary regulations as there
is in this village. Certainly there is a great
deal Of sickness and a number Of deaths every
year in place like this, which might be pre-
vented, and which would be prevented by the
authorities in well governed city. To mem
tion only a single case, and this is not one to
be talked about here; One of the most prom
inent families in this town, well to do people,
living in an excellent house and presumed to
be intelligent in matters Of health, suffers
constantly from disease. They have had ty.
phoid fever and diphtheria, and somebody is
ailing most Of the time They think it strange
but you would not. The truth is that il they
in ait T.r kaff,
the health board within twenty-four hours
for violating the ordinances in letting all the
waste from their kitchen flow into the yard
and ooze there, polluting the air and breed
ing disease"
That there was nothing exceptional in the
village referred to is proved by very inter
esting and valuable paper which was read by
DR.. Lucy III. Hall, Of Brooklyn, at the recent
meeting of the Social Science association in
Saratoga, upon THE Sanitary Condition Of
Country Homes.n She had gathered the
necessary data for a judgment by the exami-
nation, during her vacations, of sixty-fve
ordinary farmhouses in New England, the
middle and the western states She found
that little care is taken as to the character of
subsoil, and that over half were located on
wet clay soils. In more than half the cases,
also, the houses were too closely shaded, and
sunlight was too much excluded from all
parts of the house. In majority of cases
the cellars were found to be damp or wet.
Barns and stables in New England averaged
not more than fifty feet from the houses, and
outhouses less than thirty feet, the water sup
ply being undoubtedly contaminated by one
or the other of these causes in a number
Of cases Stops were thrown into the
yard from the back door in three-quarters
of the New England farmhouses examined.
Now for the result. DIR. Hall found that
lung affections, diphtheria, typhoid fever and
rheumatism had played sad havoc in these
farmhOuses. Ninety-three per cent. of the
whole number in New England had a record
Of lung fever and diphtheria and 55 per
cent. Of typhoid fever. There is not a parti.
Gle of doubt that the greater part of this dis
ease was directly due to damp cellars, neg
lected slOps or contaminated water; in other
words, was preventable, ought to have been
prevented, and would have been prevented
if the sufferers had lived in city with a
thoroughly efficient health department.
We are glad that attention has been called
to this important matter by an organization
of such weight as the Social Science asso-
citation. So many city people pass a consid-
cradle part of the warm weather in the coun-
try that the danger is by no means confined
to the permanent residents. One of the Incl
dental advantages of tho vacation season
ought to be the spread of the fundamental
principles Of sanitary science among the
farming population by their city visitors
l. Ia