Sanitation

“ In its broadest sense, a history of sanitation is a story of the world's struggle for an adequate supply of wholesome water, and its efforts to dispose of the resultant sewage without menace to health nor offence to the sense of sight or smell. ”

“ The rise and development of sanitation, of house and main drainage and sewage disposal, the purification of water and provision of a constant service in the house, the removal of refuse, the segregation of infectious illness, sanitary inspection—all these, apart from the demolition of the worst housing and the provision of better, have raised the general healthiness of the dwellings of the people. ”

“ Henceforth the objects to be striven for in the evolution of sanitation became ever more clear and precise, and a succession of notable discoveries in connection with various epidemics enlarged the sphere of sanitation, and revealed new possibilities in the prevention of human misery. ”

“ In sanitation, careful watching and provision against the introduction of infectious disease, isolation of the sick, disinfection of houses, clothing, and other associated material are as essential as the removal of dirt. ”

“ Systematic sanitation began in England about fifty years ago; in America about twenty—the first State Board of Health made its first report in 1870; but thoroughly informed persons declare that among our more plastic populations, where ideas do not encounter so many vested abuses and prejudices, they have made such rapid headway that we are already abreast of the most advanced sanitary thought of Europe ”

“ The great object of sanitary legislation is to secure for each individual the greatest amount of fresh air, pure water, sunshine, and dryness of soil Public sanitation in towns should provide for width of streets, paving, the removal of fluid and solid nuisances, open places for the circulation of air, and recreative resorts for the inhabitants. ”

“ To keep these cantonments clean and fit to live in, large numbers of sanitary engineers, medical officers, and scientific experts were kept busy planning and installing the most modern sanitation systems. ”

“ Probably if we demanded good sanitary conditions before we would supply medical goods, we would be interfering with the people. But if we were going to contribute medicines to a locality at home which allowed breeding spots for disease all over the locality, I am willing to wager that we would demand an improvement of the sanitation, and see that it was accomplished, even if we had to use some kind of force. ”

“ The danger to health in the accumulation of filth, the spreading of disease by various agents, the germ theory of disease, and other important principles of sanitation can be counted among the more recent scientific discoveries and pronouncements. ”

“ We feel, then, that we have a right to take heart of grace and tell ourselves that the open country is as good for health as it ever was. Moreover, farm houses are rapidly acquiring the principal appliances for sanitation. The wells are being looked out for and the pure condition of the water supply being insured from contagion; and the level of education in regard to sanitation is being rapidly lifted. At present, the small towns and the larger villages are about on a par in regard to indifference to the laws of health, and to the necessity for framing new ones to meet new demands. ”

“ An effort has been made to include only that part of hygiene pertaining to our science. Since sanitation pertains especially to the environment, the approach to its study is the same regardless of the viewpoint from which it is considered. ”

“ While the residents of cities have at the command of new science been making swift progress in sanitation, working vigorously on the problems of pure food, good water, the suppression of tuberculosis, pellagra and other diseases, the country people have not so swiftly answered the call. ”

“ The care of the worker’s health is one of the most important considerations of the Bureau of Safety, Sanitation, and Welfare. Sanitary measures are general in every mill. There is not a single plant of the Corporation but is equipped with modern facilities for washing, and experts in sanitation give their time to improving these methods whenever possible. ”

“ But the extension of sanitation throughout the country and [159] among the people must be a matter of time, especially if we wish to carry them with us ... (November 23) . I think that we have done all we can do at present in furtherance of sanitary improvement, and that the best plan is to leave the Local Governments to themselves to work out their own arrangements. ”

“ There is also in each division a sanitary section composed of one officer and 25 men, whose function it is to keep an eye on the sanitation of the divisional area, report failure on the part of units to observe the established sanitary regulations, see that the incinerators are operated, have new sources of drinking water tested, look after the bath houses on occasion, search for cases of typhoid fever, etc., among the civilian population, and, in general, make itself as useful as possible. ”

“ The terms ‘sanitation’ and ‘sanitary’ nearly always connote only ideas associated with cleanliness, free ventilation, etc. They scarcely connote ideas of food management, or, if they do, it is only to the extent of inferring that food shall not be adulterated or of bad quality—and perhaps that there shall be enough of it. ”

“ Medically the aim and function of hygiene is to increase the internal resistance of the individual and thus prevent dis-ease and prolong life. The aim and function of sanitation or sanitary science is to improve the environmental conditions and thus prevent dis-ease and prolong life of the individual. ”

“ The elementary rules of sanitation are generally neglected, water supplies are polluted, filth is piled up in the streets and the courtyards, as it was in England and Western Europe generally until a century ago, and the framing of regulations or the incursions of the police have little effect on the habits of the people. ”

“ Sanitation in relation to food deals first with wholesome and clean materials—meat from animals free from disease; fruit and vegetables free from decay; milk, butter, etc., free from harmful bacteria. The dangers are the transference to the human body of encysted organisms like trichina ”

“ If such conditions are maintained in hospitals, where special attention is paid to sanitation, it would appear that similar precautions should be equally as necessary in public buildings and in dwellings—wherever, in fact, people congregate or live. ”

“ A different standard of sanitation and hygiene has arisen throughout the country and some of it has found is way into the workhouse. We have Poor Law schools and Poor Law infirmaries that were unthought of in those days and, as a whole, our buildings are clean and healthy; there is no ill-treatment in them as there was in the days of Bumble; food, clothing and warmth are at least sufficient ”

