The bee., 1914-03-24

Of the last forty years, however.
have shown that the cause OF most
Of the epedemic diseases are not IN
but social. tuberculosis,
which was formerly regarded as due
To individual factors. 10 now known
TO be largely caused by insanitafy |
tenements, workshops and factories.
insufiic ient ventilation and nouish-
ment and other causes largely econ
omicai and social. Typhoid fever Ia
due To- pouited water or milk sup
ply or to transmission by flies. yell
low fever and malaria are carried by
the mosquito, which finds It's breed
ing places in stagnant pools. Blu
bonIc plague IL carried by the at,
for whose continued existence and
NJ multiplication in our large cities aud
ia our water fronts. inssnitary ware
houses aud poorly constructed build-
ings are responsible. Our awful IN
FAINT mortality 10 due to variety Of
causes, most Of which are social and
economic, rather than individual.
The Improvement Of hygienic con-
ditisn n our CITIES, 10 WINS and rural
|conSmunItiss requires q 'certAln
amount Of specific regulation. Such
regulation must be based upon prop
or legal enactment, either on natural
or state laws, or on municipal ordi-
nAncss. Restrictions of personal lib
erty In order To be enforced and 90
be Of any value, must be understood
and supported by the public. But
the people will only submit TO such
restriction of their individual liberty
~ they are convinced 10 necessary
for their own good. A concrete ex-
ample Of this spirit Of personal lib
erty wns manifested III our own lit
tie city in the year 1912, when the
city council passed an ordinance
which provided for the assessment
of 81 90 per quarter for each proper
" owner or renter maintaining =
surface privy on his premises, the
city to have the privies cleaned at
stated Intervals aud kept IN as sanI-
tary condition as possible. Such
widespread opposition was met with
that the ordinance was repealed.
This was equivalent to saying that
We prefer TO continue to eat aud
drink filth 10 let our children suffer
and DIE from so-called summer
complaint to harbor Intestinal
parasites that they might sap from
them their very vitality, thereby re-
duciug their mental and physical
capacity as well as future wage earn
ing capacity; to accommodate flies
aud mosquitoes with splendid breed
ing places that their propagation and
widespread disease prod ueing quali-
ties might be unhampered. Such OPP
position ~, of course, due entirely to
the ignorance of the public as to the
nature and causation of infectious
diseases, and has cost this country
multiplied billions OF dollars as we'll
as myriads of lives. The loss from
smallpox alone would stagger one
were IL summed up and placed be-
fore him. 1t is perhaps the oldest
epedemIc disease know, and up to
the beginning of the 18th century
was the terror OF mankind. 1t is es-
timated that over sixty millions Of
inhabitants OF Europe died from
smailpox in the 18th century.
Edward Jenner, while medical
student at Sodbury Gin l770 heard
fsrmer's daughter say, on being
told that smallpox had broken out
in the neIghborhood: II cannot
take that disease, for have had the
cowpox.n Dairyman had noticed
that persone infected from the sores
on the udders of COWS, known as cow
pox. escaped smallpox. Jenner To-
Gated in Berkeley, "a dairy farming
community. and for 20 years studied
aud collected facts in regard to COW
pox. May IA, 1886, Jenner perform
ed the first vaccination on human
being. He vaccinated lad with
virus taken from a sore on the hand
of milk maid Infected accidently
while milking COW, thus first us
iug virus from a human being. Six
weeks later he inoculated the boy
with smallpox virus and no results
followed, nor did the hey ever take
smallpox though repeatedly exposed
an 4 (inoculat-d IN subsequent
Confined on Page two.)
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