OCR Text |
Show SANITARY. For the three sumaier seasons preceding pre-ceding this one, the mortality in this city in the months of August and September Sep-tember was unusually high, especially acaong children. The mourning among bereaved families reached almost every home in the city, either directly or because be-cause of relatives or friends having buried one or more of their number. Many theories were advanced as to the cause, some of them very rationai and involving important sanitary principles. Yet we think the real cause was seldom alluded to. There had been no such mortality here previous to those years; and this season it has not reached nenr so high a figure. Here are facts on which calculations can be safely based. ! I The three summers previous to this one, were unusually rainy. A large quantity of water accumulated on the low land west of and immediately adjoining ad-joining the city. This was not the ease to any euch extent for years previous. pre-vious. It is not the case this season; and we find that sickness has prevailed in the latter part of the summer in proportion to tho space covered by stagnant water contiguous to the city. That stagnant water engendered malaria, mal-aria, as it does everywhere, more deadly in its results in a hot than in a temperate climate. The rapid growth of fungi, the myriads of insects that have an ephemeral life, and when they die taint th atmosphere with malignant effluvia, and the miasmatic vapori that float on every breeze from juch places, apeedily show their fatal results in increased sicknees where a population is found adjacent. No better proof could be adduced to support this position than the mortuary mortu-ary statistics of this city for the past two months. The grasshoppers were here in myriads during the spring and early summor. To their poisoning fruit and vegetables, much sickness has been attributed heretofore. They stripped the fruit trees of foliage and the fruit hung naked to be burned and baked, not fairly ripened, by a hot sun. To this cause, and the eating of such unripe fruit, considerable sickness sick-ness has al-o been attributed. Yet we find there havo been little move, than half the number of deaths in the past two months that there were lor the corresponding period oT o7, V,s md 'li'.i; while the ntvgnant water rclerred lo is narrowed down to a very moderate moder-ate space, cun-equeut upon the little ruin und dry summer thai, we have had. Mire h tt ui.ttK'j' in which life is bnUnccd against a certain moderate outlay of dollar-; nud the expense of drainini; the dintrict in iic-lion would amply be repaid in the area of valuable land that would he brought under cul tivation. We refer to it now when the facts must be so strongly before the publie, and ask in the name of our children who may be slaughtered next year by malaria, if we should have a rainy season, t'ut immediate steps be taken to ha.e this fatal source of disease removed, by having the laud thoroughly drained. |