“ We must work gradually towards the realization of our ideal—Health—and work in many directions and on many lines. Advancing sanitation will place our future hospitals in country neighbourhoods, with only temporary receiving houses and dispensaries in large towns. ”

“ METHODS OF SANITATION
Since bacteria are too small to be seen, it is very hard to deal with them. The housekeeper has the following ways of protecting the household:
(1) By having all drain pipes trapped:
(2) By keeping the house free from lodging places for bacteria:
(a) Keep the house clean and free of dust.
(b) Wash garbage pails and sinks daily and scald them and drain pipes at least once a week.
(c) Keep the refrigerators, cupboards, and receptacles for food clean, and allow no spoiled food to remain in them.
(d) Wash and sterilize the soiled clothing once a week. ”

“ Our health authorities and facilities have proven equal to the heavy exigencies imposed by such calamities. Better sanitation has been achieved in diverse and effective ways. Stricter supervision over public eating places, markets, and slaughter houses has been enforced. Schools, industrial plants, and commercial houses have been subjected to systematic medical inspection. ”

“ Where persons are ill they should always be attended by a trained nurse if possible, but if this is out of the question a few suggestions as to the sick room and its hygiene should certainly not be omitted from any book dealing with rural sanitation. ”

“ To her, chiefly, I owed the awakening to the fact that sanitation is the supreme goal of medicine, its foundation and its crown. ”

“ With the improvement of sanitation there has been a reduction in its mortality, amounting since 1850 to above 40 per cent. But it still remains the most formidable single foe, killing a larger number of people than any other disease—some 60,000 in Great Britain and Ireland in 1908, and 589 of this city. ”

“ A very considerable improvement in farm sanitation has resulted from the educational campaigns conducted during the past decade, but effective rural sanitation awaits the employment of public health officials who will convince the people of each local community of their individual responsibility for the health conditions on their own farms and of their common liability for the health of each other. ”

“ If it be objected that other factors have been at work to improve the sanitary conditions of cities, it must be answered that much of the inspiration for this other work has come from health authorities. It should never be forgotten that it is sanitation which has made the growth of cities possible. ”

“ The work of the social settlements, of the mothers’ clubs, of the neighborhood nursing associations, of the diet-kitchens, all contribute to the general education that is bringing about a condition of excellent public sanitation. This work is necessarily of slow growth. Its effect is not nearly so evident as that of vaccination, of smallpox segregation, or of typhoid diagnosis. It is not so simple as establishing proper sewers or purifying the water-supply ”

“ In regard to the physical environment much has been done during the past generation towards applying the laws of hygiene, as is shown in the sanitation of our great cities, and especially in regard to the question of water-supply. ”

“ There is no demand for any form of disease even with the improper state of society as it is to-day. Extreme old age and a limited number of accidents are all that can be necessary to record. The following is an admirable article from the St. Louis Globe Democrat, which is quite pertinent.
"Sanitation and Sanity.—The general subject of sanitation now covers our architecture and our home life; our sewerage and disposition of waste; our personal cleanliness and contact in all social relations; our food and drink, both as to quality and kind ”

“ The subjects, to be discussed by experts, include water supply and sewage disposal, health and death rates in cities, public health problems of municipalities, state and nation, milk supply and infant mortality, school hygiene, street cleaning, tenement house sanitation, personal and industrial hygiene and diseases of animals transmissible to man. ”

“ Cold merely checks the growth of bacteria, but, ordinarily, does not destroy them. Sunlight and fresh air are especially unfavorable to them; therefore the house should be sunny, and beds, bedrooms and living rooms thoroughly aired. If there be no organic matter to serve as nutriment for them, they cannot multiply; therefore the body, the clothing, and the dwelling should be kept as clean as possible. For this reason the first test of good sanitation is the immediate removal of all waste matter from the house, and the first preventive of disease is personal cleanliness. ”

“ In the zone itself, which is ten miles wide, bad sanitation caused by the308 carelessness of the French workmen used constantly to breed fevers and disease. The Americans are now busily cleansing the Augean stables and good sanitary conditions are rapidly being established. ”

“ Pure foods; Clean milk; Water supplies; Sewage disposal; Hygiene of the home and factory; The destruction of insects which transmit disease; The educational movement. “The book is offered as a corollary to the numerous excellent treatises on the theory of hygiene and the laboratory manuals, since the man in the field desires to know how sanitation of the home, of the school, of the factory and of the community can actually be obtained.” (Preface)
“The discussion of even the most technical subjects is made simple and the practical side of every problem receives primary emphasis. ”

“ In the meantime, the State factory legislation has revolutionized the methods of sanitation in the workshops of the country and is safeguarding better and better the lives and limbs of the workers.
Employers are making increased provision for the welfare of their employes through sanitary and safe work places, opportunities for recreation and education, model homes rented or sold, and relief funds for sickness, accident and death benefits, as well as old age pensions, all affecting millions of railroad, factory, mine and department store workers. ”

“ Soiled linen and all excretions from the patient should be promptly removed, and if the latter need not be preserved for the inspection of the physician, should be at once disinfected and properly disposed of. Milk and other food should not be left in the sick room; and soiled glasses and dishes should be removed and washed at once in boiling water. [Pg 221]
Persons who are ill should not be allowed to have company. There is nothing more important in connection with the looking after patients with infectious diseases than this precaution. ”