Attempts have been made to show the pecuniary advantages which would result to Massachusetts by the adoption of an efficient sanitary system. The subjoined is given as an estimate, which we believe would fall far below the reality. The number of unnecessary deaths the past year, has been estimated (p. 245) at 6,000, and of cases of unnecessary sickness at 12,000. This is a direct pecuniary loss to the State. If each of these 6,000 persons had been saved, and had lived 18 years, which may be taken as the average length of the labor-period of life; or if the whole 18,000 persons who died in the State, could have lived, on the average, six years longer than they did, (and who will say that they might not more than that period?) then we have 108,000 years of lost labor on their account, which may fairly be estimated at $50 each per annum. The cost of 12,000 years of unnecessary sickness may be estimated at $50 each, and the lost labor of the sick at $100 each.

diseased knee, for which I attended her; two children had been still-born, and he had lost three others; the sickness of one of these children, which had died at fourteen of consumption, had cost him in doctors' bills 16 guineas; the sickness of the one which died eleven months old, of water on the brain, had cost him £6; the third had died fourteen days old. The expenses in the three cases had so impoverished him, that he was compelled to apply to the parish for aid for their burial. I will submit a third case-that of a cook, in receipt of 25s. per week regular wages. He was living with his wife and three children in a small, close, illconditioned room, for which he paid 5s. per week rent. He complained that the water was always 'thick,' and very disagreeable to the taste, and the smells from the sewers and the drains in the house were very bad: he had five children, of whom two had died; that he had paid doctors' bills for his wife's confinements £5 each; and for one child which died of scarlet fever, at four years of age, the doctor's bill was £4 18s.; the one which died of debility, at the age of ten weeks, cost him £1, 10s.; the funeral of the eldest child cost him £3; and the one at ten weeks, £1, 10s. He showed that the expenses of confinements, the doctors' bills, and the undertakers' bills, and the illness of his wife, arising from five miscarriages, had so impoverished him, that having now two children ill with scrofula, he was obliged, though reluctantly, to apply to the dispensary for relief. The last case I will submit to the commissioners is that of a shoemaker, a good workman, who earns 20s. a week: he pays 5s. a week for one small, miserable room, in a narrow court; he has had seven children, of whom he has lost five, for which he has paid in doctors' bills between £2 and £3 each; the expense of his wife's confinements amounted to £3, 15s, each; the expenses of the funerals of the five children were between £3 and £4 each: his wife's age was thirty-two, his own age thirty-seven, and at this age of thirty-seven he continually suffered from nervous depression; and having one of his two other children with a lingering disease-a scrofulous affection of the hip-he was compelled to come to the dispensary: he complained that the water of his house was never clear, and never sweet. A man in receipt of 30s. per week's wages, considering his amount of rent which was 5s. 6d. for one room, for himself, wife, and three children; having had four deaths after lingering consumptions, and a wife and children never well, I felt that he also was a proper object of the charity. At the time I visited these 100 families, no less than 212 of the members were suffering under disease manifest in various stages. They had already had no less than 251 deaths and funerals, and a corresponding amount of sickness. It was only in a late stage of my investigations that I began to see the very serious amount of miscarriages they have had, and which in many instances exceed the deaths. Three hundred and fifty of the members of these 100 families were dependent children, whose average age was little more than ten years."

Henry Austin, Esq., in his Report on the Sanitary Condition of Worcester, (p. 40,) says the attacks of fever appear to commit the greatest ravages among those in the vigor of life; and to one fatal case there is at least 10 attacks. "An insurance charge for the mitigation of the effects of sickness and premature mortality for an average family, is more than three times the annual cost of the outlay for the whole of the intended works at Worcester," sufficient to place the city in a good sanitary condition.

Then there are the public paupers, widows and orphans, made so by the premature deaths of relatives, which cannot be estimated at less than 6,000, at $1 per week. According to this calculation we have

Loss of 108,000 years of labor, at $50 per annum, $5,400,000 Cost of 12,000 years of sickness, at $50"

at $100 "

Cost of supporting 6,000 widows and orphans, at

Lost labor of the sick,

$52 per annum,

Total annual loss,

600,000

1,200,000

312,000

$7,512,000

There are other expenses and losses which might be avoided. The General Board of Health, by their superior sources of information, would be able to suggest to the local Boards of Health, and to others interested, the best arrangements and regulations for different objects of sanitary improvement; and many expenses now incurred for want of such information would be avoided. Many works, public and private, have been constructed at great expense, which are nearly worthless in a sanitary view, and might have been dispensed with if a better plan had been known. It has been well said "that it costs more money to create disease than to prevent it; and that there is not a single structural arrangement chargeable with the production of disease that is not in itself an extravagance." And what would be the expense of the measure? If the act we propose should become a law, the expenses of the General Board of Health must be provided for by the State; and they would be nearly as follows, annually :—

For the salary of the Secretary of the Board, say
For contingent expenses, including the expenses of
the Board, printing, stationery, &c.

