No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 217 



and official chicanery will oppose them at every step, but they 

 eannot neglect this duty if they possess honesty and self-respect. 



Third, by compelling landlords and employers to provide means 

 of ventilation and sullicient air space in all sleeping apartments 

 and work rooms. 



Fourth, by compelling private individuals and corporations to 

 maintain their dwellings, places of business and premises in a 

 state of cleanliness and freedom from all nuisances prejudicial to 

 health. i 



Fifth, by calling the attention of the municipal government to 

 all offensive accumulations on streets, alleys, roads or commons, 

 and to the importance of provision for effective drainage. 



Sixth, by strictly isolating all cases of contagious disease, which, 

 in their judgment, demand such treatment for the protection of the 

 public. ' 



Seventh, by instructing those in whose homes contagious disease 

 exists as to the precautions necessary for their own protection 

 and that of their neighbors. 



Eighth, by thoroughly disinfecting all apartments, houses, public 

 vehicles, clothing and personal effects which have been exposed 

 to infection. 



Ninth, by insisting on the establishment by the municipal authori- 

 ties of a hospital for contagious diseases, and by removing persons 

 suffering from such diseases to said hospital in every case in which 

 such action is practicable, in an ambulance reserved for that pur- 

 pose alone. 



Tenth, by making provision for the gratuitous vaccination of the 

 poor and furnishing diphtheria antitoxin for the poor on the appli- 

 cation of a reputable physician. 



Eleventh, by keeping the people informed of the condition of the 

 public health, and especially of the prevalence of any communicable 

 disease, and by distributing, from time to time, circulars instructing 

 the people how to avoid such diseases. Concealment of such dis- 

 eases is a crime, by whomsoever committed, whether householder, 

 physician or board of health. 



Twelfth, while the microscope has failed to demonstrate the ex- 

 istence of bacteria as the cause of some of the infectious diseases 

 with which we are most familiar, such as measles, chicken-pox and 

 small-pox, it has succeeded in the case of so many others, that we 

 are fully justified, reasoning by analogy, in the conclusion that all 

 communicable diseases are dependent on a like cause. 



The discovery of these causes, the devising of methods for their 

 prompt recognition, and of means for their elimination and de- 

 struction are among the most important duties assigned to national 

 and state boards of health. Such researches call for the expendi- 

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