SANITARY REFORM.

Otago Witness, Issue 1177, 20 June 1874, Page 1

SANITARY REFORM.

It is an old and trite saying that the health of a people has. an inseparable relationship to its wealth ; but the j ignorance of the general public regarding the laws which regulate the former is perhaps only equalled.by the extraordinary desire in the minds of many to master those of the latter. The importance of sanitary measures as a preven- j tive of epidemic diseases is but | modern date, and their importance har->j only been admitted after the sad experience of great and fearful epidemic scourges. Those now living who can remember that terrible plague, Asiatic cholera, on its first appearance in Britain, and the inability of the medical faculty to cope successfully with its dreadful ravages, can hardly fail also to remember that sanitary laws were then comparatively unknown. It is perhaps well for the interests of humanity that we are occasionally aroused to a sense of our social responsibilities by such means, though they are severe ones, but it is certainly to be deplored that so much misconception has always existed in the minds of a large number of people regarding the true cause and purpose of epidemic diseases. That they are the result of the violation of certain laws, we neither deny nor wish to deny ; but that they are the direct judgments of Heaven for moral or religious defection, we are by no means prepared to admit. Nay, more, we feel bound to raise our testimony against those who maint-un so outrageous a dogma, more especially if it have the tendency to prevent any precautionary measures being used which a sound knowledge of social science might recommend. Should Dunedin be visited by any specially fatal epidemic, we do not think the cause for such would be far to seek. The defective drainage of the city, and a total want of public baths, would supply reasons sufficiently tangible, even though our water supply was more satisfactory than it is. Our Cifcyj Council has no doubt turned its attention to 'the sewerage question, and by-and-bye, we suppose, that body will agree to some scheme, after having no end of pointless debate on the subject. But, so long as the laws of health are so imperfectly known, and the merest outlines of physiological science all but a dead letter to the people, every scheme for public health will be apathetically considered or quietly ignored. The cry for a higher education seems to be very popular both here and in the home country, but we greatly fear that what this MgW education really should be is not very well understood by the people at Jarge, ft eeeuw to us that * p<wa<i

mind and a healthy body should be the ultimate aim of all education, either primary ov secondary ; and though we may find few who would controvert this, still, we fear, there are too few who act upon it. We have repeatedly pointed out that our common school education is too theoretical. It neither tends to make our boys and girls practically useful in after life, nor does it give them that knowledge necessary for a proper understanding of their physical constitution ; and the higher education which is supposed to be given in our Grammar and High Schools loses much of its value from being comparatively aimless in practical results. It is an extraordinary fact, though great advancement has been made of late years in the diffusion of knowledge, so much ignorance should prevail regarding our bodies. We are much mistaken if quack medicine manufacturers have not much to answer for here. If, through forgetfulness of, or indifference to, those bodies of ours, we swallow unlimited quantities of medicine, we are thereby compelling oue part of them to perform the functions which nature wisely intended should be performed by another. Doubtless it may be considered a much easier thing to take a dose of medicine than undergo the operation of a Turkish baih. But in thus administering to our indolence, we are most assuredly shortening 1 our days, and indefinitely augmenting our discomforts. However indifferent we are to the drainage of our cities, nature has certainly nofc been indifferent to the drainage, so to speak, of our bodies. The twenty-eight miles of tubular drains which physiologists tell- us each individual has, for the purpose of carrying off the waste matter through the skin of his corporeal frame, is a proof of this ; and if from ignorance or indolence we allow them to get choked up, nature is outraged, and we pay the penalty, medicine or no medicine. It is a curious fact, worthy the consideration of the psychologist, perhaps, as much as it is of the physiologist, that the Eastern nations of the old world should have always attached so much importance to ablutions in their religious ceremonies. They are naturally indolent, and were it not their constant use of the bath, the functions of the skin would be inoperative, and the results could not fail to be most disastrous. With the nations of the western world it is very different. The active physical exercise which, from nature or habit, Europeans are obliged to undergo, doubtless assists

the skin to perform its ordinary functions, but so imperfectly that other means have to be adopted to get rid of the ordinary waste which, if allowed to remain in the body, would pollute the blood and produce disease But how wretchedly artificial and defective are all such means when compared with the wise provision nature has made for the same purpose. We have only to keep our skin clean so that this wonderful microscopic drain system be allowed to act, and health, enjoyment, and natural buoyancy of spirits will unquestionably be the result: such at least is tho teaching of modern physiology. But to come to the point and apply our argument, we hold that the social comfort of every corporate city is in the hands, in a great measure, of the municipal authorities, and if ignorance of, or indifference to, this comfort prevents them from doing their duty, they are not sufficiently conservative of the people's welfare. We do not demand that each of our City Councillors should be a physiologist, but we have a right to expect that each one of them should be sufficiently acquainted with th.B ordinary laws of health, as they are popularly expounded in the serial literature of the day, to successfully grapple with the question of city drainage and public baths. We assert that it is simply a disgrace for so wealthy a sorporation. as, D u&edin to be without

! one single public bath worthy of the i name. Of course, if the people were properly alive to the importance of bathing as a means of promoting health .and preventing disease, they would soon bring sufficient pressure to bear on the Municipal .authorities' to provide them ; still, the ignorance of the people is no excuse for the apathy of those to whom they have committed the management of Civic affairs. As we have already remarked, there' is some probability of our having by-and-bye a very complete system of drainage for the whole city. But there seems to be no prospect of what is not less essential to the health and comfort of the community — public baths. If, however, the Council will not take up the matter speedily, we would - ui'ge the adoption of some means to enlighten the public on a subject so important, either by teaching* the laws of health in our scholastic institutions, or by popular lectures, so that by spreading a knowledge 01 such laws, we would at least be preparing the way for the establishment of baths for the people.