20 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIII. No. 836 



for which cholera is the spark. A commun- 

 ity had better remove the gunpowder than 

 try to beat off the spark; for in spite of 

 their efforts, however frantic, this may at 

 any time reach the powder, and if it does, 

 is sure to blow them to pieces." The next 

 great problem that New York City must 

 solve will be that of sewage disposal. It 

 will involve an expense vastly greater than 

 the colossal sum now being spent for the 

 magnificent new water supply. 



Half the cost of living goes to pay for 

 food. The centralization of population re- 

 quires its transportation to the centers, but 

 it does not enforce its exposure, uncovered 

 in the streets or shops, where it collects the 

 dirt and attracts flies. For a century it 

 has been known that certain kinds of food 

 could be preserved for later consumption 

 without injury to health. There is no ob- 

 jection now to the preservation of food, 

 provided it is done in the proper, that is, 

 harmless manner. The adulteration and 

 sophistication of food are outgrowths of 

 the development of the city and the im- 

 proved means for world-wide transporta- 

 tion, coupled with the degeneracy of those 

 who live by bartering and their desire for 

 luxuries. The chemist has been the Car- 

 touche and Sherlock Holmes in the abom- 

 inable business. Yet ignorance and disre- 

 gard for the consequences so long as gain 

 resulted have been behind the supply of 

 one particiilar food, milk, which is the 

 main support of the weak and helpless. 

 The government has formulated satisfac- 

 tory laws against the adulteration of the 

 coin of the realm and enforces them vigor- 

 ously. We have food laws now, but they 

 are not satisfactory, nor are they always 

 properly enforced. In fact, they can not 

 be fully enforced as long as they admit of 

 constant quibbling as to the meaning of 

 common words in our language. No doubt 

 these objections will be removed, for it is a 



time of fuller awakening to the conscience 

 of our civic value. 



Clothing which has been exposed to such 

 infectious diseases as diphtheria and small- 

 pox, is now destroyed or duly disinfected, 

 at least theoretically. This is not the case 

 with clothing, either second-hand or new 

 clothing, made in the sweatshops, where we 

 know tuberculosis is rampant. Clothing 

 thus serves as a means for the spread of in- 

 fectious diseases. This can be stopped by 

 requiring new clothing to be thoroughly 

 disinfected before allowing it on the 

 market, or, better, by applying the old 

 Mosaic law enjoining the strictest cleanli- 

 ness. Moses really anticipated our modern 

 sanitary laws, for cleanliness is the begin- 

 ning and the end. The existence of sweat- 

 shops is one very dark blot upon the page 

 of our vaunted civilization. 



The problems of city sanitation no 

 doubt can all be solved with unlimited 

 means and unrestricted legal power and 

 the machinery for exercising it. Practi- 

 cally, however, the economies involved af- 

 fect the situation. Successful manufac- 

 turing enterprises usually begin with 

 experimental plants and furthermore keep 

 them constantly in operation afterwards as 

 an economic means of improving their effi- 

 ciency. Some cities have appreciated this 

 principle as shown in the Lawrence Ex- 

 periment Station at Boston. But these 

 things cost money and all know what 

 influence "taxes" are made to play in all 

 political campaigns. It appears not un- 

 frequently that the excuse is offered on the 

 part of budget committees, or similar reg- 

 ulating bodies, for not apportioning ap- 

 propriations, ' ' we can not afford research. ' ' 

 No political party could leave a more last- 

 ing monument, if it went out of existence, 

 than the establishment of the principle 

 that a great city can not afford not to es- 

 tablish experimental stations. If the leaks 

 are stopped, there will be plenty left not 



