SKETCH OF DR. CHARLES F. CHANDLER. 839 



complete discussions of gas-purification which has ever appeared. The 

 Board decided against the company, and the gas nuisance ceased. 



As President of the Health Department of New York, Professor 

 Chandler has held a most responsible position for the past six years. 

 During this time he has had associated with him in his work Dr. S. 

 O, Vanderpoel, the Health Ofiicer of the Port, and Dr. Stephen Smith 

 for the first two, and Dr. Edward G. Janeway for the past four years. 

 These men have always worked in complete harmony. 



The present Board of Health was organized under the charter of 

 1873, which was a modification of that of 1870, which abolished the 

 Metropolitan Board. This latter was established in 1866, and a very 

 perfect system of sanitary legislation and supervision was inaugurated 

 by the health laws of that year. The Sanitary Code of New York 

 was the first result of that legislation. New enactments have been 

 made from time to time, and it is believed that New York City now 

 possesses a more extensive and perfect system of sanitary supervision 

 than any other city in America or Europe ; and its laws and code, as 

 well as its work in general, have been made the model for similar 

 work throughout the country. When the present Board organized, it 

 adopted a thorough civil-service system, and there has not occurred a 

 single instance since that time in which it has been departed from. 

 Dr. Chandler's first labors in 1873 were directed to the purification of 

 the atmosphere of New York, and his first summer was spent in the 

 most active warfare on all kinds of stench-producing trades. 



The war was not confined to the land, as a naval engagement oc- 

 curred on more than one occasion. . At last there were no odors left 

 save those which were wafted across the East River from NewtoAvn 

 Creek and Hunter's Point, and which the Board of Health was dili- 

 gently combating when the farce of the indictment of its members 

 was enacted by the grand jury. 



Judge Sutherland promptly quashed the indictment on the ground 

 that neither a moral nor a legal excuse existed for it. That the 

 Health Board was not inactive is shown by the fact that suits were 

 brought against the city for nearly five hundred thousand dollars for 

 their acts in suppressing nuisances in 1873 and 1874 ; and that the 

 members acted with judgment is shown by the fact that in every one 

 of these suits they were victorious. 



One of the most creditable acts was the removal of the two-story 

 structures, which had been erected over the half of the roadway of 

 the public streets adjacent to Washington Market, and almost entirely 

 surrounding the block which the market occupies. Every effort had 

 been previously made by other boards to remove them, but in vain. 

 After exhausting every other method, the Board of Health in 1873 

 decided to use force, and one quiet summer evening Dr. Chandler led 

 an army of one hundred and fifty carpenters and laborer?;, three hun- 

 dred policemen, and a corps of surgeons to the market, and before 



