COMMON SENSE S ANITA TION. 147 



we the originators of the world, or did it produce us, or is there a great third Be- 

 ing? If an atom is a vortex, as they say, what is it a vortex of? We talk very 

 learnedly of laws of nature, but they are but the expressions of the controlled mo- 

 tion of things. Behind them lies an insoluble mystery. 



In conclusion Mr. Dawson discussed the three theories of Herbert Spencer 

 as to the origin of things "self-existing" or "self-created" or "created by external 

 agency," and raised a laugh by saying that the possibility of creation by an agen- 

 cy within had never occurred to Mr. Spencer. Mr. Dawson's deduction was 

 that science is not inconsistent with the view of a superhuman power as ex- 

 plaining the origin, design and continuance of things. — Philadelphia Times. 



MEDICINE AND HYGIENE. 



COMMON SENSE SANITATION. 



THEO. S. CASE, KANSAS CITY. 



The difficulty of securing the proper healthfulness of cities and dwellings 

 seems to be that the people have come to regard sanitation a "scientific" matter, 

 to be conceived and projected only by doctors and engineers and to be executed 

 oniy by expensive and predaceous plumbers, by means of labyrinthine and imper- 

 fect pipes and illusory ventilatros, which are prone to perverse and baneful mis- 

 direction of their contents. 



The idea of "dirt" is obscured and over-slaughed by technical terms like 

 "fever germs," "bacteria," "pollution," "sewer gas," etc, until the ordinary cit- 

 izen is appalled and led to regard the washing of his face or the cleansing of his 

 cistern as the feeblest and most useless of defenses against enemies so mighty and 

 omnipresent. 



When, however, we come to examine the most perfect systems of sanitation 

 for cities, the gigantic developments of sanitary engineering in the metropolitan 

 cities of London, New York, etc. , combined with the most modern hygienic im- 

 provements in the building of houses and the treatment of the human body, we 

 find that the success of the whole structure depends upon 



1. Personal cleanliness. 



2. Household cleanliness. 



3. Municipal cleanliness. 



All the legislation conceivable will be of no service in preserving the health 

 of a city unless the first of these is observed, and it is there that the work should 

 commence. 



Free baths, with whatever of compulsion is necessary to make that class of 



