may know what we mean; so that they may be able, if they choose, to carry our recommendations into practical operation; and so that, if thus applied, they will add to their physical power, and increase their intellectual, social, and personal happiness.1

It should be borne in mind, however, that this report is designed to suggest a plan for a sanitary survey of the State, and not to contain the survey itself. We were authorized, however, by the resolve, to embrace a statement of such facts and suggestions as we might think proper to illustrate the subject. And as this is, in some respects, a report introductory to other useful information, which may hereafter be diffused, if our recommendations should be adopted, it has seemed to us that it would be instructive and proper here, to make a general survey of what has been suggested, and what has already been done on the subject, abroad and at home. Without such a view, we cannot wisely form a plan for our own guidance. We have accordingly been at no inconsiderable labor and expense, to obtain the most recent authentic information concerning the history and present condition of the sanitary movement; and we shall proceed to give some of the results of the investigation, before presenting our plan for a sanitary survey of this State.

I. THE SANITARY MOVEMENT ABROAD.

The sanitary movement goes back to great antiquity, and is traced up to the direct revelation of the Supreme Lawgiver. "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die," may be regarded as the first sanitary as well as moral precept. And from that time, down through the patriarchal ages, there is evidence that the preservation of health was inculcated as one of the primitive duties. The sanitary laws revealed to the Jews, constituted a part of their religion. The regulations for cleanliness, purification, protection from contagious diseases, and for the general preservation of health, are said to have

1 The valuable Reports of the Commissions, heretofore existing in Massachusetts, are of considerable length. That on Insects contains 460 pages; that on Invertebrata, 374 pages; that on Fishes, Reptiles, and Birds, 416 pages; and that on Trees and Shrubs, 547 pages besides illustrative plates in each. The first of these reports has been ordered to be reprinted this year. It would be reasonable to suppose that 'MAN was entitled to a consideration equal to either of these subjects.

been well adapted to the country in which they lived, and are still observed by the Arabs in that climate.

The advantages of public health were known in many of the cities of Greece, at the height of her civilization. The Spartans paid great attention to the physical education of young men and young women, and trained them to temperance, sobriety, and athletic exercises. Plato and Aristotle thought that no city could exist, without health officers; and Epaminondas, Demosthenes, and Plutarch, served in that capacity. Hippocrates, "the Father of Medicine," considered a knowledge of the causes of disease essential to the physician. When asked, "Who is the physician that is an honor to his profession?" he replied, "He who has merited the esteem and confidence of the public, by profound knowledge, long experience, consummate integrity; who has been led through the whole circle of the sciences; who has a due regard to the seasons of the year, and the diseases which they are observed to produce, to the states of the wind peculiar to each country, and the qualities of its waters; who marks carefully the localities of towns, and of the surrounding country, whether they are low or high, hot or cold, wet or dry; who, moreover, neglects not to mark the diet and regimen of the inhabitants, and, in a word, all the causes that may produce disorder in the animal economy." In conformity with the above observations, he spent a great part of his life in exploring the islands of the Grecian seas, and of the Archipelago, in relation to the subject of the health of the inhabitants. His life was spent in tracing nature, and in observing and recording facts, as interpreted by her. Hence the immortality stamped upon his name and writings.

"But the Romans were the most sagacious and extensive legislators in such matters. They were in many things masters of the practical; and have left vestiges still pregnant with the wisdom of experience. With them, nothing seems to have been deemed common or unclean' that could protect the public health. We find Pliny writing to Trajan about a fetid stream passing through Amastris, as if it were an affair of state.

1 Boston Medical Journal, Vol. XV, p. 197. See also "Traité de la Salubrité," p. 14.

The cloace of the Tarquins are still among the architectural wonders of the world. The censors, ediles, and curators, who at different periods had charge of the buildings, and of the apparatus for the removal of impurities, were invested with great powers for the execution of their functions, and derived a corresponding dignity from them. The arrangements for supplying the houses of Rome with water were most minute. Those for ventilation and drainage, still traceable in the several remains of Roman amphitheatres, have struck our most advanced sanitarians with surprise at their remarkable adaptation to their purpose; while Mr. Chadwick tells the commissioners of sewers that he has lately received from a friend in Zurich a specimen of exactly such an earthenware pipe as he is now recommending for the distribution of sewage. It had been laid down by the Romans, and 'has worked until recent times under 500 feet of pressure!' Indeed, it is easy to see from Vitruvius, and from portions of the collection of Grævius, that the rules and operations for the protection of health in Rome, were of a very radical and peremptory character, and allowed no minor interests to interfere with them. It seems to have been a rule with them, that from the time when the foundation of a city was laid, to that of the summit of its greatness, no structural operation, public or private, should be permitted to take a shape which might render it a harbor either for disease or crime; and it is to this vigilant forethought that, in the absence of other organising agencies discovered only in our later times, we may attribute the success with which that remarkable people preserved social order, throughout so dense and vast a mass of human beings as the inhabitants of the imperial city in the days of its greatness."

