IOWA ACADEMY OP SCIENCE 
23 : 
These references are sufficient to show that the people, and evidently 
the medical profession as well, were especially concerned with the spor- 
adic diseases as cholera and small pox, and not to any great degree with 
those that were commonly present. They indicate also that the presence 
of filth was presumably the primary cause of the continuation and spread 
of these diseases, and perhaps also a factor in their origin. 
The evident need of some action to conserve the public health was 
sufficiently realized in the early days, that the charters of the towns 
contain provision for health ordinances. In the charter of the town of 
Fort Des Moines, approved Jan. 18, 1853, is the following in Section 19 : 
‘ ‘ The Town Council is vested with authority to make and establish such 
by-laws and ordinances as are necessary and proper for the good reg- 
ulation, safety and health of the town and the citizens thereof 
Other sections in the charter of the City of Des Moines as formulated 
in. 1857, have reference to the conduct of the markets. In 1876, the Des 
Moines city council passed ‘ ‘ an ordinance in relation to health, ’ ’ of 32 
sections, giving general rules and regulations. The ordinance pertains 
more directly to the prevention and abatement of nuisances, disposal 
of garbage, regulation and control of slaughter houses, than to the estab- 
lishment of quarantine. On Aug. 28, 1878, a health regulation was 
passed requiring physicians to report contagious diseases to the board 
of health. When such report was received by the board of health the 
chairman of the board could have a printed placard placed on the outside 
of the building or dwelling, or door, or room, of such disease whenever, 
in his opinion, it was necessary. Any physician neglecting or refusing to 
perform the duties required by the health ordinance was subject to a 
fine. Parents or guardians of children were required not to permit the 
children to attend public or private school after it became known that 
any of the family had any infectious or contagious disease. Violators 
of the requirement were subject to a fine. Principals or teachers of' 
private or public schools were required to cause removal of any pupils 
from school from families where infectous diseases were known to exist, 
and such' pupils were to be refused readmittance until it was known 
that the premises had been disinfected and the disease eradicated. Vio- 
lators were subject to a fine. The board of health could adopt rules and 
regulations for improvement of the sanitary condition of the city. 
•One of the duties of the council of the city of Davenport, as indicated 
in Article 5, Section 2, of the Act to Incorporate, approved Feb. 5, 1851, 
is, “to make regulations to prevent the introduction of contagious dis- 
eases into the city, to make quarantine laws for that purpose, and en- 
force the same within, five miles of the city ; to establish hospitals and 
