Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1892-10-04
STATE BOARD OF HEALTH.
Seventh Annual Report Issued Work
Of Board for the Year.


rotary detailing the action Of The board on
several important matters, and EN-
braeiny brief reports from the several
large boards of health IN the state.
During the year the Board has made l34
analyses Of water. Of which - were from
wells, 50 from springs. II from public
water supplies 6 from proposed public
ws,er supplies, and from other sources
This makes total OF 500 samples Of water
that have been analysed by the Board since
i,a establishment, Of which full records are
KEEP, 10 the Office of the Board.
Early in the year the headquarters Of the
board we're established in the new rooms
assigned 10 il in the basement OF the State
House extension There the much-needed
room is available for more conveniently
and systematically carrying on the general
work Of the Office. the distribution Of sup
plies to local boards and the work of water
analysis. 40 that at any time reference 10
anv one of these records is an easy matter
Reports from the town boards occupy sixty
pagrs Of the report, IN each ease
the organization of the board
beng given with the most important mat
ter. from their local reports that may be of
general interest An examination of these
reports show what good work concerning
the public health ia being done through
their agency In many cases public
nui.ances have been abated. sewers intro
fluced drainage of streets made imperative
contagious and infections diseases
reported in ORDER that the premises wherein
they occur NAV be- looked after and made
cleanly, suspected impure water analysed
public water works introduced and other
measures for the public health instituted or
carried out
Following these more general official mat
ters comes the valuable treatise of Secretary
Young on school hygiene and the proper
construction of srhoohouses This EN-
braces three hundred pages and is Illus
tratrh hy nearly one hundred plates, dia-
grams and illustrations This general sub
ject il treated under the following sub
divisions SANITARY conditions of Maine
schools school diseases; personal
hygiene of the pupil; the hygiene
of instruction physical culture; school
buildings the school room lighting, desks
and seats; ventilation heating: plans for
heating and vcntilating sehoolhouses ar
ranged hy Pref. :. II Woodbridge of the
Massachusetts, institut" of Technology. in
accordance with vote of the board
privics and waterclosctS schoolhouse plans.
This hrief ouilinc of this treatise Show
how thoroughly tue subject is considered. and
how difficult matter it is to make a hrici
abstract Of the snine-as We must content
ourselves with doing and 'ln anything like
Justice 10 the subject II may be said If
general that the subject IL treated
in this manner While il is ths
is the right OF the state to insist upon uni
vcrsai compulsory education, IL is the duty
of the state to assure itself that its system
of pubic instruction exposes IT'S proteges ia
no dangers of ply seal injury. or at least
that these dangers shall be reduced to their
lowest practicable limit And Just in thi,
direction the Commonwealth itself should
feel an interest not IN the least less intense
than that which II has in the intellectual ed
uca'ion of the people, for, if its schools
build we'll, their superstructure of mental
culture must have q sound physical basis
II there Is danger in having the Ship of State
under thu. guidance of ignorant hands. the
history of nations hold. up many warning
10 us against the danger of physical de
gcnaracy. 1T is not coincidence" SAYS
one of the worlds foremost workers in the
cause of public health, this fact that meets
rs everys here in the history of human cul-
turc, that lust those nations that have ex-
erciscd a powerful aud elc,ating influence
in the world have ALWAYS been mindful of
the value of health
1t is scarcely more than tfty years ago
since the first practical and rational appli-
cations Of modern science 10 the preserva-
ton and improvement of the health of the
people were made and their worth demon
strated SO indubitahic was the evidence
presented that gradually nation after nation
came to discover that the care of the public
health is the preservation of national " ealth.
and the strengthening of the military re-
sources of the nation. \ movement of this
kind powerful enough TO make its influence
felt in governmental policies could not fail
to include independent and earnest investi-
gators probing time honored institutions
and customs in search of truth, and Jealous
propagandists urging the need of reform.
That schools and educational methods
should escape these reformers was hardly
10 bee expected Indeed. early III the child
hood of modern hygiene, there were those
who noted injuries of the physical health
of school children which they ascribed Ia
unhcalthful conditions 60 which the schol-
ars were subjected in the educational pro
c.sses then in vogue. Some of the educa
tional faults were so fragrant in those DAYS
and their results were so disastrous thai
fiction founded upon a subtratum of fact
was brought to bear upon public reason b,
appealing To fnhlic sentiment
Since thos, earlier DAYS marked improve
ments have been made in the schools and
school systems of all the more enlightened
peoples. vet the warfare still goes on be
tween those who still insist that much in the
prevalent methods is harmful and should bs
changed and those who denv the existence
of phvs;csl Injuries. or seek to shift their
responsibilities in whole or in part on the
faulty conditions and influences of home
and social life.
In carving ont the above scheme Dr.
Young SAYS: In the following pages we
shall give some testimony both As to mat
tiers Of opinion and matters of fact which
show thar the necessity of irving TO improve
the sanitary conditions of our schools is not
We, gone. This will include the results of
some of the Inquiries which have been
made of late years at home and abroad
into the influence of school life upon the
health of school children We shall also
briefly. or more at length AS the subject
seems to demand. refer to those individual