1870. 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



319 



if not, in what form could her failure be mani- 

 fested more directly in the line of our efforts 

 than has been done in those sections where 

 milk has been made a specialty ? Is not na- 

 ture herself offering, by this very disease, to 

 aid us in our purpose to make the cow a mere 

 milk machine ? 



For the New England Farmer, 



MASSACHUSETTS STATE BOAED OF 



HEALTH. 



Look out for Poison— Poison in the Air— - 



Poison in the Water. 



BT JDDGE FRENCH. 



The health of the community is of public 

 importance. The State needs the labor, phy- 

 sical and mental, of every citizen. The imbe- 

 cile, whether in body or mind, is a public bur- 

 den, a tax on other men's ability. It is, there- 

 fore, a primary duty of the State, in every 

 proper way to limit the number of the feeble, 

 the insane, the idiotic, the sick, just as it les- 

 sens the number of the ignorant and vicious, 

 by means of schools and colleges. With this 

 view, by an act of June, 1869, the legislature 

 established a State Board of Health, to consist 

 of seven persons, to be appointed by the Gov- 

 ernor and Council. Their duty is "to make 

 sanitary investigations and inquiries In respect 

 to the health of the people, the causes of disease 

 and especially of epidemics and the sources 

 of mortality and the effects of localities, em- 

 ployments, conditions and circumstances on 

 the public health," to advise the government 

 in regard to the location of any public insti- 

 tutions, and make annual leports of their 

 doings, with such suggestions as to legislative 

 action as they may deem necessary. They 

 are also charged with investigating the effects 

 of intoxicating liquors as a beverage. 



The board has been organized by the choice 

 of Dr. Henry I. Bowditch, as President, and 

 Dr. George Derby, as Secretary, and has 

 made Its first report. 



Probably no persons in the Commonwealth 

 are better qualified for their Important posi- 

 tions than the two gentlemen named. The 

 paper contains a report upon slaughtering for 

 Boston mark-Gt, and a report on the sale of 

 poisons, and closes with general observations 

 on The Prevention of Disease. To two of 

 the topics most prominent, as affecting public 

 health, I wish to call the attention of your 

 readers. There are some things beyond the 

 power of the State to control, such as our 

 food and drink and clothing, and warmth and 

 ventilation In our private houses, and our per- 

 sonal habits of cleanliness or healthfal exer- 

 cise. These circumstances may indeed be 

 greatly influenced by correct public sentiment 

 and by Instruction through various channels. 



Another class of subjects bearing on public 

 health may be controlled by police regulations, 



such as the management of slaughter houses, 

 the drainage of towns and villages, the supply 

 of pure water and the prevention of disease 

 by contagion, as by vaccination. The great 

 point dwelt upon In this report is 



Pure Air. 



One would think that in the month of March 

 In New England, fresh air mlj^ht be abundant 

 and cheap, but the want of It kills, perhaps, more 

 than all other causes combined. We can see our 

 food, and we can smell it and taste, so that 

 we have several chances of testing Its qualities. 

 What would you think of a man who should 

 go to a neighbor's to dinner and sit down at 

 the table and open his mouth and shut his 

 eyes and tell one of the children or servants 

 to pour in whatever solid or fluid was con- 

 venient. 



Now we do even worse than this as to the 

 air we breathe. To be sure we cannot usu- 

 ally see the atmosphere or taste It, and I wish 

 we could not so often smell It. But whether 

 we can thus test it or not. It Is of far more 

 consequence to health than food. 



We may live for days without food, we die 

 in five minutes without air, and we die nearly 

 or quite as quickly in a well, filled with certain 

 gases, or in a close room with a pan of char- 

 coal. Yet we think It a hardship to go to 

 bed without a supper, and make provisions 

 over night for our breakfast, while the little 

 circumstance of whether we shall breathe poi- 

 son all night for want of ventilation, does not 

 disturb us. 



Twenty grown-up men will shut themselves 

 up with an air-tight stove in a close room fif- 

 teen feet square to hold a farmer's club, and 

 a majority of them will feel rather injured at 

 the suggestion that air is necessary to respira- 

 tion ; and there is a town, not far from some of 

 us, where a high school house has been lately 

 built at a cost of $12,000, without any provi- 

 sion whatever for ventilation, and where 

 there are some smaller schoolhouses practlcall}' 

 In the same predicament. 



Think a moment, reader, if the thought doe.s 

 not make you sick, what sort of mixture you 

 are breathing in a close room full of people. 

 A single whiff of a cigar in that room will be 

 perceived by every person in It in ten seconds, 

 which seems to show that the single breath of 

 smoke from one man's lips polutes all the air 

 In the room, and a portion of It goes Into 

 every other person's lungs. Not to put too 

 fine a point upon It, is not it a pleasing reflection 

 that a substantial portion of what comes out 

 of every pair of lungs passes through your 

 delicate mouth many times a minute. We 

 who are so squeamish about drinking from 

 another's glass, or even using another's napkin, 

 upon what horrors do we daily and nightly 

 sup, for want of a constant change of air. 



The two great causes of consumption, says 

 our report, are first, "collective indoor occu- 

 pations, which may be regarded as almost sy- 



