The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-09-02

luhocNtons
 The state board of health, reprinting valuable information from he paper by Dr. Daggett, of this city ta..en from the proceedings of the Connecticut Medical society, has scattered broadcast pam phlets from which IS gleaned the fol- lowing:
 The annual reports, year after year, of |thuusanas or cases of a serious prevent able disease, involving a large mortali- ty and huge economic loss, strongly suggest the imperfection of insufficien- cy of our prophylactie measures. This applies to typhoid fever in Connecticut. Twenty-Five thousand cases, twenty five hundred deaths, and an economic loss of twenty-five millions of dollars is the record for the decade ending with 19O,.
 Moreover, of the usual diseases, one, with the exception of tuberculosis, can compare with typhoid fever in import ance. This is true not only because of its mortality, but also because 1t at tacks by preference strong. and robust individuals between the ages of eigh- teen and forty, and because 1t involves a disability measured by months rather than by weeks or days. Furthermore, we can no longer plead Ignorance of it's cause and methods of dissemination
 ANTICIPATE INFECTION.
 To strike at the root of the matter we should not wait until sickness appears, but should anticipate the occurrence of Infection. This can be done only by |comprehensive rural sanitation. With the state thickly settled, with milk and Vegetables brought from every direction to the towns and cities, and with the larger centers of population reaching out farther and farther for their water supplies, we must now look upon even the remote rural inhabitant as a neigh bor, and take a lively interest in his well, his yard and in the brook that traverses his farm. By waging an eff fective warfare at this hitherto neglec- ted point we can prevent the pollution of water and milk, and the conveyance of infection by dust and flies.
 The rural privy is the original plague spot, although casual deposits of infec- tious excreta may at times play part. The location of the privy is usually based solely on considerations of con venience of access and a moderate de- gree of privacy, little or no thought be- ing given to the direction of the flow of the ground water. The building Is sell dom cleaned rarely screened, and the vault Is never disinfected. It should be very carefully located, thoroughly screened to keep flies away, and 1t should be disinfected daily whether or not there is sickness, on the premises.
 It is in truth a hereulean task to ac- lcomplish a reform involving so much lperplexing detail but the task is insig- nificant when compared with the evil (which it's accomplishment would in a large measure avert.
 TO WORK REFORMS. The first step in bringing about the reforms suggested should be the formu- llation of the best practicable methods i of keeping privy vaults in a sanitary condition. The next, the appointment of a number of civil engineers as a per- manent force of state sanitary inspec- tors, whose duty should be to make a complete sanitary survey of the state, with power to condemn improperly lo- cated or improperly managed privies. They should also instruct the people as to the best use of screens, the care of manure heaps to prevent the breeding of flies, and the general sanitary man Iagement of stables and yards. They
 should make frequent rounds of their Irrespective districts, and should report | ...s. II H.Lz perintendent. The whole matter might we'll be placed under the control and di- rection of the state board of health. If Connecticut will, as she can, de-
 monstrate this proposition and materi- ally reduce the incidence and mortality of typhoid fever, other states will fol-
 low her lead, and a vast amount of sgood will result.