28 



BULLETIN OF 



Massachusetts Board of Agriculture. 



THE RELATION OF AGRICULTURE TO THE PUBLIC HEALTH. 



By Dr. Samuel W. Abbott, Secretary Massachusetts State Board of Health. 



In the study of man as a social being nothing is more evident than the 

 fact that his comfort, his happiness, his health, almost his very existence, 

 depend largely on his relation to his fellowmen. Robinson Crusoe had 

 his man Friday ; the hermit and the monk are more or less dependent 

 on the outer world, notwithstanding any vow they may have made to 

 lead a separate, isolated life. The philosopher Thoreau said, " I never 

 found the companion that was so companionable as solitude. ... It 

 would be better if there were but one inhabitant to a square mile, as 

 where I live," but even Thoreau, after living for two years as a hermit, 

 found it best to return to civilized life again. 



If this is true individually, it is true collectively. The great industrial 

 classes— artisans, mechanics, laborers, teachers, professional men, sailors, 

 fishermen, clerks and farmers — are all interdependent upon each other. 



So, in the human body, every member makes every other member 

 more useful, and each one increases the efficiency of all. The two eyes 

 make the one pair of hands more useful than a dozen pair without eyes. 

 Sir Charles Bell, in his " Essay on the Human Hand," shows that the 

 thumb makes the four fingers more serviceable than a score of fingers 

 without the thumb. "On the length, strength, free lateral motion and 

 perfect mobility of the thumb depends the power of the human hand." 



In the treatment of the subject, " The relation of agriculture to the 

 public health ", I shall deal with the question from different stand-points ; 

 first, in a subjective manner, that is to say, the effect of the occupation 

 o agriculture upon the farmer himself, and upon his family ; second, 

 the relation of the occupation of farming or agriculture to the health of 

 the communit} 7 ; and finally, in a more general way, by a comparison of 

 these two general branches with each other. 



What is the effect of the occupation of agriculture upon those who 

 have chosen this occupation ? And how may their condition be im- 

 proved ? 



