SANITARY SCIENCE, ETC. 427 



and it has been made not merely a study for information, but a study 

 for discipline. And here let me say that, as a starting-point for sci- 

 entific studies, the study of Hygiene and of Sanitary Science seems 

 to me to have great value. It is not, perhaps, the best point theoreti- 

 cally from which to start, but practically it has been found to be as 

 good as any other. 



Next, as to instruction in our Medical Colleges, I speak here with 

 great diffidence, for there are those about me more competent to dis- 

 course on this subject than I am. I am well aware that all the effec- 

 tive knowledge that is given to sanitary science in the country, so far 

 as its advanced branches are concerned, is now given in the medical 

 colleges. But it seems to me that not yet is sufficient place given 

 for good instruction in Public Hygiene — sufficient study of that kind 

 which gives to town authorities, county authorities, State authorities, 

 the national authority, a body of experts who can be relied upon in 

 various public emergencies, or, indeed, for ordinary care of public 

 health. 



Next, as to instruction in Departments of Engineering, and in our 

 Scientific, Polytechnic, and Technological institutions. Within the 

 past twenty-five years there has been created a science of Sanitary 

 Engineering. I say within the past twenty-five years, although I 

 know that engineering, even in ancient times, had frequent reference 

 to sanitary considerations. Any one who has walked along the Tiber 

 at Rome, as far as the mouth of the Cloaca Maxima, is well aware of 

 that ; but it is within the past twenty-five years that the science has 

 been placed on solid foundations. Vital statistics have shown the ef- 

 fects of the introduction of sunlight, of pure water, and air, into our 

 dwellings and cities, and engineering has shown us the best methods 

 of introducing them. Any one who will take up the recent work on 

 this subject by Mr. Baldwin Latham will see what great conquest has 

 here been made. The statistics show that, of seven leading towns and 

 districts in England, such as Croydon, Ely, Salisbury, and others, 

 where careful and thorough modes of sewerage prevail, the percentage 

 of deaths has been reduced from forty to twenty per cent. I also see, 

 from calculations made on the basis of Dr. Allen's tables, that there is 

 a saving to these districts pecuniarily. Taking into view the fact that, 

 for every death prevented, about twenty cases of disease are prevented, 

 I will say that, judged even from a cold financial point of view, the 

 result has been magnificent. What the result would be by good 

 modes of sanitary engineering may be judged from the statement in 

 Dr. Lionel Beales's book on "Disease Germs," which is, that by a 

 good system of sewerage 100,000 lives might be saved annually in 

 England. 



But I am aware of the opposition that will be made to any attempt 

 to introduce these studies. First, it will be said that there is little 

 material in this subject for advanced instruction, and that we know 



