Proceedings of the quarter-centennial celebration of the establishment of the Michigan State Board of Health : held at Detroit, Michigan, August 9, 1898.

Michigan. State Board of Health

Date:: 1898

Credit: Proceedings of the quarter-centennial celebration of the establishment of the Michigan State Board of Health : held at Detroit, Michigan, August 9, 1898. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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$^\ illijuii J>U(1(1 in liis moniorable invn.slij^alion of a similar outbreak in Devonshire. Di-. Jbnld's pioccss was eenlrifiij^al—tracing from a single case in tin* village of Xorlli Lawton the ravages of the fever far and wide. I)r. Thorne’s jirocess was centrijtetal—tracing the ei)idemic back- ward from the mnltitiide of cases (wst presented to the single individual whose infect(*d e.wreta, poured into the well at Caterham, were the ca\ise of all. Finally, my friends, the good lime a-coming, announced by Tyndall twenty yeai-s ago, .has arrived I The sanitary work of the (piarter-cen- tury of our contention in correlatifin with the facts it has evoked in conjunction with collateral delvers into tlu‘ foul soil it has cleansed, into the impni-e wat(*rs it has clariti(*d, into the marshes it has drained, the air that it has screeiuul from malignant organisms are the notes of its triumjdmnt song in praise of sanitaiw nudhods. rhdinmni ruhlic Ilonltli Work in .Micliigiui”—'I'lio Kcntlenian wlio Is to mltlress you on this subject is ii native of Micliigan, and one of the products of our Stale to wlioin we can noint witli pride. Thougli he left Mlcldgan before its systematic i»nbllc-licaltli work liad fairly begun, yet he has watclied its develop- ment with interest. Our loss was Chicago's gain, and the work of Doctor Reynolds during the e.xposition and the terrible otitbreak of sniall-po.\ which f<dloweIl it is known to most if not all of you. Though interrupted for a time in his efforts to perfect the sanitary systems of a great city, he is now rapidly bringing to bear upon the problems which this work preseius a degree of knowledge and e.xecutive ability which are rai)idly placing Chicago in the front rank of cities in our own laud whoso inhabitants are protected in their lives and health by every means which modern science and skill can dictate. I introduce to you Doctor Arthur R. Reynolds, Health Commissioner of Chicago. rURLlC-UEALTir WORK IX MldllGAX. IJY .VHTirUR II. REYNOLDS, .M. D., HEALTH CO.U.NriSSlONER OF CHIC.tGO. ^\ hen I fir.st received an invitation to address this assembly my iin- juilse wtis to decline, knowing full well that I Imd not time at my com- mand in which to jtreitjire anything adequate for such ji noteworthy occasitui. I finally yielded, however, to an urgent repetition of the invi- tation, largely because I recalled that it was in this State, at the village of Orion, just fort^' miles from Detroit, twenty-four years ago, that I began my medical career. That was in the oftice of an older brother, then of Orion, later of this city, but now of tender memory. It was then I received my first lesson in ])reventive medicine tiirongh ]»ani])hlets of instructions on the limitation of the spread of the con- tagious diseases, the disinfection of jtremises, etc., prepared and sent me by Dr. Henry I>. Raker, then as now the faithful and efficient Secretary of the Michigan State Board of Health. In the few desultory remarks which I shall offer I need not refer to the origin of the State Board of Health of ^lichigan, for this Conven- tion is held in commemoration of the fact that it was established just twenty-five years ago. Looking back to that date, I think it will be admitted that the sponsors of the Board builded more wisely than they knew in selecting its natal year. Sanitary science was then in its swaddling clothes; an infant— lusty, it is true, and full of the promise of potencies then undreamed of; but still an infant.$