of deaths. All these records should be carefully preserved, so that any person may be able to identify the exact spot where a friend or connection was deposited. The precise quantity of land, in acres or parts of acres, in each ground, should be entered on the plan.

XXXIV. WE RECOMMEND that measures be taken to preserve the lives and the health of passengers at sea, and of seamen engaged in the merchant service.

Vessels at sea are the floating habitations of living beings; and in these, as in dwellings on the land, the air may be corrupted by over-crowding, filth, and other causes, and thus become a fruitful source of disease. "Of all known poisons," says Dr. Combe, "that produced by the concentrated effluvia from a crowd of human beings, confined within a small space, and neglectful of cleanliness, is one of the worst; and in ships where ventilation is not enforced,-especially if the passengers are dirty in their habits, and much kept below by bad weather, -it frequently operates with an intensity which no constitution can long resist." "The occurrence of a single case of fever on board a merchant-vessel, and much more the spreading of disease among a ship's crew or its passengers, is, prima facie, evidence of neglect,-neglect of removable causes of disease; causes which might be certainly obviated by simple and inexpensive means, and for the prevention of which, therefore, the well-being of large classes requires that securities should be provided. That such securities should be provided for the crews and passengers of ships, their peculiar situation when overtaken by sickness appears to render peculiarly necessary. They are restricted to a narrow space; they cannot shift their locality; they cannot alter, in any way, the sanitary condition of the vessel; and they are out of the direct reach of civil authority, all which peculiarities seem to be special reasons, calling for general sanitary regulations."

"A foul ship is not only a centre of disease to those on board, but a source of disease to her neighborhood. From a variety of evidence it appears indisputable that, while the foul state of a ship's hold is the frequent cause of malignant fever to her crew, the air issuing from such a hold, and the cargo

taken from it, are capable of producing disease in the neighborhood of the wharf where the unloading takes place, and of affecting persons who come on board from the shore. Observations of this kind have led to the apprehension and belief that epidemic diseases may be introduced from one country into another in this manner; and, were this possible, the actual condition of ships in general would afford the most perfect nidus for the incubation and development of pestilential virus that human ingenuity could devise. That a foul ship should produce disease in those who go on board of her, or near her, is no more surprising than that a foul chamber should do so."'

Without attempting in this place to recommend a specific system of sanitary regulations for ships, we urge, in general terms, upon merchants, sea-faring men, and others interested, the great importance of the subject. Dryness, ventilation, and cleanliness, should be enforced in every department of the ship; foul and putrid cargoes should be avoided; and every means used, by proper diet and regimen, to preserve the health of the seamen and passengers. Sanitary improvement was early introduced on board ships, as we shall presently show; and a great number of human lives have consequently been saved. In no department of social economy can preventive measures have a greater influence. Boards of Health might do a good service to humanity, by issuing a simple and judicious code of sanitary regulations for ships.2

1 Report of the General Board of Health on Quarantine, p. 108, 110.

The Introduction to the Statistical Reports on the Health of the Navy, already referred to, (p. 37,) and the Reports of the General Board of Health of England on Quarantine, contain many very valuable suggestions on this subject, to which we refer those interested. We extract from the latter work (pp. 115-118) an account of one regulation, which has had great influence:

"It is stated that when the system of transportation was first adopted, in some of the earlier voyages full one-half of those who embarked were lost; later, on the passage to New South Wales, as in the 'Hillsborough,' out of 306 who embarked, 100 were lost; and in another ship, the Atlas,' out of 175 embarked, 61 were lost. Yet there were no omissions palpable to common observation, or which could be distinctly proved as matter of crimination, to which responsibility might be attached. The shippers were no doubt honorable men, chargeable with no conscious designs against the lives of the human beings committed to their care, and with no unusual omissions; but their thoughts were directed by their interests exclusively to profits: they got as much freight as they could, and they saw no reason why convicts or emigrants should not put up with temporary inconveniences to make room for

cargo.

"By a simple change, (based on the principle of self interest, the most uniform, general, and, when properly directed, really beneficent of all principles of action,) by the short alteration of the terms of the contract, so as to apply the motive where alone there was the effectual means of prevention, by engaging to pay only for those landed alive, instead of paying for all those embarked, these extreme horrors were arrested, the generation of extensively mortal epidemics was in a short time prevented, and clean bills of health might have been

XXXV. WE RECOMMEND that the authority to make regulations for the quarantine of vessels be intrusted to the local Boards of Health.

The seventeenth section of the proposed act contains all necessary authority for making quarantine regulations. Boards. of Health in sea-port towns will be able to obtain all needful information regarding their duties, by consulting the works referred to in the appendix, and making such regulations as are adapted to their own peculiar circumstances. The extremely valuable Report of the General Board of Health of England on Quarantine, published last year, is particularly commended. Public opinion on this subject seems to have undergone a great change within a few years past.

XXXVI. WE RECOMMEND that measures be adopted for preventing or mitigating the sanitary evils arising from foreign emigration.

This recommendation involves one of the most momentous, profound, and difficult social problems ever presented to us for

given to all the ships which before would have been entitled to none. From the Report of the Select Committee on Transportation, in the year 1812, it appears that in one subsequent period, namely, from 1795 to 1801,-out of 3,833 convicts embarked, 385 died, being nearly one in ten. But since 1801, after the principle of responsibility began to be applied, out of 2398 embarked, only 52 have died, being 1 in 46. The improvement has continued up to the present time, when it amounts only to one and a half per cent., or even lower than the average mortality of such a class living on shore. The shippers themselves, without any legislative provisions, or any official supervision or regulations thereto, appointed medical officers, or surgeons, and put the whole of the convicts under their charge; the shippers attested their own sense of the propriety, sound policy, and efficiency of the principle, by voluntarily adopting it, and applying it to each ship-surgeon in charge, whose remuneration was made dependent on the number of passengers landed alive.

