THE SANITATION OF AIR 29 



themselves, and some remedies have already been suggested. In regard 

 to open air they are practically limited to measures of prevention. 



Sanitation. — The New York Board of Health now sends school- 

 children to dispensaries and specialists for deafness and defective eye- 

 sight, in the hope of reclaiming them from the dullness consequent to 

 these ills. This unquestionably helps to keep certain contagious dis- 

 eases under control, and it may be justified on other grounds, but it 

 should not be forgotten that certain unsanitary conditions, to which 

 such diseases can often be traced, barely receive any attention in the 

 sense of an organized campaign for purifying the air. Particular 

 attention should be paid to the suppression of all markets and other 

 nuisances affecting the salubrity of streets and squares surrounding 

 schools and hospitals. The maintenance of public buildings on strict 

 sanitary lines by systematic processes of cleaning, disinfection, repaint- 

 ing and repairing is also too much neglected. The movement for the 

 better housing of the poor, however much has been accomplished, can 

 only be called a beginning. Hundreds of the better sort of tenements 

 are being built, but thousands are needed. If the health board has the 

 right to condemn old rookeries, to order repairs, to pass on workshops 

 in dingy basements and the like, there is much to be done yet on these 

 lines. 



The campaign against expectorating, in which Dr. Darlington, the 

 present New York health commissioner, has taken an active part, is 

 most commendable. It certainly reduces the constant danger of in- 

 fection, but it does not lead far enough toward stopping its causes, 

 the chronic catarrh and other ills largely induced by untidy streets and 

 buildings, public and private. 



Sanitary inspection has long been organized in many cities, for 

 certain classes of buildings, but it must include all public conveyances, 

 conveniences, highways and byways in order to be really effective. It 

 should be supplemented by jurisdiction over hygiene in lighting, plumb- 

 ing, heating and ventilation of new buildings, and in the maintenance 

 of streets, sewers and other public works. This may seem to be a large 

 ground to cover for the average staff of health officers, but it is not 

 altogether a question of men, but one of influence or power of the 

 board over other departments, which should be made to carry out their 

 own work with due regard for hygienic requirements. Sanitation on 

 these lines would be of particular value as an education to the citizens 

 by way of example. 



Hints on Ventilation. — The foregoing arguments should have made 

 it clear that ventilation is not the only cure for vitiated air. It should 

 be regarded rather as a supplementary measure, to be used where other 

 means of sanitation can not or will not give sufficient relief. To ven- 

 tilate buildings with the impure air from city streets, railway cars with 



