Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1889-07-06
TOWN HAPPENINGS.

~ w ~ i HI L LIN MD.
clean Your Premises DIR. G.. w.
Chancellor, Secretary and Executive
officer of tie State Board of Health,
has been on II tour of inspection among
the towns of Western Maryland. One
OF the places visited was Frostburg.
with the sanitary condition of which
the doctor seems to have been rather
unfavorably impressed if we may
Judge from the following letter received
by DR.. }. J. Jones, of this place, a few
days since:
MARYLAND STATE BoARr OF HEALTH,
SECRETARY'S S OFFICE,
BALrIMopE, MD, June % 1889.
DE-. J. J. JONES Frostbug, Md.
Dtdr Doctor:-On receipt of the necessary
certificates which DR.. Charles promised to
forward you Immediately. | Wilt serve Il no.
tee on the owners or occupiers of the slaugh-
ter-houSeS IN FroStburg, requiring them to
abate the nuisance within fifteen days from
the date of service of such notice, and to
execute such works and do such things as
may he necessary for that purpose, in accord
ance with the provisions of Chapter ~, Sec
ton |, of the laws of 1856.
As sanitary measure, every slaughter
house should be kept thoroughly Cleansed
and purified, and all oifal, blood fat garbage
refuse, and unwholSome and offensive matter
should be removed thercfrom at least once in
every twenty-tour hours after use for saugh-
terlng or pounding purposes. The owner,
lessee or occupant should also he required to
keep all WoodWork, save counters and floors,
i'll any such building, place or premises tho
roughly covered with asphalt paint or coal
tar, and frequently whitewashed with lime
wash containing small quantity of carbolc
acId and the floors of such building place or
premises should be so constructed aS to pre-
vent blood or foul liquids or waShingS from
settling i'll the earth beneath. No blood-pt,
dung pit or otlal-pit should remain or he con
structed IN or near any slaughter house.
The essentials of Strengthening ST. as To avoid
nuisance are scrupulous cleanliness of the
slaughter house and premises, and the speedy
removal ot all decompoSing matter. The bus
mess should he SO conducted that, except dur
ing the time when actual Slaughiering is go
ing on, there should be no unpleasant odor of
any KIND peFCcItiblb within OF near the prem
iScS.
In the present dls@ulstingly filthy condition
of the slaughter houses | saw in Frustburg,
they are unquestionably injurious to the
health OF persons exposed to their influence.
And there is another less drcct way in which
the otlluvia from badly managed slaughter
house may conduce to iniure the public
health, namely-thrUugh the influence which
the SceptlC eiiuvia from them may enter up
on the recently killed meat When the
Slaughter-hOuSe Is charged with SceptC etllu-
VIA the meat not only CuDls slowly but is liza
hlc To imblbc Sccptic matters from the saugh-
tcr-house atmosphere, and cause sickness
among those who consume the meat. SCep-
TIC eifiuvlu must be abundantly present in
the air when the slaughter-h0usc and premi-
ScS are Ill as badly kept and badly arranged
or managed as those Investigated in Frost
burg. Such diliupia, for instance, may origi
nate from the pound or pig-pen, either when
within the Slaughter-hOuSe or freely cOmmu-
nicating with it; from blood or filth kept in
he slau house, enCrustcd upon the walls
or lying upon the flooring; from skins or fat
too long retained, or from Il blood or refuse
pit III or near by.
1t is well known to medical mon that some
meat, apparently good and wholcsome-meat
not obviously tainted, may produce, when
cooked and eaten, very serious disturbance in
the system of the consumer, symptoms dis
tinSuishable with difficulty from choleric
symptoms of lrrltant poisoning. | have seen
some such cases myself, in which the func-
tIonal disturbance was undoubtedly due to
some alteration in the meat having affinity
with putretaction, but not itself the ordinary
putrciactlon which betrays itself by odor. It
is not improbable that the septic ferment pre-
sent i'll all ill-managed slaughter-houSes in
which meat is allowed to cool and set slowly,
Occasoned this condition; and the people of
FrOStburS should insist upon better sanitary
conditions than now characterizes the place,
II they value their health and life.
No pg-pen should be permitted within the
limits of any town. and the keeper or keep
ers of livery or other stable should be re
quired to keep his or their stabe-yard clean
and not permit more than two or three wagon
loads of manure to accumulate in or near the
same at any time, No privy, vault or cess
pool into which privy, stable or sink is drain
ed, unless 1t is water-ught, should he con-
StruCted or permitted to remain within one
hundred and fifty yards of any well, spring or
other source of water used for drinking or di
etetic purposes, unless the surface of such
vault or cesspool is at a lower level than the
bottom of the well.
! have stated these things for the considera-
tion of the people Of Frostburg. If they heed
the warming they may make the town a beau
tiful and popular summer resort for hundreds
of health and pleasure seekers from Baltimore
and Washington if they neglect it, no per-
son vino values health and life will risk the
one or the other amid such unsanitary sur
roundings.
scarce need say that Shal. be ready at all
times to aid you and your authorities and the
people generally in securing the great boon of
health. You have all the natural advanta.
ges that could he desired see to it that they
are not destroyed by carelessness or reckless
ness. Very truly yours,
&. W. CHANCELLOR, NJ. ID.
Scc'y and Executive Officer of the