"The alteration, stimulated by the self-interest of the ship-surgeons or officers engaged in that service, led to highly important practical results as to the means of securing health and preventing disease. In the course of the sanitary inquiries which have served as the basis of legislation, a surgeon who had the charge of transport ships described the toils of his service during long voyages, his sleeplessness on stormy nights, his getting out of his hammock to see that the wearied sailors, whom he would not trust to themselves, took off their wet clothes and put on a proper change before they turned in; and he narrates how he was complimented on his sentiments of active benevolence, when he frankly owned that he was really only entitled to praise for vigilance to his own interests. Some benevolent and intelligent shipowner had taken care that the sailors as well as the passengers should be included in his contract for remuneration. He acknowledged it was that which kept his thoughts intent on the means of preserving their health, as well as saving his own trouble in merely treating illness when it occurred, which alone, in consequence of a vicious short-sightedness, is ordinarily considered the surgeon's sole duty, and not that of giving general advice or directions for the preservation of health.

"In cases of contracts on these terms for the transport of troops, where the officers in command had forgotten to provide surgeons for their care, the pecuniarily responsible shippers had not failed to provide them.

"The same principle of pecuniary responsibility has also been partially applied to the transport of pauper emigrants, with complete success, as far as the experiment has been made; affording a result which stands out in strong contrast with the horrible events on board vessels where this principle has not been applied.

"There is strong reason to believe, from recent experience, that the general adoption of this principle in its full extent would do more to meet the formidable difficulties of these emigration ships, than the best devised system of inspection in the absence of this principle."

solution. When carefully examined with its attendant circumstances, the view presented is startling and sickening. Every man in whose veins courses any puritan blood, as he looks back upon the events of the past, or forward to the hopes of the future, is appalled and astounded. Public attention has been frequently called to this most important matter. We desire again to present the subject, with a special view to its sanitary relations. And we earnestly hope that the few facts which we shall now give, even if they come in the shape of figures and statistics, will arrest notice and careful consideration. In making an application of these facts and statements, it should be recollected that they are made concerning classes. There are individuals who are highly worthy, and are not obnoxious to the general character of the whole class.

The Report on the Census and Statistics of Boston, for 1845, first gave the birth-place of the inhabitants, and stated that the foreigners and their children were then 37,289, or 32.61 per cent. of the whole population; and that there arrived in Boston, during the nine years previous, 50,000 alien passengers,— 33,436 by water, and the remainder by land, increasing annually from 1,262, in 1838, to 8,550, in 1845.

From the facts we have since collected, it appears that 15,504 arrived by water, in 1846; 24,245, in 1847; 25,042, in 1848; and 34,873, in 1849, making 99,658; and that others arrived by land sufficient to make the whole number equal to 125,000 within the last four years.1

1 "I have boarded," in 1849, says Mr. Monroe, Superintendent of Alien Passengers, "ten hundred and seventeen vessels, in which were brought the following numbers:

"Number of those who had been in the State before,

3,912

Number for which bonds have been taken,

2,598

Number for which head money has been received,

11,548

Number for which no security or tax has been received, as per decision of
Supreme Conrt,

16,815

Total,

34,873

"The foregoing passengers were from the following ports, in such vessels as is hereunto annexed, viz.:

We estimate the increase of the population of Boston, during this period, at about 23,000; and that the whole of this increase was of foreigners. The American residents are believed to be no more numerous now than in 1845.1

Of 1,133 intentions of marriage entered by the City Registrar, in Boston, from July 12th, when the record commenced, to December 31, 1849, the foreigners were 621, or 55 per cent. ; and the Americans only 45 per cent.! The actual marriages show a still greater proportion of foreigners.

Of 5,031 children born in Boston, in 1849, and returned to the Registrar's office, 3,149, or 62 per cent., were the children of foreigners, and 38 per cent. only, of Americans.

Boston has paid on the average, for the last four years, about $1,100,000 taxes; of this sum, $350,000 per annum is for the benefit of the public schools; and half of that sum, or $175,000, for the education of children of foreign parents, most of whom contribute little or nothing to the public expenses, in taxation or otherwise. And in many cases the admission of great numbers of these children excludes children of American parents.

The City Marshal of Boston estimated, in January, 1849, that there were 1,500 truant and vagabond children in the city, between the ages of 6 and 16 years, who, from neglect and bad habits, were unfit to enter the public schools; and of 1,066 whom he actually enumerated, 963, or 90.3 per cent., were foreigners, and 103, or 9.7 per cent., only, were Americans!

The Boston Society for the Prevention of Pauperism, in their office for providing employment for females, have received, during the last five years, applications for employment from 15,697 females, of whom 14,044, or 90 per cent., were foreigners, and 10 per cent. only were Americans. And at the

"The principal part of those arrived are Irish laborers, say three fourths, and the balance from all nations, of all professions and occupations.

"The condition of the passengers, so far as relates to their health, (notwithstanding the cholera has been among them to some extent,) has been better than the two preceding years, but their poverty is full up to the usual standard. Not only have large families of children been sent for by their parents, who have managed to get money sufficient to pay their passage to this country, but many orphan children and paupers, of the most unfortunate kind, assisted (by their landlord) to this country, and will very soon become inmates of our public institutions, in fact, many are already there."

1 While this sheet is passing through the press, the State census of the City has been published; and it appears that the population is now 138,788,-of whom 63,320, or 45.62" per cent., are foreigners. This proves the correctness of the above estimate, and shows a decrease of 1,879 Americans, and an increase of 26,031, or 13 per cent., of foreigners.