Total,

$2,000

1,000

$3,000

The services of the clerks in making abstracts of a census of the inhabitants and of the returns under the registration system, and for other services, would cost no more, if prepared under the direction of the Board, than they now cost in the

office of the Secretary of State. This then would be the whole expense to the State; and in the cities and towns which now have a Board of Health, and do anything for the sanitary welfare of the inhabitants, no more expense would be incurred for the same service than is now paid.

This would be a wise expenditure of money. According to the estimate above presented, the State suffers, from its imperfect sanitary condition, an unnecessary annual loss of more than 7 millions of dollars! and this arises, partly at least, from the non-adoption of a measure which will cost but about $3,000. If saved, it would add that amount to the wealth of the State, besides the indefinite amount of increased happiness which would accompany it. Should any one consider this an extravagant estimate, let him reduce it to 3 millions, more than one half, and then the relation of expenditures to the savings, or to the income, will be as one dollar to one thousand dollars! And even if nine tenths of this latter sum be deducted, it will be like paying out one dollar, and receiving back again ten, as the return profit! What more wise expenditure of money can be desired?

Look at the able report of the State Auditor for 1850, and compare it with any expenditure of the State, or compare it with any measure that has been introduced for consideration, and few, if any, can be found of greater expediency, propriety and usefulness, or that will contribute more to the prosperity and welfare of the people of the Commonwealth. Massachusetts "has required annual returns of information to be made and published, concerning pauperism and crime, banks and insurance companies, agriculture and other matters. She has indirectly offered premiums for the best farms, and the best farming productions; the best implements for manufactures, and the best articles produced; and has paid to agricultural societies, for these objects, since 1830, the sum of $123,319 18. She has instituted scientific surveys-astronomical, trigonometrical, geological, botanical, and zoological-has ascertained the ornithology, the ichthyology, and the entomology of the State; and has expended, for these surveys, since 1830, the sum of $103,414 84. She contributes, annually, to common

schools, over $750,000. In all these, and in many other acts, she has done well. We would not oppose these objects of State inquiry and State expenditure; nor decry the value of facts thus obtained. All useful information should be spread before the people. But while we approve of these matters, we are also of the opinion that there are other objects of equal and even of greater importance for investigation.

"It may be useful to know the extent, the expense, and the circumstances of poverty and crime, in the State; but is it not more useful to know the causes of this poverty and crime, and how much of it arises from diseases and deaths, which might be prevented? Facts and figures may be useful to show us the sanitary condition of banks and insurance companies; but are not facts and figures more useful which show us the sanitary condition of man, who directs and controls them all, who participates in all their benefits, and whose agency ceases on the invasion of disease and death? The money of the State may be usefully expended in premiums for the best farms, the best crops, the best horses, cattle, sheep, swine, the best application of labor, and the best productions of mechanical skill; but might not something as properly be expended in teaching us how and where the best specimens of human life may be produced? what are the causes which most favorably affect its commencement, its childhood, its maturity, its decrepitude, and its extinction? in teaching the people in what places, at what seasons, and under what circumstances it is most invigorated and longest preserved? and how we can best avoid those causes and diseases, which are most likely to occur to debilitate and destroy it? It may be useful to lay out large sums of money to obtain a knowledge of the topography, the mineralogy, the botany, and the zoology,-to have described to us the character and habits of all the wild animals existing in the State; but is it not more important to have described to us the different specimens of human life, as they are modified, formed, and exist, under the various circumstances which surround them in different localities, and how those circumstances affect them for good or evil? Are beasts, birds, fish, insects, of more importance than man, who was ordained 'to have dominion over

all these creatures?' The contributions of the State for public schools may properly be swelled to a sum exceeding $750,000 per annum, and thus secure the general education of mind; but is it not more important to expend a tithe of this sum in educating the body, and in preparing healthy and vigorous abodes for the mind, that we may, as a people, become physically, as well as intellectually great? Compare it with any measure that has engaged the attention of the people of this Commonwealth, or the Legislature, and few if any can be found, which have risen so high, or have equalled it in utility and importance."

All necessary expenses for this object may be easily provided for. If the different items of State expenditure, as given by the State Auditor, were examined, several may be found that seem to us unnecessary, or that might be reduced so as to meet all the cost of this most important measure. It would be easy to specify such items. The Legislature costs about $1,000 per day while in session. By shortening the session three days only, enough might be saved to pay the annual expenses. As much is paid to the Bank Commissioners as would be required for the Board of Health; and it is supposed that all the advantages which result from that commission might be obtained in some other way without any expense. Other items might be specified with equal propriety, and many may be found of doubtful expediency as compared with this. Any candid mind can make his own selection. But suppose we let them all stand as they now do, the adoption of our measure would reduce the cost of supporting state paupers, now incurred on account of unnecessary sickness and deaths, more than sufficient to pay all expenses several times over. And if a direct tax were laid upon the people for its support, though unnecessary, it would be, on the average, less than three mills to each person! Who would not consider this a very insignificant expenditure for so noble a purpose?

IV. It should be approved because it is EMINENTLY A PHIL

ANTHROPIC AND CHARITABLE MEASURE.

We have recently witnessed three of the greatest nations of the earth lending their aid to discover and save a single adven