430 [Assembly 



certain persons and places within the city, (with power to remove) 

 where and by whom all those infectious and contagious maladies 

 may be manufactured, and of such a quality, too, as to be perhaps 

 more dangerous than those of foreign growth. 



In regard to your sixth question, "Whether there are not many 

 families who would like to be aided and instructed in the best mode 

 of improving the condition of their dwellings, and would be glad to 

 receive the visits of such an officer?" I answer, that the feeling 

 with which such an officer would be received, must materially de- 

 pend on the ability and tact with which he would discharge a duty 

 so delicate — for delicate indeed it must be to interfere with the pri- 

 vate concerns of any individual, however poor he may be — that 

 clafms to be one of the independent citizens of the United States — 

 one of the sovereign people ! However, I do not believe, though the 

 task should be arduous, but that some such regulations might be in- 

 troduced into our city, with the happiest results Yet I should per- 

 fectly despair of the success of any such sanitary measures if adopt- 

 ed, should those who have the power of appointing the necessary 

 officers, manifest the same reckless indifference to their talents and 

 attainments in medical skill and science, as we have sometimes here- 

 tofore had the misfortune to see manifested in the appointment of 

 health officers. 



I have now gone through with your questions, dear sir, and an- 

 swered them according to the best of my ability, and the limited 

 time allotted me; but not perhaps in a way that will be satisfactory 

 to yourself, or available for the public good. You will, however, I 

 have no doubt, in your kindness, take " the will (in this instance) to 

 serve," for the deed. 



But before I close this already long communication, I beg leave to 

 suggest to you one thing to be brought forward in some part of your 

 work, viz: to show the far greater propriety and necessity of having 

 an Inspector General, with plenty of sub-officers, who shall deter- 

 mine where, and what kind of a house shall be built for a human be- 

 ing, or a family to inhabit; and how much room — and how many 

 rooms, shall be rented to families consisting of so many persons, and 

 such sexes, than an inspector general and his posse, to examine dead 

 beef and pork, flour, tobacco, &c., that nobody is forced to buy or 

 use if bad, while the poor are literally forced by poverty and griping 

 landlords, to live in dens and holes, where immorality and death 

 are speedily engendered. Yet still farther and above all, do, my dear 



