consumption, and premature decay, as well as various epidemic diseases, are brought on and accelerated to their fatal termination, by neglect of a proper system of management from the very commencement of infant existence. If the history of the growth and development of the human body, of its parental management, and of the dangers to which it has been exposed at its early periods, could be truthfully made and spread before us, what a lesson would it give of the imperfection of human knowledge, and of the disobedience of those wise laws which the Creator has given for our guidance! From one-third to one-half of all the deaths in populous cities and villages, and about one quarter in all places, are those of children under five years of age. If the laws of health and life had been known and obeyed, this great sanitary evil might have been materially lessened, and thousands of lives might have been preserved, which have been lost.

This is a great, an all-important matter, and deserves to be thoroughly examined and carefully studied in all its bearings, by fathers and mothers, and those who expect to be fathers and mothers, as well as by nurses, governesses, teachers, and all others interested in the care of the young. The subject is too great, however, for discussion in this connection. Our purpose is merely to call public attention to it, as one of the sanitary measures in which there is great room for reform, and in which real reform would be immensely beneficial. There are many valuable works already published, which afford useful instruction on the subject. These works, the lessons of experience which the more aged and the wise might impart, and each one's own careful examination and reflection, might suggest systems adapted to different circumstances; the vital force of incoming generations might thus be greatly increased, and the life of many and many a useful citizen prolonged.1

L. WE RECOMMEND that individuals make frequent sanitary examinations of themselves, and endeavor to promote personal health, and prevent personal disease.

If there is a fault in the printed discussions of sanitary re

1" The Physiological and Moral Management of Infancy," by Dr. Andrew Combe, is one of the best popular works on the subject with which we are acquainted.

formers, it is in attaching too much importance to public, and too little to personal measures, for the promotion of health. The causes of disease may be diffused in the atmosphere, or may exist in a locality, or may be connected with the individual himself. If the person be well fortified and well guarded, little need be feared from an unseasonable invasion of the enemy from without; but if otherwise, its onset will be easy, and its victory certain. This is a matter in which uncertainty should, as far as possible, be excluded. We should not guess at the value of life, or the mode of preserving it. Every person should know, by his own observation and experience, his own capabilities and his own liabilities; and make the matter of preserving his health and continuing his life a subject of the same care and prudent forethought, and apply to it the same intelligence and sagacity, that he uses in any or all of his ordinary affairs.

Every person should make frequent sanitary investigations relating to himself. The history and condition of his constitution should be studied. The hereditary organization and tendency, and the character of the blood that courses in his veins, should be ascertained. The alterations of the original constitution, produced by disease, habits of life, or any other means, and the causes of these alterations, and the remedies that have been used to counteract and prevent their effects, should also be carefully studied and noted. The influence of various habits and actions upon the organs and functions of our bodies, whether relating to their protection, nourishment, or preservation, should be carefully observed; and such as are found to be favorable should be repeated, and such as are known to be unfavorable should be discontinued. Everything which may excite or develop an unhealthy tendency, hereditary or acquired, should, as far as possible, be avoided; and everything of an opposite tendency should be done to check such development.

Our persons should be protected, and kept in uniform temperature, by clothing of the right kind, properly made, and worn at such times, in such a manner, and in such quantities, as are best adapted to promote health. Disease should not be allowed to invade the system by means of too little or too much cloth

ing, or through any other defect or imperfection; but each person should wear just such clothing, at all times, as will involve the least risk, and produce the greatest vigor and physical enjoyment.

Our persons should be nourished by food of the right kind, properly prepared, and taken at such times, in such a manner, and in such quantities, as will promote the greatest vigor. We should "eat that we may live, not live that we may eat ;” take food to nourish us, not to satiate a depraved appetite; and adapt our food and our regimen, at all times, to the present physical and sanitary condition of the body. When debilitated and fatigued, we cannot take with impunity the same kind or quantity of food as when in a different condition.

Our persons should be preserved and strengthened by wise and uniform care and training. We should cleanse our persons by daily ablutions, properly applied, at suitable times, and of the right kind and temperature; strengthen our persons, physically and intellectually, by regular and progressive, not transient and excessive, exercise and labor, at such times, to such extent, and in such places, as will be most invigorating; and should refresh our persons by rest and sleep, at proper times, in right places, by suitable means, and in sufficient quantities.

