The Publisher wotild invite the attention of the public to 

 the following admirable reviews of DR. SIMON'S BOOK 

 ON FILTH DISEASES, and would iirge upon every one 

 the importance of a careful examination of the book 

 itself. 



Front the Boston Traveller. 



It is comparatively rare that a work by a thorouglJy scientific medical man comes 

 from the press in such a shape as to be of practical value to the non-professional reader. 

 Either from the terminology employed, or the subject treated, medical books and 

 reports are only to be found on the shelves of the physician's library. Such is not, 

 or should not, be the case with a small volume recently published by James Campbell, 

 of this city, it being the American reprint of a most masterly essay by John Simon, 

 chief medical officer of the Privy Council and of the Local Government Board of 

 England. The essay is most cordially commended by the members of the State Board 

 of Health of Massachusetts, and certainly no intelligent householder should fail to read 

 it carefully, and profit by the information contained in its pages. Its title, "Filth 

 Diseases and their Prevention," indicates the particular line of investigation followed 

 by Dr. Simon; and his conclusions, based on statistics and results of careful investi- 

 gation, are thoroughly logical. He assumes at starting that the raison d'etre of sanitary 

 authorities, like our boards of health, is the fact that very much disease is preventable ; 

 and that it is true that the mortality from diseases is vastly greater than it would be 

 if the existing knowledge of the causes of disease were applied. Of all the removable 

 causes of disease, Dr. Simon justly considers the chief to be uncleanliness : that is, 

 first, the non-removal of refuse matters ; and, second, the license permitted to cases 

 of infectious disease to scatter the seeds of infection. He says that a bad odor is by 

 no means a sure warning against the presence of poisonous matters. That they may 

 exist without any odor whatever, and that disinfection by no means consists in covering 

 up one bad smell by another equally offensive but more pronounced. He goes thor- 

 oughly into the subject of disinfection, and shows just how it should be done to be of 

 any value. Interesting cases are quoted, showing in what subtle ways these ferment 

 poisons, such as cause typhoid fever, are spread abroad, manifesting their results miles 

 and miles away from their source, being carried in air, water, milk, and other vehicles 

 suitable to preserve their vitality. The subjects of typhoid fever and cholera are quite 

 fully discussed in relation to their preventability, as well as the relation of cause and 

 effect which filth may bear to consumption. 



A large portion of the essay is devoted to the question of house drainage and pub- 

 lic sewerage, with suggestions of the utmost importance to every householder. Dr. 

 Simon shows just how and in what particular way the public sewers, when insufficient 

 or defectively ventilated, may become exceedingly dangerous. Apropos of this subject 

 of ventilation of sewers, it is interesting to see how his judgment coincides with that of 

 the gentlemen who opened the rain pipes into the sewers, in 1874, in this city, and for 

 which they have been soundly abused by some medical men, particularly by one re- 

 cently in the columns of a morning paper. That writer made out a frightful increase 

 in mortality by comparing statistics of 1874 and 1875, when, as he admits, the rain 

 pipes were let into the sewers during both years. He, however, unfortunately for his 

 argument, took the total mortality instead of the mortality from zymotic diseases. 

 Now, he can hardly claim that sewer gas causes apoplexy or heart disease ; and, if he 

 takes only the diseases which can be claimed to be caused by filth, he will find a very 

 gratifying decrease in the mortality in the first three months of 1875 when the sewers 

 were ventilated, as compared with the same months in 1874 when they were not. It 

 is simply because the sewers are not yet sufficiently ventilated that we occasionally 

 notice the offensive odors. Dr. Simon considers this matter of ventilation of sewers 

 of the utmost importance. His essay is delightfully clear, and free from technical 

 terms, and can be read with pleasure and profit by every person of ordinary intelligence ; 

 and, if landlords will <vct on his suggestions, much sickness and death may be prevented. 



