SANITARY WORK IN GREAT DISASTERS. 463 



applied for the same. In this way the population was largely 

 reduced. 



10. If the distress of the survivors is very great, it may be neces- 

 sary for the sanitary officers to assist the inhabitants in the disin- 

 fecting and cleansing of their homes. At Johnstown some thirteen 

 hundred cellars were cleansed by the State, and the debris was re- 

 moved from the streets and lots, wherever it was found to contain 

 the bodies of human beings and animals in numbers sufficient to 

 endanger the public health. This work of cleansing the district 

 can only be considered the work of the State so long as the dis- 

 trict is in a condition to be denominated a public nuisance. 

 When this ceases, the work of the State must also cease. 



11. So soon as the disinfectants arrive, the sanitary officer 

 must see to their proper distribution and instruct the people as 

 to their proper use. At Johnstown, each sanitary inspector in 

 charge of a district was' authorized to open one or more depots, 

 in places most convenient for the inhabitants of his district, in 

 which depots disinfectants were stored. Large placards were 

 then printed and posted over each district, telling the inhabitants 

 where they could obtain disinfectants, and urging them to go and 

 obtain supplies of the same. Circulars of information were given 

 to all who applied, as also oral information, explaining how to 

 use each disinfectant. The result was, that people came by the 

 hundreds and carried the disinfectants to their homes, using them 

 with good effect. These stations should be kept open just so long 

 as the district is in a bad sanitary condition. Reference may be 

 made here to the mode of using some of the more common dis- 

 infectants. The debris formed of the broken houses and forest 

 trees, together with carpets, bedding, and household effects which 

 had become worthless, were, at Johnstown, destroyed by fire, along 

 with the bodies of the domestic animals. For fully three weeks 

 immense fires were burning at Johnstown, formed of the debris, 

 and in these fires hundreds of animals were cremated. In the 

 case of a great flood, those articles which it is desirable to burn 

 may be water-soaked, as was the case at Johnstown. Cremation 

 in such cases may be hastened by the addition of petroleum, 

 though at Johnstown a large donation of tar and rosin, made by 

 the citizens of Wilmington, K C, was used to aid in the combus- 

 tion of these wet substances. The rosin was found to have very 

 advantageous properties when applied to the cremation of car- 

 casses. It appeared to destroy the unpleasant odors arising from 

 the burning flesh, and in place gave out an agreeable balsamic 

 fragrance. It also burned with great heat, hastening combus- 

 tion, and could not be extinguished by heavy rains. By using 

 rosin liberally, and adding driftwood, there was no trouble in en- 

 tirely destroying the domestic animals with a single firing. The 



