Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1905-06-22
Disinfectants and Filtration Of
Water Considered Tuesday.
Care Of Children In the Public Schools
Another subject for Discuaslon-
New Lisht ON Cerebro.spinal
Meningltis.


with a preliminary session Of a general
nature Monday evening, were con-
tinued Tuesday at the armory with
an increased attendance. The addresses
and papers were of unusual interest
and several subjects of current notice
were taken up.
The morning session opened at $3.50
o'clock, the first address being given
by Prof L. c. Robinson Of Maine, an
expert on disinfcctants, and to that
subject he devoted his remarks. In
discussing the question he said there
were two great problems that con-
frontcd health officers---the proper dis
infection of houses and rooms in which
there had been contagious diseases
and the disinfection of school houses
and churches. The usual method OF
doing the work. he said, was by fumi-
cation. This. he said. was not COM
plctc and should be substituted by
further methods. lie advocated the
use of steam sterilizing machines to
supplement the surface fumigation.
He said furniture in a room should not
be moved previous to a fumigation,
but that aftcrward It should be given
an open air cleansing The main thing
was thoroughness. The address was
followed by a free discussion.
W. T.. Ranger. state superintendent
Of education, was the next speaker.
lie spoke of the importance Of the ed
ucation OF children along tho lines of
good health and said that when tho
fact was taken into consideration that
over one-fourth OF the population of
tho Statc v,ny confined in school house;
during the school year the necessity of
giving the matter attention was ap-
parent. The FIRST great point to be
considered was the good health of the
children and he said that If the school
boards would give good school houses
the teachers would live up to the ideas
of good health. This, he said. they
could not do in poorly constructed
badly ventilated and nearly dilapitatcd
school buildings. He spoke Of the
bad condition of some of the school
houses in the state but said that i'm
provcment was being made and refer
red to the fact that Vermont raised
larger tax than any other state in the
Union, with ono exception, for schools
This address was also freely discussed
thus closing the morning session.
AFTERNOON SESSION.
The first paper Of the afternoon session
was read by DR.. George H. Gorham Of
Bellows Falls. whose subject was "EX-
amination of Eyes and Ears Of School
Children as Provided by Authority OF an
Act Passed by the Last Legislature" DR..
IGorham said that this law was one Of the
most important of those passed by the
last session. He traced briefly the his
tory of the movement which resulted in
such law and also traced the develop
ment of defective vision condition prac-
ideally unknown among primitive races.
He gave a number of simple tests to
which the eyes and ears of public school
lchildrcn should be subjected and stated
Isome Of the symptoms which should ba
looked for DIR. Corham said that the CO.
operation of the parents in this work
could usually be relied upon.
The discussion of this question was
taken up by DR.. NJ. c. Twitchcll of Bur-
lington and DR.. G. A. Champion of st.
bloomsbury. DR.. Gorham answered a num-
Der Of questions and closed the discussion.
The second paper was on "Water Filtra-
ton" and was presented by II. w. Clark
OF Boston. chemist OF the Massachusetts
State board of health. His subject was
ESPECIALLY timely in view of the wide cur
rent discussion of that question. Mr..
CLARK stated briefly the beginning Of sand
filtration of water in European countries
in the firsi half of the last century and
the subs, uuent introduction of the prac.
tice into the United States, the first sand
filter in this country being that erected
at POuGhkcepsie. N. Y, in 1872. This kind
of filter is simple OF construction and ca
Ipahle, under right conditions of removing
90 per cent of the bacteria from water.
besides removing disease producing
germs. these filters also improve the APP
pcarance of water by removing bad odors
and tastes. 1t is cheaper in most places
to cleanse the sand by washing than to
REPLACE foul sand with a fresh supply.
THE speaker here mentioned specifically
many municipal filtration plants. He told
LOT the simultaneous infection of Lowell.
Mass, aud Lawrence with typhoid fever
while Lawrence. situated below Lowell
took its water unfltered from the Mcrri-
, mae river which received the sewage from
tho latter city. The death rate in law
lrencc dropped from Sc in 1889 to "A in 1884.
tho year in which filtered water was used
uniformly for the first time. Subsequent
|, lstatistics show the disease to he prlcti-
Ically eliminated. The speaker also gave