Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1897-12-02
A HEALTH MEETING.


in the Court House Monday afternoon
After the routine work of the organization
reports were had from the various town.
ships, and these proved that the county is
remarkably free from contagious diseases
at this time.
DIR. Mitchell. Secretary Of the State Board
of Health wac then introduced. He COM
plimented this organization on being the
first of its character in the State, and then
proceeded to address the Board on the
Duties of Local Boards of Health" He
said, the first act of the legislature to pro-
tect the public health was passed in 1880,
and health boards were generally organized
under it, The State has advanced in
knowledge of health conditions, and the
people are engaged 10 study of what is
necessary to further advancement.
The first step, he said, is an inspection
Of premises, and record of facts. Con-
ditions cannot be cured urtil they are
ascertained, hence the first duty is to have
an Inspector. The Inspector should be an
observing person with intelligence and
tact. The Inspectors record should be
kept ready of access.
/ Typhoid fever, he said, always comes
from some infected place, polluted water
being the chief source. An Inspector will
find the source in every case. You cannot
LII 4aI 1olI - 81 ha
! Diphtheria, he said, did not come from
sewers or filthy drains, but from infected
articles or contact with the disease germs.
The first duty of the physician is to report
the case to the Health Board, and the
Health Authorities should isolate the case
Every community, he said-two or three
townships should have hospital, two
small buildings to cost perhaps 500, is
sufficient; the outfit simple and inexpen-
sive. AS soon as the disease is cured, all
articles should be destroyed or fumigated.
| He said Health Boards could not help
measles one iota. They had never been
successfully handled. The closing of
sCHOOlb vi aCCOuut VI AcdSAOc3 WIS PAO-
posterous. 1t is unnecessary, also, to close
schools on account of diphtheria, because a
school house can be made the healthiest
building in town.
DIR. Ashcraft asked as to the effect of the
use of oil stoves in bed rooms and he said
that anything that polluted the air is
dangerous and bad.
DIR. Hunter asked as to handling whoop-
ing cough, and he replied there was no sue
cessful method of dealing with it. Once
in about four years every community had
an epidemic of it. It is more dangerous
than scarlet fever, because of more deaths
from il.
In reply to question by Dr. Parker, he
said it had never yet been demonstrated
that COW could communicate typhoid
fever by drinking polluted water.
| DR.. Halsey said that many practitioners
believed that diphtheria proceeded from
defective drainage" DIR. Mitchell said
there was no danger of diphtheria except
by contact. A new fact, he said was, that
sewer air was the purest
Dr. M. P. Ravenel, specialist in tuber.
culosis, made an address on tuberculosis
and Milk Supply"
He said high authority had said that
more deaths resulted from drinking milk
than would result should we go to war
with first class power. There are 16, 000,-
600 COWS in the United States producing
100 gallons of milk for each inhabitant. 80
per cent. is drank in the raw state, and 10
per cent made into butter and cheese, the
whole Of which is source of possible in
lection.
The reason for this he ascribed to forcing
cows to become milk making machines,
they were bred too fine and breed too
young.
Tuberculosis, or consumption,from drink
ing milk, is one of the greatest dangers con-
fronting the medical profession to-day. 1t
is on the increase, especially in this country
The disease is the same in the animal and
the human, and is transmitted from the
cow only through the milk, as is proven
by clinic examinations of children. The
disease is not hereditary, either in the
human or animal. In cattle we haYe a
better opportunity to determine whether
tuberculosis is inherited, and from all ex-
aminations only about one case in ten
thousand show the germ at birth.
The disease is transmitted by the mouth.
An eminent authority says that one-fifth of
the deaths amoung children is due to being
bottle fed, and the proportion is growing,
because mothers refuse to nurse their chill
ldren.
The remedy, he said, was careful inspec-
ton Of the herd the names of herds that
have been inspected should be published,
so as to protect consumers:
The injection of tuberculin will deter
mine whether the cow is diseased, and if
with fatal results, it is good thing for the
herd. When the disease is discovered in a
COW she should be removed from the dairy,
and, under good hygiene conditions, the
disease can be largely reduced The flesh
of tuberculous animals is good to eat in
cases where the flesh is not inoculated.
The speaker, answering question as to
the production of tuberculosis from milk
said the proof on that point was clear. Ii
had been shown conclusively that milk fed
to children produced the disease beyond all
Question OF doubt.
Doctor George E. Reading and Veterina.
rian Thos B. Rogers, while admitting tie
basis of the statements of the previous
speaker, denied the prevalence of the dis.
lease DR.. Reading thought that spread Of
tuberculosis was due more to contact and
the splitting habit, than to milk consump-
ton.
| DR.. Rogers insisted that scientific proof
that human tuberculosis is due to milk
contamination could only be obtained by
proof that the germs were in the milk and
no where else, and that had not yet beer
demonstrated.
) DR.. Ravenel thought it had in cases o.
children.
DIR. Rogers read valuable paper on The
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