EARLY QUARANTINE ARRANGEMENTS OF SALEM. 23 



Voted, That the said Ferry be stopt from y e 23 d day of 

 December instant until 1 such time as the Selectmen may 

 judge it safe & necessarie to open the same. 



Voted, That no inhabitant of the Town of Marblehead 

 from & after the 25th instant be admitted to reside in this 

 Town within the Town Bridge, as an inmate, boarder, or 

 tenant, untill such time as the Selectmen may judge they 

 can be allowed with safety, nor in the out parts of the town 

 without leave of the Selectmen. 



Voted, That there be a committee of five persons chosen 

 to be assisting to the Selectmen in case the small pox 

 should come into this town. 



Voted, To serve on this committee, M r James Lindall, 

 Cap* Joseph Hathorne, Cap* Tim Orne, M r Sam 11 Barton, 

 & M r Warwick Palfrey." . 



In this vote of Deer. 21, 1730, we have the germ from 

 which was developed our modern Board of Health. The 

 five citizens selected for this auxiliary function were of 

 our best. In the year 1730 the small-pox was making 

 itself a troublesome factor in public affairs. A Provin- 

 cial Act was passed empowering the several Courts of 

 Justice to abandon the shire-towns when threatened, and 

 hold lawful terms in towns not affected, and the General 

 Court itself was driven out of Boston by the pest, sitting 

 in the "College Hall" at Cambridge & in the East Meet- 

 ing House at Roxbury. 



The next year produced the following Provincial legis- 

 lation : 



An Act to prevent persons concealing the small-pox. 



Whereas it has been represented that the small-pox has 

 been designedly concealed in divers families within this 

 province, which practice greatly tends to the spreading 

 of that mortal distemper ; for remedy whereof, 



Be it enacted by His Excellency the Governour, Coun- 



