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
Licence: Public Domain Mark
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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![The unsold swamp lands were finally donated to the State by the gen- eral goverimieut for purposes of reclamation and improvement. For these pnrj)oses the State ]>assed a (.’oniity Drainage Law, and then a Township l>rainage Law, by which it was jtrovided that where drains are necessary for reclaiming land, the expense shall be equitably assessed according to the j)i*operty benetited, and right of way for a drain was secured so that no churl could stop such improvement because the outlet must j)ass through his laud. The benefit to agriculture was great. Noisome swamps were changed to waving meadows and flocks of cattle; but the change in j)ublic health was greater still. Instead of an ague- smitten district we have become one of the healthiest states in the union. So marked has been their benefit to the public health, that in Uowell’s Compiled Laws, the County and Township Drainage Laws, instead of being placed under “Fublic I.ands,” are ])laced under the “Ihiblic Health.’’ For both agriculture and sanitation, no more beneficent laws are on our public statutes. School-house Architecture. The needs of the school room—pure air. ])roperly distributed heat, floor-space, etc.—were early considered by the Hoard of Health, but on one topic it spoke with emi)hasis, viz.: The evils of too lofty school build- ings and too much staii’-climbintr. Observ.ation and inquiry showed that the evil was real and growing. A certain village had erected a beautiful four-story brick house for its excellent school. Its fine propor- tions and lofty walls caught the ])ublic eye, and the high reputation of its school made other villages anxious to I'ival its house and fame, and school houses were goiiuj up all over the State. Against this tendency the Hoard lifted its voice in no uncertain tones, })ointing out its evil effects on the girls while in school and the entailments that follow, last- ing through life. A critic objected to “low and squatty school houses,” and pointed to “the beauty of the Grecian temples with their lofty pillars and stately forms.” The re])ly was that Grecian temples were one-story, and neither Gods nor Godesses would occupy a room on the fourth floor when they had to climb stairs. The Kerosene Battle. The petroleum ]»roducts for artificial light had come into general use 25 years ago, and the kerosene lamj) was found in every home. The elec- tric light was waiting for Edison. Even in homes of wealth where ga.s was in use, in kitchen or garret the unsafe oil lamp was still to be found. Not only was its use very general but veiw unsafe. The head line ^‘Anothrr Kerosene HoiTor^’ was seen in nearly every daily ])aper. with sickening details of some poor woman roasted like a martyr at the stake, set on fire by a “lamp explosion.” To accentuate the danger, the cheap and intlamm.'ible l)enzine was sold for an illuminant under catch names, “Sunlight Oil.” “French Hurning Oil.” etc., with prc])Osterous recipes to make the mateiaal nou-exi)losiiv(‘. Packages of common salt colored with aniline, sold to “kill the gas.” etc., filled fhe homes with danger, and hearts with dread. Tliese s])ecial sources of danger confronted the State Hoard of Health at the very threshold of their duties. The oil was im- properly refined, too much of the volatile materials retained in the kero-](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22335213_0048.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
