, 1889-02-27
THE PUBLIC HEALTH.
A TERRIBLE WASTE OF LIFE IN
EVERY COMMUNITY.

oumstances, and statistics provo such actu-
ally TO be the case. Tho man OF means l.
able to consult his health, TO rest when its
condition requires him to do so, to take needed
vacations, TO seek a change of climate, to OBJ
tain leisure for wholesome recreation and
pastimes; he habitually dwells amid comfort
able and sanitary surroundings, enjoys the
best air, food and clothing, obtains medicines
and medical attendance when and as soon as
he requires them, and, in fact, commands all
the resources that civilization and science
have to offer for getting and keeping him
well and for p~rOlonging his life into extreme
old age. The poor mar necessarily can pro-
tect himself much less
THE DANCERS OF POVERTY.
We hear of no diseases peculiar TO mem
bers Of the learned professions, merchants
bankers, capitalists, etc. Almost every trade
has its distinguishing ailment For Instance,
painters colic,n ''pottcrs asthma local
miners black lung" knife grinders con-
sumption, /" ''coppcrsmiths green hair y. etc.
1t would be well, 1t may be remarked in pass
ing, II the law would take steps to reduce the
liability to these, by compelling factories and
workshops TO be supplied with the best
means of counteracting the effects of nox-
ious gases, masks for the eyes, respirators for
tho lungs, and a bath house for workmen,
and by shortening the hours of labor In espe-
chilly dangerous occupations. The mortality
in the trades is two or three times that In the
professions, among which, by tho why, the
deaths among the doctors exceed those among
other professional men, owing to their fro
qucnt contact with communicable disease.
Farrs Law Of Density" states that "the
nearer men live to each other, the shorter are
their lives" Not only nre tin poor moro OK
posed TO disease and death thnn the rich, but
the poor In cities than the poor In tho coun-
try. Tho general mortality In cities Is two to
three times higher than that In the country.
Twenty-Five per cent of our population to-
day dwell in largo cities. Here exists tho
greatest poverty, contamination OF the soil
and mortality. In New York 2,O76 people
were recently found inhnbiting n single block,
fourteen or fifteen sometimes In two rooms, or
even one, which served Ms kitchen, workshop,
laundry, bed chamber and parlor. Among
such rookories exists whnt Is known as tho
tenement house rot" and two-thirds OF the
mortality of New York occurs In them. Tho
Likelihood OF the spread Of disease, when once
it has found lodgment in such dens, and the
difficulty Of arrcsting and Graduating
it can scarcely DO exaggerated. Among
them n corpse Is allowed TO lie two
days In tho samo rom In which tho fam
ny eat, work and sleep, with possibly an In
valid in bed, and tho thermometer often
ranging over 100 degS The food and water
arc bad, the slops imperfectly disposed of md
the sewer exhalcs poisonous gases Poverty
is forced to endure unhealthy surroundings,
and unhealthy surroundings, In addition TO
their probable direct effects, deprive human
beings Of their self respect, deaden their in
~teIects, render their blood impure and so In
directly mako them moro liable to contract
disease In the cities OF Scotland II has been
found that where tho average OF persons to
the room is highest, the mortality is the high
est; in Glassow, that where the number OF
large houses exceeds that Of small, It is least,
and vice versa. In England and Wales. in
every 1000 persons 25 die in cities TO II in the
country. In Rhode Island, satisfies for if
teen years show that mems lives average
throe or four years longer In tho country
than In tho city of Providence. In Michigan
the reports received by tho state board of
health provo that poverty, by preventing iso-
lhtion, has been a potent fnctor In the raw
ages of communicable disease.
THE VICTIMS OF ONE DISEASE
Among tho diseases 10 which tho poor are.
especially liable may DO instanced diphtheria,
and, In fact, contagious disorders generally,
those which nro produced md affected by
bad air, o~vcrcrowding and soil contaminn-
ton, wasting and nervous diseases, those due
TO exposure, rheumatism contracted in damp
cellars or basoments, pneumonia and bron-
chitis in winter, cholera infantum In summer,
etc. Says Professor Vaughan, 1--WE shudder
IA No ihNuEtS VI CnOleTu, Out lt us como
nearer homo Typhoid fever Stays its hun
drcds where cholera Stays its tens Every
death from typhoid fever Is unnecessary. II
the soil were not contaminated mono would
occur. Yet there arc 1000 deaths from this
disease in Michigan each year, and for every
one who dies thore arc ten sick, and not a
case is justinable Each patient Is sick on
the average about four weeks and there are
1000 sick during tho year. This means
not Rnlr N - L. -
nurse Is required for each person sick, 50
that 10000 people in Michigan give up their
entire time to this disease four weeks out of
each year. Nou may keep your premises
clean, but only n little fence separates you
from your %neighbor, and he may be careless
If that ~neighbor should knock you on the
head in II dark night, he would DO sent to
prison; but he may c~ontaminato your well,
and rob you Of your life and your family, and
you can do nothing. The time will come
when it will DO a criminal oIense for any
man, through caruleSsness, to give his neigh
Dor a communicable diseasc.n
Health being tho first consideration In In.
dividunls and communities, laws framed to
protect and secure it are among tho most
necessary and valuable humanity can possess
The old legal maxim, sic utere tue ut allie
mum non lasdnt"-'so use your own that 1t
shall not injure othersn-eNpresses the prin-
ciplc which underlies them 50 far us they re-
late to communicable diseases This, of
course, is also a principle in ethics, and II
mems ethical natures wero perfect, and their
intelligences so cultivated that they wero able
always TO give effect to their normal inten.
tons, sanitary laws would be needless HUI
man beings ought TO feel 1t to DO tho highest
part OF manhood and womnnhood to sacrifice
their own interest or convenience, when
necessary, for the good of society-as, for
instance, in mourning q~uaTantino-or in the
ISOLATION from tho outside world, and tho de,
tention from business, of infected districts,
houses and individuals The means OF So
curing this result is the education of the indi-
vidual, and it has been one of tho objects Of
The Herald so to instruct its readers that In
matters pertaining to health they should
posses the right desires and tho knowledge
necessary for fulfilling them Moral and
sanitary education, however, Gro Of slow
growth, requiring for the best results to be
begun in childhood, and continued through
out life, and even through generations
Boston Herald