MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. 349 



themselves and in their children, the simplest precepts of hygiene, 

 parents countenancing half-dressed daughters wearing out their 

 strength in unwholesome ballrooms, seeking their slumber that can- 

 not refresh only when dawn appears ; sons launched upon the world 

 to encounter physical wreck in a thousand channels where no beacon 

 warns of danger; old men, senators, judges, divines, perchance learned 

 doctors, uncomplainingly breathing the foul air of public conveyances 

 and apartments, in which every door and window has been carefully 

 closed and ventilation carelessly ignored ; streets reeking with filth 

 which decrepit laborers play the farce of sweeping in broad daylight — 

 what can state medicine hope to accomplish in legislative chambers 

 and halls of Congress, which are themselves even evidences of sanitary 

 ignorance, sanitary neglect, and sanitary indifference?" 



Universal knowledge is our only safety, as effect must follow cause. 

 The time is not far distant when its exalted influence will compel 

 obedience of legislators to public sentiment, and every state have a 

 law for the jorotection of public health. 



Moral suasion has been suggested to encourage respect for sanitary 

 laws. More than this is required. The strong arm of the law, fol- 

 lowed by severe penalty, will make it a success. It is gratifying that 

 during the last decade there has been great activity along the line of 

 the diffusion of sanitary knowledge. I trust that not far down the 

 line in the future we may see in prophetic vision a country fair and 

 beautiful ; a heavenly country situated on this side of Jordan. A 

 river flows through it and its waters are not polluted by the sewage 

 of the cities of the plain ; they are clear like crystal and carry nothing 

 but health and life-giving principles to its inhabitants, being guarded 

 upon either side by the ramparts of sanitary laws. The streets are 

 clean and free from defilement. Its temples, palaces, institutions of 

 learning are not of precious stones, but they are erected upon an un- 

 contaminated soil, with perfect sanitation. From its seminaries, col- 

 leges, and universities, as well as its public schools, and, may I not 

 add, from its halls of legislation, and the public press will come forth 

 a flood of light and knowledge, instructing the people in the princi- 

 ples of sanitary science. Disease will then be prevented and life 

 prolonged. Let us put forth every effort at our command to rid this 

 country of all obstructions to health or anything that will abridge 

 in the slightest degree the natural duration of man's life. 



In closing, let me say, that it has been my aim to avoid specifica- 

 tions, as time and space would not permit going into detail, as detail 

 here means legion. 



