304 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



JeMel Abbott as commissioners, and Mr. Shattuck formulated 

 their conclusions in a report that to-day is one of the most inter- 

 esting and instructive of sanitary documents. Sanitary science, 

 as we now know it, had not come into being then, so that to 

 write about it as an existent fact was considerably like " coining 

 a vacuum"; but Mr. Shattuck condensed into it all that history 

 can teach on hygiene from Moses down, and, as he was keenly 

 alive to all that was going on in England, he did not fail to call 

 attention to the great awakening on the subject there, where 

 already two sanitary journals were established, and public meet- 

 ings were being held in all parts of the country, where it was 

 declared that " sanitation is the great idea of the age." Every 

 consideration which it was thought could influence the legislative 

 mind was brought to bear. The commission called attention to 

 the fact that there had already been costly and valuable re- 

 ports made on insects ; the invertebrates ; on fishes, reptiles, and 

 birds ; and one on trees and shrubs ; and they say it would be 

 reasonable to suppose that man was entitled to a consideration 

 equal to either of these subjects. They cite the fact that two 

 costly expeditions had been fitted out to search for Sir John 

 Franklin, and ask if the preservation of the lives of many pos- 

 sible Franklins is not as worthy an object. They maintain that 

 the average of human life may be much extended, its physical 

 power augmented, . . . untimely deaths prevented, and that 

 measures for 'prevention will effect infinitely more than remedies 

 for the cure of disease. They compute the needless loss of life 

 and the cost of avoidable sickness. They appeal to intelligent 

 men of all classes, medical and non-medical, and quote from 

 Simon's Report on the Condition of London : " Ignorant men 

 may sneer at the pretensions of sanitary science. Weak and 

 timorous men may hesitate to commit themselves to its princi- 

 ples, so large is their application. Selfish men may shrink from 

 the labor of change, wicked men may turn indifferently from 

 considering that which concerns the health and happiness of mil- 

 lions of their fellow-creatures, but in the great objects which it 

 proposes to itself it transcends in importance all other sciences, 

 and in its beneficent operation it seems to embody the spirit and 

 to fulfill the intentions of practical Christianity." They brought 

 the argument home, by demonstrating that at least $7,500,000 

 were lost annually to Massachusetts through untimely deaths and 

 needless sickness. 



The Board of Health they recommended was to consist of 

 two doctors, one lawyer, one chemist or naturalist, and two of 

 other occupations ; and an elaborate plan of action was drawn 

 up, covering nearly every possible combination of circumstances 

 that such a board would be likely to encounter. Dr. Bowditch 



