SANITARY SCIENCE. 



435 



ment of cities." Third meeting of the convention 

 was held in New York, April 27-30, 1859, at which 

 the report of the committees appointed at the sec- 

 ond meeting was discussed. Tlie fourth meeting of 

 the convention was held in Boston, June 14-1(5, 1860, 

 at which sanitary science, ''State medicine," quar- 

 antine and the management of epidemics, vaccina- 

 tion, vital registration, etc., were discussed, and 

 cleanliness of cities declared to be more important 

 than quarantines. The efficacy of steam as a puri- 

 fier and preventive was here first suggested. The 

 next meeting was appointed for May, 1801, at Cin- 

 cinnati, but the civil war intervening caused it to be 

 abandoned. In May, 1861, three associations of 

 New York (the Woman's Central Association for 

 the relief of the sick and wounded of the army, the 

 Advisory Committee of the Board of Physicians and 

 Surgeons of the hospital of New York, and the New 

 York Medical Association for furnishing hospital 

 supplies in aid of the army) proposed to the secre- 

 tary of war the "Sanitary Commission" with the 

 " object of bringing to bear upon the health, comfort 

 and morale of our troops the fullest and ripest teach- 

 ings of sanitary science," to inquire into the sub- 

 ject of diet, cooking, cooks, tents, company grounds, 

 transports, and everything pertaining to outfits, 

 etc. ; cleanliness, precautions against dampness, 

 cold, heat, malaria, infections, crude or ill cooked 

 food, etc." The commission was ordered by the 

 secretary of war, approved by the President, June j 

 9, 1861, and organized June"l3, 1801. (See SANI- 

 TARY COMMISSION.) Similar organizations also ex- 

 i-tcd in the South during the war. 



In ISM a great stride was made in municipal 

 health legislation by the establishment in New York 

 City of the Metropolitan Health Board ; an organi- 

 zation modelled after the English Sanitary Act, with 

 ample powers to make such reforms as would secure 

 the health of the people. Its first practical work j 

 was an apparently successful contest with the 

 Asiatic cholern, which occurred that year, thereby 

 allaying apprehension at the lime, if not for the 

 future. Town or city boards of health (generally for 

 quarantine purposes) had existed for many years in 

 the large maritime cities, and more or less effort 

 was made to suppress nuisances, obtain vital statis- 

 tics, etc., but no State board of health was created 

 till Massachusetts, in 1809, took Ihe lead followed by 

 California and Virginia, 1871 ; Minnesota, 187:2 ; 

 Louisiana and Mirhigan. 187:5; Alabama, Georgia, 

 and Maryland, 1875'; Colorado, New Jersey, and 

 Wisconsin, 1870 ; Illinois, Mississippi, and Tennes- 

 see, 1877 ; Connecticut, Kentucky, Rhode Island, 

 and South Carolina, 1878 ; Delaware and North 

 Carolina, 1879; Iowa and New York, 1880; Ar- 

 kansas, Indiana, New Hampshire, and West Vir- 

 ginia, 1881; Texas, 1882; Missouri, 1883; Kansas, 

 Maine, and Pennsylvania, 1885 ; Ohio, 1886 ; Ver- 

 mont, 1888. Several of the earlier boards have been 

 reorganized and made more efficient. A board of 

 health for the District of Columbia was authorized 

 by Congress in 1871. 



The public agitation of the preservation of health 

 by hygienic measures, and the interest taken in the 

 subject by those in authority, led to the organiza- 

 tion of the American Public Health Association in 

 1872, whose object as stated by its constitution 

 "shall be the advancement of Sanitary Science and 

 the promotion of organizations and measures for the 

 practical application of public hygiene," and its 

 " members shall be selected with special reference 

 to their acknowledged interest in, or devotion to, 

 sanitary studies and allied sciences, and to the 

 practical application of the same." After its third 

 annual meetiug its success was assured, and its 

 influence has marked the progress of sanitary work 

 beyond the most sanguine hopes of its projectors. 

