Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-07-06
MODERN SANITARY CONDITIONS.
ONE THOUSAND LIVES SACRIFICED
EVERY DAY.
Startling Facts Presented to the Ameri.
can Medical Association by Geo.
e. Waring, Jr.

| The following remarkable paper was
read by George E. Waring, Jr, before the
American Medical Association at New.
port, R. l., on the 25th of June:
Early in 1866, moved by the most dis
tressing condition of the sick and wounded
in the hospitals of the Crimean army
Lord Panmure commissioned DIR. Suther-
land, DR.. Gavin, and Mr.. Rawlinson to
proceed to the Bosphorus and to the Cri-
mea, and to take instant measures for the
| Improvement of the sanitary state of those
sadly crowded buildings
| Mr.. Rawlinson, man of sound sense
great practical skill, and genius of direct
and positive action, and then in the prime
of life, was quick to apply to the appalling
conditions with which he was confronted
those well-trained abilities which had
already marked him, and which still mark
him, as one of the great lights of sanitary
engineering.
The order was issued on the 10th Of
! February. In less than three weeks the
work at Scutari was already progressing,
and within month marked effect was
| obvious.
Kinglake says: "Then came on a
change which, if only it had been preceded
! by mummery instead of ventilation and
drainage and pure-water supply, would
have easily passed for a miracle Down
| went the rate of mortality. Having al
ready gone down from the terrible Febru-
airy rate of AZ per cent. to 81, it descended
in the next fortnight to IA, in the next
twenty days, to 10, in the next to 5, in the
next to 4, and finally, in the next twenty
days-days ending on the 3Oth of June,
| l855-to scarcely more than g" The exact
figures arc APT, 3l.5, pa, 1917, So, As,
%. The average rate in military hos
pitfalls in England was 90. This result
was achieved by physical changes
EFFECTED BY INTELLIGENT ENGINEERING.
DR.. Billings, in his work for the tenth
| census of the United States, estimates the
death-rate of the whole country at about
eighteen per thousand. 1t cannot be ques-
toned that proper regulation of the uni
versal conditions of human life through
out the whole country would reduce this
rate to twelve per thousand, saving every
year, on the basis of the present popula-
ton, not fewer than 5000 lives which
are now sacrificed to neglected filth, with
its attendant contamination of the soil on
which we live, of the air we breathe, of
the food we eat, and of the water we drink
Disregarding for the moment the enor-
nous loss of power and loss of heart, and
the manifold suffering incident to the sick
ness these deaths imply, we are confronted
with the stupendous and disgraceful fact
that in these prosperous and intelligent
United States-which we believe to be the
home of the highest modern civilization
one thousand human beings are stricken to
death every day, cruelty, needlessly,
wickedly, solely because of the lack of that
which it needs only intelligent direction to
secure. We thus wantonly destroy in three
years
MORE LIVES THAN WERE SACRIFICED,
Directly and indirectly, by both North and
South, during the war of the rebellion.
The sum now paid for pensions during
three years, if intelligently administered,
would cover the Improvements required to
prevent these deaths.
The epidemic of yellow fever in 1878
aroused the active sympathies of the ma
ton, and even frightened Congress into an
unwonted activity in behalf of the life
and health of the people. The deaths
from that epidemic did not amount TO more
than $4,000 The lives wantonly sacrificed
to preventable disease amounted to that
number every eighteen days
The whole country now stands aghast at
the fearful sacrifice of life caused by the
bursting of the dam above Jamestown
Estimates of the actual loss are necessarily
vague, but it is entirely safe to say that
twice each month-twenty-fou times each
year-as many persons die lingering and
painful deaths, caused by a universal neg
lect on the part of the whole people that
is no less culpable than was the neglect of
those charged with the construction and
care of the disastrous dam.
We stand, one and all, we and our wives
and children, subject to an ever-present
| and
ENTIRELY AvoIDABLE DANGER,
OF sort that every man, woman and
| child in every enlightened country has
just right to be protected against.
Such protection it is quite within the
power of the people to secure, but the
| people themselves must secure it. All
that we can do is to point out the way and
to emphasize the necessity. The huge
| task is one whose doing can be comprised
| only by the force of an aroused public
| opinion; our task, hardly less huge, it
must be to awaken and vivify that opinion.
What is to be done relates chiefly to the
complete removal of the organic wastes of
life before the beginning of putrefaction,
and the ultimate disposal of these wastes
by methods now understood, in such a way
as to reduce them to their elements with
out such contamination of earth, water. or
air as now reacts so fatally on the popula-
ha l. t..
seriousness arises from the wide and uni
versal dissemination of points needing at
tentlon, and from the enormous aggregate
of cases to be treated. The adequate sani-
tary improvement would involve drainage
and garbage removal, water supply, and
some Improvement of ventilation. By
drainage we mean, in this connection, the
removal of filth in sufficient currents of
water, and this is by far
THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO BE DONE.
Accommodations of filth not susceptible of
removal in water must be removed in other
ways or destroyed. While it is obviously
necessary to bring water from distance for
the supply of those who live in large
towns, village communities may safely rely
on well-water, if only the water of the
ground be protected against contamination,
as it would be by the complete removal
and proper disposal of organic waste. So,
also, with the prevention of putrefaction
in and about habitatlons, the need for
costly artificial ventilation will be greatly
reduced. The freedom with which air
passes not only through the imperfections
of our buildings, but through the very
walls Of our houses, is shown to suffice for
the favoring of health and longevity, by
the great number of aged and robust per-
sons habitually living in an atmosphere
that would seem intolerable to one accus-
toned to better conditions. 1t is not to be
understood that the most complete ventila-
ton is not desirable, only that if all waste
matter be properly removed and dismissed