one that aids in its promotion advocates a measure which certainly can do no harm, and may,-judging from all past experience,―do immeasurable good; and every one that opposes it, or throws obstacles in the way of its advancement, lends its aid, not only to defeat a harmless measure, but one designed to promote the progress and elevation of society and the best interests and well being of the human race. It will be an earnest of success if the periodical press shall zealously engage in this enterprise, as it will certainly find it for its interest to do, and support and defend the sanitary movement with the same talent and energy that is devoted to matters considered of the highest importance. Editors will then have discharged somewhat of the responsibility which devolves upon them as guides of public opinion and well wishers to humanity.

7. It appeals to Towns and Cities. On the municipal authorities of towns and cities, depends the immediate execution of all sanitary laws and regulations. They are required to perform an important duty. Thorough knowledge of the condition of the people, and wise adaptation and administration of sanitary measures, will benefit and bless them. But blundering ignorance, or inconsiderate measures, or unwise administration, will not do it. Life, health, physical happiness, and even the moral condition of a town, may depend, in some degree, upon the adoption or rejection of proper sanitary regulations. An immense responsibility then rests upon these local authorities. And this impression should abide upon them, and they should be led to act accordingly. If they do not it will be known. Cholera in one district slays its thousands or its tens of thousands, and yet in another cannot find a single victim; and the cause of this difference is attributable to certain sanitary conditions present in one case,-absent in the other. Cholera, typhus, consumption, and other diseases, are "health inspectors, that speak in language which none can misunderstand; they visit persons on polluted rivers, the neglected lunatic in his cell, the crowded workshop, the establishments for pauper children, the sides of stagnant sewers, the undrained city, the uncleaned street, the cellar and the attic, as well as the fair open quarters which strangers frequent and admire.

The oversights, the errors, the crimes of persons who in responsible offices have charge of the health and life of men, are proclaimed aloud by their inexorable voices." 1

8. It appeals to the State. Under our constitution and laws "each individual in society has a right to be protected in the enjoyment of his life." This may be considered in a sanitary as well as a murderous sense. And it is the duty of the State to extend over the people its guardian care, that those who cannot or will not protect themselves, may nevertheless be protected; and that those who can and desire to do it, may have the means of doing it more easily. This right and authority should be exercised by wise laws, wisely administered; and when this is neglected the State should be held answerable for the consequences of this neglect. If legislators and public officers knew the number of lives unnecessarily destroyed, and the suffering unnecessarily occasioned by a wrong movement, or by no movement at all, this great matter would be more carefully studied, and errors would not be so frequently committed.

Massachusetts has always been eminent among the American states. Her metropolis has ever been the metropolis of New England. Her example has been imitated and her influence has been felt, wherever the sons of New England are found, or the name of New England is known. Her deeds are such as to justify even her own sons for an allusion to them.

Her puritan forefathers established the first system of selfgovernment, combining law and order with liberty and equality, and based upon pure morality, universal education and freedom in religious opinion, as the only foundation which can insure its permanency and prosperity. And in her cradle was rocked the first child that drew its first breath under its benign influ

ence.

She has her Concord, her Lexington, and her Bunker Hill, all marked as the first battle-fields in that great struggle which severed the children from the parent, and made them free; into their soil was poured the blood of the most worthy and the most noble patriots the world has ever known; and "the

1 Quarterly Return, Registrar General, April, 1849, p. 1.

bones of her sons, falling in the great struggle for independence, now lie mingled with the soil of every state from New England to Georgia, and there they will lie forever."

The thirteen united colonies furnished for the regular service of the revolutionary army, besides militia, 231,779 men,-an average of 17,830 each. Of these, Massachusetts furnished 67,907, or 29 per cent. of the whole, 35,968 more than any other state, and 50,077 men more than, or nearly four times, her equal proportion.' And she poured out her treasure for the outfit and support of her sons in the regular or militia service, and for the support of their families whom they left behind, and for other public purposes, in nearly the same proportion, and with the same liberal hand, as she did her physical force and her blood.

