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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![exuberant activity. Ko one complains tliat lliey have clone less than was expected of them. Substantial advance in the prevention of disease can only be made upon practical application of the truths of pathology. The activity and the productiveness of this branch of medical science in the last twenty years exceeds anything that the scientific world has ever witnessed, and the field promises yet richer fruit. Out of the harvest already gathered much has been profitably applied to prevention, and more is ready for practical application as soon as political common-sense shall apprehend and approve it. We dare not hope that anj'^ state or nation will pro- portion its steps to the strides of this science, but it is a hopeful sign for us all that the American peoj)le, who waste little courtesy upon things not obviousl}’ practical, have recognized the rich promise of bioh)gical research and have engaged it in the public service. State and local boards of health must both be eternally vigilant of all common carriers of infection, and the State board of health, as having the wider horizon, should be entrusted with the primary and paramount authority. The chief common carrier of disease is water. In these days when the private well is rapidly being displaced by the ]>ipes of the Com- pany, the power of the water-supply for good or evil is greatly augmented. The territorial rights of local boards cannot be made broad enough to secure adequate supervision and control of such large sources as are placed in tribute. Any community may easily obtain what seems to be a clear title to the use of a stream or lake, but the conflicting natural rights of other communities and of individuals are soon found not to have been alienated even by Act of Assembly. Each and every party to such a contention stands upon his rights, though none can obtain his rights until all are obliged by some commonly respected authority to do their several duties. The example of those states which have vested the control of inland waters in their boards of health deserves to be gen- erally followed. Commercial companies even when they have used right judgment and skill in their first jirovisions, are less scrupulous about suiq)lementary sources when extending their service, and are apt, after ever so good a start, to become indilTerent to most considerations aside from profit. Municipal water boards are most heedful of the voters and taxpayers, who either drink what is delivered without grumbling, or else demand that the cost of improvements shall fall on land owners outside of the city. A State board of health, having in charge all the possibly conflicting interests, will determine whether the desired sources may properly be laid under tidbute; whether the water is of good quality, or may be purified and kept pure; Avhether its volume is sufficient; will examine the jilans for collection, storage, purification, and distribution; will secure to the users of the water adequate rights of inspection and nuisance removal; and will see that no natural or acquired rights, either within or without the city, are exercised beyond their reasonable and proper use. Closely related to water supjily and equally needing state supervision IS the disposal of waste. Sanitary progress siiould of course be symmet- rical. but it is the peculiar habit of communities to consider lint one problem at a time, and having taken one ste;) io be content therewith iinfil gi’owing disa]>])ointment or imminent disastc'r drives them to an- other. M here hygienic education has proceeded as it should, good meth- ods of dis])osal of waste will hai’e been understood and practiced long](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22335213_0071.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
