The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1891-12-25

We are learning to eiucidate the principles
OF preventive medicine in combating dis
! eases; we are getting down to the first
necessltles-air, water, food, or, to speak
generally, we are applying domestic hy-
giene.
Leading psychologists of to-day are de-
veloping the germ theory of disease and
are. striving studiously how best to dis
lodge the ro-organisms that infest the
human frame and yet not kill the patient
We recognize contagion and infection as
important factors in the causation and dis
semlnation of disease-for example, in the
history and nature of diphtheria and as we'll
scarlet fever, and it is within the province
OF sanitary science to-day to enlighten and
by so doing to assist US in our endeavors to
tight common enemy.
We erect houses that we believe to be
absolutely 1aultless in sanitary sense,
yet a child falling i'll with diphtheria
through some extraneous cause constitutes
menace to the health of every
person occupying that house, and
more particularly so the younger
portion of that household. Contagious and
infectious diseases do not rise spontaneous
~; that is, they are not spontaneous in their
origin. AS well might a granger say a
potatoe which springs up in a neglected
corner of his field originated or grew spon-
taneously because he did not plant it or see
it planted-the seed or tuber which pro-
duced 1t!
There are a thousand ways for communi-
cation ana introduction of disease germs
into our homes, and the question naturally
arises, how can we best neutralize them.
dlssipate them and render them innocuouss
In that line we will first speak of ventila-
tlon, Tor 1t appeals to our common
sense-that it is within the reach
of all. From experiments conducted in the
hygenlc institute at Breslau-Zeitschrif
fur Hygien, 1889, BID by-it was found that
when the air of a room was undisturbed
the particles of dust containing micro
organisms, were deposited on the floor
OF the room, and after one or two hours
the air OF the room was almost free from
germs; if the floor was then washed with
an anti-septic solution and the furniture
wiped with dampened cloth the room
could be considered disinfected. This
method should be supplemented by the fire.
quent interchange of the air of the room
with the outside air, and to accomplish this
result quickly and completely a draught
should be created. We might add, in speak
Ing OF ventilation, pure and simple, sec
onded by the anti-septic methods and
usages of our time, that without them,
slngly and collectively, house or apart
ment once infected remains infected for an
indefinite period of time-through an in
herent permanency Of the infectious prin-
ciple, whatever it may be-
These precautionary measures when
directed by physician or a sanitary officer
versed in the application and usage, apply
to all diseases known to be both contagious
and infectious and to be effective and
reassuring. They should be delegated to
none but intelligent minds and trained
hands. More particularly do the methods
and details appeal to US when we are
called upon to mass our forces and WELD
our weapons against diphtheria and scarlet
fever, two diseases more or less constantly
with US.
In concluding this article within the
limited space allotted me, desire to say
word by way Of comment upon the en-
beavers being made in furtherance of
sanitation in our midst
Hardly two years have elapsed since
Board of Health was given US by this
clty-duly incorporated and empowered
with authority to act as laid down
and defined In an health ordinance
drawn up Tor its guidance. Within
these two years-a brief period of
time when we consider the work it had in
store, handicapped as it was by the cumu-
latlVe tilth OF years. This board of health.
with its auxiliaries and the limited means
and ''plant' at command, has reduced our
mortality rate 20 per cent, in the face of
the fact that our population has in
cressed-say 10000 for the current period
OF time during which the board was opera.
tive. In the laying of dust, in the removal
of filth, in the incubation of sanitary ideas
and healthful regard for them in a COM
munlty at large, much by precept and
example the board has taken away from
disease its most powerful allies. We
would emphasize the fact to be clearly
understood that while filth promotes the
spread Of disease it is more a condition
than cause; it is more the soil for the
culture and transmission of infection than
infection itself, and just so far as the prin-
ciple Of infection is deprived of Its soil, its
culture, just so far is its propagation re-
moved.
We look to our board of health to lead in
the good work. We would enlarge its
sphere Of usefulness and endow it with
anything and everything that would con-
tribute to the public good and the public
health. We should assist in act and prin-
ciple, approaching that in the success of
our sanitary authorities and enforcement
OF their regulations depends our individual
success in good measure in our warfare
against disease in so far as it lies within
human power to carry it on.
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