The cause of public health received a fatal check, when Rome fell. What was previously known, perished on the invasion of the barbarians, and in the general wreck of civilization. Some dietetic precepts, derived from the Greeks and Romans, were retained, but they were devoid of practical utility. It does not appear that any sanitary regulations existed, from the seventh to the fourteenth centuries. In those dark ages, the

1 Edinburgh Review, Vol. XCI, for January and April, 1850, pp. 214, 405.

people lived without rule of any kind; and consequently, frightful epidemics often appeared, to desolate the land. Although so ancient, few subjects have since made so slow and so little progress, as the science of public health.

In France, in 1350, King John II established the first Sanitary Police; and this has been considered the commencement of sanitary reform. The ordinance provided, that hogs should not be kept in cities; that streets should be cleansed, and the offal removed; that butchers should not sell meat more than two days old in winter, and one and a half in summer; and that fish should be sold the same day they were caught. Ordinances in 1486 and 1497, excluded potteries from the centre of Paris. Soap is said to have been unknown, until the fifteenth century. In 1567, and at later periods, tan-yards, dye-houses, and like establishments, were required to be located out of the towns, and near the water. Henry IV quieted the people of Paris, who were alarmed at the use of English coal, by obtaining from the physicians a declaration that no harm could come of it. L. Reyn consulted the physicians on the manufacture of bread. Instructions were given, but unfortunately they were not carried out. The greatest number of houses, in cities, had no privies, in the sixteenth century. The ancient parts of cities show that the streets were narrow and crooked, and the houses low, damp, and without light or air. Paving and lighting the streets are modern inventions. The last part of the

There are three terms which are sometimes used, when speaking of public health,1. Industrial Police; 2. Sanitary Police; and 3. Medical Police,-which it may be proper

to define.

1. By Industrial Police is meant, the laws and regulations concerning the occupations of the people. Under it are included regulations for the location, and for preventing the location, of healthy or unhealthy trades; the hours of labor, &c., and the officers and agents by which they are controlled.

2. By Sanitary Police is meant, laws and regulations for the prevention of disease, and promotion of health. Under it are included the laws establishing, and the regulations of, boards of health; regulations for cleansing and purifying cities, villages, and private establishments; removal of nuisances, burying the dead, &c.; and the officers or agents by which these matters are carried forward.

3. By Medical Police is meant, laws and regulations for the cure of disease. Under it are included laws prescribing the qualifications and duties of physicians, apothecaries, midwives, &c.; the regulations for their own government among themselves; and the officers and agencies by which they are controlled.

Industrial, sanitary, and medical police, exist in nearly all the governments on the continent of Europe, and will be illustrated to some extent in this report. Those who wish more particular information on these matters, are referred to the lists of books and articles in the appendix; and also to the German work, "FRANK (Johann Peter) System einer vollstændigen medicinischen Polizey:" Complete System of Medical Police, 6 vols., 8vo;-to an article on Medical Police, in the Westminster Review, Vol. XLV, for 1846, p. 56; and to the works there reviewed. Also, Transactions Am. Med. Association, Vol. II, p. 326.

eighteenth century wrought some improvements, but public health did not become a well-ordered measure, until the commencement of the nineteenth century.

The first permanent "Conseil de Salubrité,"-Council of Health, designed especially for the city of Paris, was established by Dubois, the Prefect of the Police, on the 6th July, 1802, and was modified by new decrees in 1810 and 1815. The services of this council are rendered gratuitously, yet it has been considered a great honor to belong to it. It was at first composed of four members,-MM. Deyeux, Parmentier, Huzard, senior, and Cadet-Gassicourt. It has since been increased to twenty-four, besides the president and secretary.

In 1803, M. Thouret was called to the council; afterwards, in 1807, Leroux and Dupuytren; in 1810, M. Pariset replaced M. Thouret, and it was at the same period that the nomination of Dr. Petit took place. From that time, the men of the greatest consideration sought to have a part in the labors of the "Conseil de Salubrité." Thus we see enter successively, M. d'Arcet, in 1813; M. Marc, in 1815; M. Berard, in 1817; the engineer Girard, and Huzard, junior, in 1819; Pelletier and Juge, in 1821; M. Gautier de Claubry, and M. Parent-Duchâtelet, in 1825; MM. Adelon, Andral, junior, Barruel, and Labarraque, in 1828; Dr. Esquirol in 1829; afterwards MM. Payen and Boussingault, members of the institute; Dr. Flandin; M. Begin, member of the council of health for the army; and M. Bruzand, architect; and other great men of the nation. MM. Deyeux, Parmentier, Huzard, senior, Cadet-Gassicourt, Thouret, Leroux, Dupuytren, Marc, Girard, Parent-Duchâtelet, Barruel, Esquirol, Pelletier, de Larrey, de Bouillon-Lagrange, de D'Arcet, d'Olivier, (d'Angers,) de Rohault de Fleury, no longer live to direct the labors of the council, and contribute their long experience and indefatigable activity.

This council is merely consultative. Its advice, in all matters submitted to it, is considered and acted upon by the administration. Its labors and decisions are, however, held in so high estimation, that they are seldom if ever reversed. Their reports

See Traité de la Salubrité, pp. 23 and 25; also, pp. 319-359, where the ordinances appear. Anuales d' Hygiene publique, tome I, p. 13.