What is right and suitable and proper, in each of these cases, must be determined by each one's own intelligence, observation, experience, feelings, and condition, ascertained by himself. If careful personal sanitary examinations were frequently made in this way, and personal health was guarded and improved by these means, we should hear less of the ravages of cholera, typhus, and other epidemics, and of isolated sporadic diseases.

IV. REASONS FOR APPROVING THE PLAN

RECOMMENDED.

We have presented, in the preceding pages, some of the principal measures that have occurred to us as worthy of being embraced in a plan for a sanitary survey of the State, which we recommend for adoption. We might have included other collateral subjects, and might have given a more full explanation and illustration of those already presented, but the occa

sion did not seem to require it or make it necessary. Our design will have been accomplished if our recommendations have been explained sufficiently to be generally understood and capable of being reduced to practical operation. We claim for the whole plan, and for each part of it in connection with the other parts, a careful consideration before judgment is passed upon it, and when so considered we have great confidence that we shall have the approval of all candid minds. We have already given, in the illustrations of the several recommendations, many reasons for their approval; and they are sufficient, it is supposed, to incline most intelligent minds in their favor; we might safely leave the subject here without further discussion. There are, however, some general considerations in favor of the plan which we deem it proper to present.

I. It should be approved because it is a PRACTICAL MEASURE. The great outline of the plan is the establishment of a Central General Board of Health for the whole State, and a Local Board of Health for each city and town in the State; each to be composed of competent men, who are to have the general superintendence of all matters relating to the public health within their respective jurisdictions. These Boards, having the assistance and coöperation of the people in all parts of the Commonwealth, would be able to bring to bear, by a practical, systematic, uniform, and efficient plan, a vast number of minds and a great amount of intelligence upon the subject of health, and upon the causes and prevention of disease; and it is impossible to foretell the immense advantages which might result from the facts they might collect, and from the discoveries they might make, relating to the number of lives saved, the prolongation of the periods of human existence, and the diminution of human suffering.

In the preparation of the plan, we have desired, on the one hand, to avoid too much, and on the other too little complication and detail. The proposed act, which is the main legal foundation of the plan, is designed to occupy the middle ground between these two extremes. It contains no provisions which seem to us unessential, and it is designed to contain all such as are necessary. So important a matter cannot be provided for by a few general sections. It must be made clear

and simple; and considerable detail is required for this purpose, otherwise it cannot be understood, and easily introduced into all the towns in the State. It is believed that if the act were passed and put into operation by such Boards of Health as might and ought to be appointed under its provisions, nothing would be required but ordinary intelligence and attention to make it successful, and this every measure must have or it will be useless. If this act should become a law, several of the recommendations must be carried into effect; others may or may not be, as circumstances may render it necessary or expedient. The XIIth, XIIIth, XVIIth, XXXIst, XXXIInd, and XXXVIth, would require additional legislation to carry them into operation. The recommendations relating to social and personal matters are designed for the general good, and come in aid of the others without special legislation. They may or may not be adopted, according to the inclination of those interested. And what is the design, what are the purposes of this measure? What will it probably accomplish, if carried into execution?

It would save life. It has been well said :-"In England alone, the average annual number of deaths from disease is, in round numbers, 300,000, while that of deaths from the mere decay and exhaustion of the human frame by the progress of time, is only 35,000. In the difference between these two numbers we see the vast and vital field in which the sanitary reformer proposes to work. That disease shall ever be entirely exterminated, is of course beyond the belief or hope of the most sanguine. But every disease has somewhere its specific and efficient cause, and that these causes can be removed or much weakened in their action, in very many instances, is not only within the bounds of hope, but has been satisfactorily proved. When sanitary legislation gives us its successful results, they will be represented by the reduction of the number of those who die of disease in their early days, or in the prime of life and in the increased number of those who have completed their allotted course in health, and been peacefully gathered to their fathers. Accordingly, sanitary improvements have not directly in view the extension of the natural period of