The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-10-17

crease. her death rate having fallen
steadily from Il per 1000 in 1856 to 9.13
during 1896. a table, made up from the
official health board reports Of IS lead
ing cities and approved by medical eX
perts. shows the actual number of lives
saved this year The cities are as fol-
lows: New oYrk, Brooklyn, Chicago,
Boston. Philadelphia. New Orleans.
Cleveland, Milwaukee, Baltimore. San
st. Louis, Hartford, Providence, Mime
apohs st. Paul and Atlanta.
The lives saved foot up 23.S67. The
total poulation ESTIMATED, 1880, of
these cities is 10,725,0 GOO. Statistics show
that 20,000,000 people of the United
States live in cities. Even allowing
that the decrease of the death rate has
not been so great in the other cities,
there is little question but that the
total number of lives now saved yearly
amount TO $4,000 and the complete fig
ures would probably show nearer co.
GOO.
One thing should be noted in regard
to these figures. 4 low death rate is
no particular evidence of superior ad-
ministration. Certain cities because Of
their situation or their comparative
neWness naturally have a low death
rate Particularly is this the case with
the newer cities Of the west where there
is no ocercrowding and no rookeries.
In a newer city there are apt to be
fewer OF the very old and fewer of the
very young, and the larger the percent
age Of inhabitants in the prime of life
between 10 and So, the better a city S
health under any conditions
MEASURES AND METHODS.
Since 1892 these new scientific meas
res inn
into use Chief among them have been
antitoHin for diphtheria. the public su-
perYision Of tuberculosis. the bacteria
logical diagnosis of tuberculosis and
diphtheria at the service of private
physicians the famous blood tests for
typhoid the inspection of milk, by
which Z Gordon is formed around q city
and no milk allowed to come in that
does not reach a certain standard, the
inspection of COWS Cwithin the city lin
its). from which milk is produced. the
proper cleaning of streets and removal
OF garbage, sanitary inspection and
the medicinal inspection of children in
schools. and the wholesale destruction
Of rear tenements and condemned
buildings.
Properly speaking, this is the science
OF preventive medicines" and it is all
of those innovations. not one of which
has proved a failure, that has made this
revolution in the health Of America s
cities. In the great majority of these
innovations. in the most important OF
these scientific measures. the Initiative
was taken and the project launched un-
der the scientific guidance Of Dr.. H. NJ.
BiggS. bacteriologist of the New York
board ot health, and under the praC-
teal supervision OF Charles G. Wilson,
its president. Other cities have rapidly
followed suit. Approved by visiting
scientists Of the country, many OF
whom have gone to New oYrk especial
~ 70 study these methods. and endorsed
by the American public health associa-
ton, nearly all of these innovations
have been adopted elsewhere. gradually
and IL part, yet enough 90 show that
they have met with favor
Chicago. in her health board. has
Initiated New York in almost every
particular, and has q more complete
series of plants than any other city
outside Of New York She shows a re-
duction in her death rate of as many
points. Chicago's morality is much
lower than that of New York. This is
due purely to local conditions. Medi-
cal science in the shape of the edi-
torial page of the British Medical Jour
nal said a few weeks ago that. TAX
ms into account the conditions (Which
allow for her nlassiug OF peoples Of all
nations, her tenement problems and
the peculiar tendencies Of her climate
TO throat maladies). the decrease of
five points in New Yorl1's death rate
since the end of 1892 was the best
showing that any city in the world had