456 [Assembly 



The judgment which should be exercised in seeking medical advi- 

 sers for ourselves or our families, is equally, if not more imperative, 

 when the protection of the 800,000 members of the community is 

 concerned. 



The necessity for a medical education in an Officer of Health, may 

 be shown by instancing some of the practical duties which must be 

 performed ])y him, whether a chief or subordinate. The question 

 " what constitutes a nuisance?" is one which now divides the scien- 

 tific world. On either side are ranged the most acute and philosophic 

 minds. Experiment upon experiment has been tried, the light of 

 science and research has been profusely expended, in the endeavor 

 finally and satisfactorily to settle this question, so important to the 

 health and happiness of man. On the one hand, the public health is 

 to be protected at whatever co>.t, and on the other, private property 

 must not unnecessarily be destroyed. Can it be supposed that a de- 

 cision of this frequently intricate question by an officer who has lit- 

 tle or no knowledge of chemistry, nor physiology, nor the laws of 

 miasma, nor any other science bearing on it, will be satisfactory t6 

 the public, or to the holder of the property destroyed by his order? 

 And is it reasonable to suppose that in such hands the public weal 

 can be secured against the influence of disease — generating nuisances? 

 Such an officer should always be able to assign the most conclusive 

 and satisfactory reasons for his acts. The severest acumen, and most 

 rigid search, are frequently, for a time, at fault in detecting the source 

 of a wide-spreading pestilence — this city has repeatedly been visited 

 by endemic diseases, and has greatly suffered in reputation and in- 

 terest in consequence of a want of energetic and capable officers 

 early to detect and remove the latent cause of the disorder ; and 

 where learning and experience have sometimes been baffled in the 

 discovery, or right estimate, of the sources of general sickness, it is 

 folly to suppose that ignorance and inexperience, though associated 

 with moral worth, can infuse confidence in the community, or give 

 to it safety or credit. 



The nature of the products of decomposition must, therefore, be 

 thoi^oughly understood, before a correct conclusion can be arrived at, 

 for upon them it depends, whether the decaying matters are capable 

 of generating disease in the human frame. And here we find the 

 nicest distinctions necessary. For example, putrefying vegetable 

 matter, in general, is believed to be a prolific source of disease, but 

 there is a wide difference between different vegetables ; some are al- 

 most innocuous, while others are exceedingly baneful. Some, while 



