St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1896-02-04
HOW TO PRESERVE TT DISCUSSED
AT THE ASSOCIATED CHAR
TILES CONFERENCE.
ENGINEER AND PHYSICIAN
DISCUSS STREET AND PUBLIC SAM
TATION FROM THEIR RESPEC-
TIVE STANDPOINTS.
DIR. RoTHRockAND L. RuNDLETT
Contribute to an interesting ParIor
Meeting at the Home of DIR.
Stone.

There was a good attendance at the
Iarlor confcEence' of the associated
charities at the residence Of Dr.. Stone
last night, but two of those who were
TO present rapers could no. be pres
ent, so it left the programme short.
Rev. j. L. Lt:phin presided. The SUBJ
Jet considered was Public Health AMI
Sanitation" and the discussion VAS
opened by the reading b. City I'm
sineer RI: ilett-, of paper IN streets
ana Alleys, as affecting the public
health ard sanitation.
Mr. hund!ett assured the gathering
at the outset that he did not ro1Gse to
invade the precincts of bacter.oio.,y
he laid it down as a general PROPOSE
ton that the best pavement from a
sanitary standpoint was the one imper-
Vlous to water, or most nearly so. Ex-
per1ence had demonstrated that asphalt
fulfilled this condition Next in order
came granite and brick pavements. 1t
was essential. however, that the in
terstices between the blocks be well
hlied when the pavement is laid, in
order to conduce to cleanliness.
The cedar block pavement, In Mr..
Rundlett's opinion, is the least salts
factory at all, and the most likely to
harbor disease germs. AS soon as the
routing process sets in it is not only
extremely difficult, but a useless lob
TO attempt to clean cedar block pave
ment Mr.. Rundlett in this connection
erred authenticated cases in which
dlphtheria and consumption germs had
been found in decayed cedar blocks.
The victims Of these diseases had
contracted them from cedar blocks
gathered for fuel
referring to the cleaning of asphalt
paVements, Mr.. Rundlett said that the
only effective way was to sweep them
by hand. Sprinkling did not clean
them, and the sweeping machines could
not gather and remove the fine dust.
MI Rundlettt also called attention to
the necessity for proper drainage of
all streets, and recommended that in
the residence district the roadways
be narrowed55 to :, q distance ranging
from twentyafour to thirty-two feet,
and that shade trees be planted be-
tween the roadway and the sidewalk.
as the foliage assists materially in
absorbing the carbonic acid gas.
In conclusion, Mr. Rundlett dwelt
alleys Clean He said that the alJevs
might be considered the backwards of
the street, and aso such, they were
USED as dumping grounds for old cans,
ooots, shoes, Iremnantse of clothing
ashes, .etctU Citizens were not as par
tlcular abeutethe alleys, inasmuch as
they are not exposed to the public as
the streets are, and therefore public
pride offered VI no, incentive to keep
them clean. Mr.. aRundiett urged the
Importance oflsdoing SO, and for the
beneht Of the ladies present Informed
them OF the good accomplished in this
direction by the ladies of certain cities
Dr. Rothrock, deputy health commits
sioner, followed with a paper ON the
subject of y"Control of Contagious Dis
eases. He said diphtheria was caused
by micrebe, and was one of the worst
contagious diseases known. Tubercu-
lcs1s, scarlet fever and smallpox are
also caused by, microbes. These dis
eases are all Contagious by contact.
and private house quarantine, as now
provided for, except in the case of
smallpox, is entirely inadequate
There should be an isolation hospital
to which patients suffering from any
of these diseases could be sent with the
assurance that they would receive just
as good treatment as they possibly
could at their own home, and that
without spreading the disease by hay
ing those susceptible coming in con-
tact with it. The city hospital is do
ing this kind of service to some ex-
tent, but it is too limited. Every per
son attacked by contagious disease
should be compelled to submit to iso-
| Iation.
At present there is no quarantine
at all against tuberculosis, and though
the disease is not so bad as the others
n rln ntl c,IOr tod hot
there should be some isolation and dis
infection to prevent it's spread
ing. He had visited a family in which
child had been attacked with diph-
liberia. The residence consisted of two
rooms, one used for living room and
the other for a sleeping room. In the
latter there were two or three beds,
and the whole family, which was a
large one. slept in, this room. Without
any provision of isolation, it was alb
solutely impossible to prevent spread
of the disease to all the other children,
had it not been that partial isolation
was secured voluntarily. An effort
was made to havesthe sick child placed
in the hospital but the parents would
| not permit this. The best that could
be done was to have it removed up
stairs. People must be educated to the
necessity of submitting to isolation for
the sake of those whose health is en-
dangered by coming in contact with
persons affected. 70
DR.. G.. A. REM was to read a paper
on Water Supplies and Sewer Sys-
TENS" and Mrs. c. A. Severance, one
on individual Corporation" but
neither of these could be present so
in response to a question as to how
housewives could cooperate with the
health department in the protection of
the public health, DR.. Stone said that
the only contagious disease with which
the department has sufficient power to
deal is smallpox. 1t can enforce an
! absolute quarantine against this, but
not against diphtheria, which is equal
ly fatal and far more general The de-
partment had to deal with only four
cases of smallpox the past year, and
these broke out under circumstances
| the most favorable to spreading the
| disease. But owing to the complete
| quarantine maintained 1t was stamped
| out without having reached a single
one outside the building in which it
| first broke out, nor. any of the twenty
eight persons therein, with the excep-
| ton of the four referred to. None of
| the cases proved fatal. On the other
hand there were ALB cases of diphtheria
| of which 100 proved fatal. An isolation
| hospital would have saved nearly all
of these lives by affording the means
| for preventing the spread of the dis
ease.
/ AS to what the housewives could
do to aid thea department, DR.. Stone
| said they could establish an isolation
hospital the same jas they have estab-
| lished babies home They could
! provide for a matron to have charge of
it, and nurses, WheD needed. Here per-
sons seized with contagious diseases
could be sent WITH the assurance that
!, No E<>,.