I would that I could burn the red dots upon this map, every one of which is a house of mourning, as with an indelible brand into the brain of every one who looks upon it, so that ever afterward, when the word diphtheria met his gaze or fell upon his ear, the course of these serpentine sewers thickly clustered with their fruitage of death, might start into relief before his mind's eye, and the thought of sewer-gas instantly be present with him. The increased interest which has been manifested by the public in matters relating to sanitary science in the city of Philadelphia during the past season has been very encouraging. Under the auspices of that useful organization, the Social Science Association, two highly instructive lectures were delivered by the well-known writer on Sanitary Engineering, Col. Geo. E. Waring, of Newport, R. I., to large and deeply interested audiences: one on the subject of "Household Drainage," the other on "Sewerage in Large Cities." Also one before the same association by the author of the present address, on "Sanitary Legislation in the Light of History," being a plea for the establishment of a State Board of Health in this Commonwealth. Finally a valuable paper was read before the Engineers' Club of Philadelphia, by Mr. Rudolph Hering, on "Philadelphia's Drainage." The large amount of space which was allotted to these essays in the daily press was an indication, not simply of the value which its managers attributed to them, but of an actual and lively demand for such information on the part of its readers. APPENDIX. During the past year, the following appliances, contrivances, or plans for preventing disease, have been brought to the notice of your Committee:: "Dr. Colburn's Porous Evaporators."-Two of these have been under observation during the entire winter. The quantity of water which they allowed to evaporate was surprising, and they certainly contributed much to maintain those qualities in the atmosphere which render it acceptable both to the lungs and the skin. Among the advantages justly claimed for this mode of evaporation may be enumerated the following: First. The vapor is produced from filtered water; the evaporation is from the vessel's surface, and approximates more nearly to that of Nature than any other artificial method heretofore used. Second. This apparatus does not give out a steam vapor. Steam in the living rooms of houses is injurious, because it opens the pores of the skin, and much increases the liability to take cold upon going into the open air. Metal pans and evaporators which get hot, must give a steam vapor if they give any. Third. Water evaporated in the cellar from pans connected with the furnace, is mostly absorbed by the furnace itself, and by the brick-work which often surrounds it, or is consumed in its passage through the hot-air pipes. By placing the evaporator at the register, the entire quantity of water is evaporated into the room. "The. Naphtha Cleansing Works."-In these works, articles of furniture or wearing apparel, which have been exposed to infection, are plunged bodily, no matter what their size, into a huge tank of naphtha and allowed to remain in a state of complete saturation for several hours. There can be but little doubt that the germs of disease are in this way completely deprived of vitality. The process is somewhat expensive, but, as in many cases, the only other alternative would be destruction by fire, this objection is not an insuperable one. It may be observed in this connection that Dr. John Day, of Geelong, recommends the following mixture, applied with a brush or sponge or by saturation, as a general disinfectant for furniture, woodwork, etc.: Benzine, seven parts; rectified oil of turpentine, one part; oil of verbena, five drops to every ounce. Hance's Disinfecting Evaporator consists of a frame supporting a roller over which runs a sheet of coarse muslin, or webbing, like an old-fashioned kitchen-door towel. The lower end of the frame rests in a reservoir, in which a disinfectant solution is placed. An occasional turn of the roller exposes a newly charged surface of the webbing to the atmosphere. Its best position is opposite an open window or register, through which an incoming current of air is passing. It is certainly a convenient and efficient mode of distributing a volatile disinfectant, and is worthy the attention of all who are in charge of public institutions. Mr. Lawrence Myers, of Philadelphia, has suggested a substitute for the water-closet, based upon the fact that desiccation renders fecal matter innocuous. He proposes to have a hot-air chamber in the cellar of each house, the heat for which could be supplied from a single boiler for an entire block of houses. This chamber should be air-tight except through its flues. It should contain a receptacle, running on a tramway, into which the feces should drop directly through a conical pipe, which receptacle should be removed at stated intervals and a fresh one substituted. The flue for discharging the vapor should be carried well above the roofs of all dwellings in the neighborhood. There are certainly practical difficulties in the way of directing the air currents in this plan, but our present system is so thoroughly objectionable and unsatisfactory, that every proposal looking to its abolition is welcome, and deserves consideration. STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA.1 I. CAUSES WHICH MODIFY THE HEALTH OF THE COUNTY. 1. LOCALITY: Boundaries of County, and its situation in the State. Its proximity to large rivers and the lakes; to mountain ranges; their direction and extent. 2. HYDROGRAPHY OR DRAINAGE: Size and direction of watercourses, and of the dividing ridges, or water-sheds. Extent of river bottom. Power and rapidity of streams; danger and frequency of inundation. Quantity of marshy or springy soil. Artificial water channels and reservoirs; amount of lockage. 3. TOPOGRAPHY: Area and mean altitude of County. Population and their lineage; chief avocations. Location and size of principal towns. General character of surface; principal valleys and eminences. Nature and extent of surface destitute of vegetation, tilled, covered with forest, or in grass. Agricultural produce; kinds of timber; effects of clearing and of drainage on climate; extent of artificial irrigation. 4. GEOLOGY: Geological position, actual location, dip, direction, and extent of the different formations. Character of soil, subsoil, and subjacent rock. Source and nature of water used for domestic purposes. Supply of water to towns; kind of pipes used as conduits. Map with geological features named, and colored agreeably to the order adopted by the State Geologist." 5. METEOROLOGY:3 Latitude, longitude, and altitude of observer. I See printed Transactions, vol. v. p. 52. 2 Inclose, by dotted lines with proper marginal references, those sections of the county in which epidemics have prevailed. 3 Observers for the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, as well as for the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, reside in a number of the counties, and would furnish all the meteorological information required. See page 16, Part iii. 1858. |