 Its membership numbers over 1000, comprising 



many of the brightest minds in sanitary work 

 doctors, lawyers, editors, executive officers of cities 

 and towns, sanitary engineers, sanitary plumbers, 

 and house-builders, etc. Its reports and papers are 

 teeming with information of the most valuable and 

 varied character, and its annual meetings continue, 

 as from the first, to stimulate the formation of 

 boards of health, sanitary associations, and publica- 

 tions diffusing useful knowledge throughout the 

 country. One of its members, Mr. Henry Lomb, 

 of Rochester, New York, has for several years past 

 given prizes aggregating some $1500 for the best 

 essays upon sanitary subjects, such as " Healthy 

 Homes and Foods for the Working Classes," "The 

 sanitary conditions and necessities of school-houses 

 and school life," "The preventable causes of dis- 

 ease, injury, and death in American manufactories 

 and workshops, and the best means and appliances 

 for preventing and avoiding them," etc. 



In 1875 the disinfection of houses and premises 

 by means of carbolic acid spray or steam atomizer, 

 and of streets by cart-tank and sprinkler, was prac- 

 tised in New Orleans. Ship's holds were disinfected 

 by means of burning brimstone and a blower 

 (similar to a blast furnace) forcing the sulphurous 

 gas into every part of the vessel. At New York City 

 the sanitary inspection and disinfection of vessels 

 and care of the sick arriving in them had long been 

 substituted for detention or " quarantine. " In 1870, 

 during the "Centennial International Medical 

 Congress," held in Philadelphia, hygiene was some- 

 what discussed, but no great progress was made in 

 popularizing sanitary work, though the "general 

 subject of quarantine, with particular reference to 

 cholera and yellow fever." was presented in an 

 address by Surgeon General John M. Woodworth, 

 of the Marine Hospital Service, who in conclusion 

 submitted six propositions for the consideration of 

 the section on sanitary science, which, after a 

 lengthy discussion, were adopted, as follows : 



I. The supervision of ocean travel ought to be directed to 

 securing pood sanitary conditions for vessels at all times 

 out of as well as in port. 



II. A system of port-sanitation should be adopted and, 

 administered for eueh country or place, separately, and 

 should he modified in particular cases by taking into account 

 thr liability of the port to Infection, the period of incubation 

 of tin' disease, the length of time consumed in the voyage, 

 the measures enforced by the vessel en route. 



III. In some countries the detention of passengers and 

 crews of ships hailing from infected ports is warranted, but 

 for such time only as is necessary to complete the period of 

 incubation of cholera or of yellow fever, counting from the 

 date of departure from an infected port, or of landing from 

 an infected vessel ; in no instance should passengers or 

 sailors be held for observation on board an infected vessel, 

 and such vessel should not be detained beyond the period 

 required for inspection, and for thorough disinfection and 

 cleansing. 



IV. Recognizing the fact that the morbific causes of in- 

 fectious diseases may sometimes elude the most vigilant 

 sanitary supervision of shipping, the importance of wisely 

 directed Internal sanitary measures can scarcely be over- 

 estimated. 



V. As far as America is concerned, it is desirable that 

 prompt and authoritative information should be had of the 

 shipment of passengers or goods from districts infected with 

 cholera or yellow fever, thereby Insuring the thorough dis- 

 infection of infected articles. 



VI. The endemic homes of cholera and yellow fever are 

 the fields which give the greatest promise of satisfactory 

 results to well-directed and energetic sanitary measures; 

 and to this end an International sentiment should be 

 awakened, so strong as to compel the careless and offending 

 people to employ rational means of prevention. 



These propositions, submitted twelve years ago, 

 are the basis upon which sanitarians are now work- 

 ing to advance sanitary science at home and abroad. 



At this congress the subject of "germ disease" 

 was considered in an address by Dr. Thos. E. Sat- 

 terthwaite, of New York, who stated that there 

 were three theories : (1) The vegetable-germ theory ; 