She established, more than two hundred years ago, and near the beginning of her existence, free schools, open alike to all ; and they have been cherished and supported, from that time to the present, by money drawn from the treasuries of towns, replenished by taxes on the inhabitants. She expended in this way, last year, for these free schools, $830,577 33,-a sum equal to $3 87 for every child in the State between the ages of four and sixteen. The whole State has been dotted over with schoolhouses, like "sparkling diamonds in the heavens," giving intellectual light to all that come within their sphere.

She established in the United States the first system for the public registration of births, marriages and deaths, by which the personal history and identity, and the sanitary condition of the inhabitants, may be ascertained. She founded the first Blind Asylum; the first State Reform School; and aided in founding the first Deaf and Dumb Asylum; and her money, public and private, has flowed freely in the support of all the noble charities and religious enterprises of the age.

One of her sons first introduced into the United States the remedy of vaccination for the prevention of small-pox, which has deprived that terrific disease of its power, whenever used, and rendered its approach generally harmless. Another of her

1 Niles's Register, Vol. XXXVIII, for July 31, 1830, p. 399. American Almanac, Vol. I, p. 187; Vol. II, p. 112.

sons has the honor of making the great discovery of etherization, by means of whose wonderful capabilities the surgeon's instrument is deprived of its sting, and labor of its sorrow; the operator is permitted to pursue his work undisturbed, while the patient remains passive, unconscious, and unmoved by the horrors which, without it, might be inflicted. The blessings of this great prevention of human suffering are already acknowledged and felt the world over.

For these and very many other useful and honorable deeds, which might be specified, she has been named, by distinguished men of other states and countries, "the forefather's land," "the moral state," "the enlightened state," "the patriotic state," "the philanthropic state," "the leading state," "the pattern state," "the noble state," "the glorious old Bay state." And many an ejaculation has gone up in all sincerity, "God bless her;" "God save the Commonwealth of Massachusetts!"

"There she stands ;" a bright morning star in the system of the Union. On the pages of her history are recorded the noble deeds which have given her a good name and rendered her glorious. But her people demand at her hands a more full enjoyment of life, and a more abundant diffusion of its blessings; and no more noble and honorable and glorious page can anywhere be found, than that which shall record the adop tion of some simple but efficient and comprehensive plan of Sanitary Reform; by which the greatest possible amount of physical power may be produced, the greatest possible amount of physical suffering may be prevented, and the greatest possible amount of physical, social and moral enjoyment, may be attained. "This is the true glory which outlives all other, and shines with undying lustre, from generation to generation, imparting to its works something of its own immortality."

All which is respectfully submitted.

LEMUEL SHATTUCK,

N. P. BANKS, JR.,

Commissioners.

JEHIEL ABBOTT,

BOSTON, April 25, 1850.

BILL DRAWN BY THE COMMISSION, AND RECOMMENDED TO THE LEGISLATURE FOR ENACTMENT.

[See this Report, pp. 48-55, 109-119, 138, 242, and 284.]

An ACT for the Promotion of Public and Personal Health.

BE it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

SECT. 1. His Excellency the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Council, shall appoint seven persons, who, together with the Governor, and the Secretary of the Board of Education, ex officiis, shall constitute and be denominated the General Board of Health; and the persons so appointed shall hold their offices for the term of seven years: provided, that the person first named in said Board shall go out of office at the end of one year, the person next named shall go out of office at the end of two years, and so of the remaining members, one retiring each year, and in the order in which they are named, until the whole Board be changed. And the Governor, with the advice and consent of the council as aforesaid, shall fill all vacancies in said Board, which may occur from death, resignation or otherwise. Any member who resigns, or whose term of office has expir ed, may, if duly qualified, be reappointed.

SECT. 2. The said Board shall meet in January, April, July, and October, in each year, and at such other times as they may deem necessary or expedient.