Small-pox Question

To the Editor of The Registee: Sir - Will you kinrtly give space to notice fo mueh of J. M. W's letter in your last issue as refers to the action of the board of health, in caring for the recent case of varioloid, leaving The Eegister to answer the strictnres on its own editorial. It is perhnps too much to expect that a board ofheelth can perform a public duty, required lo be promptly dor.e, in which the grea'est good tf the greatest number is sougbt, withoutsome individuals feeling thenjsi;lves aggrieved. With this belief, I wou'd not take my own time or that of your resders, in a mere defense of acts cf the board - performed under official obligations - by replies to criticisms from thoee who obseive from a single point of view. But I vuil wilingly give time, if I can in ome degree correct the popular exaggerated notions of' the danger from exposure to sruall-pox, of persons protected by vaccination. MISSTATEMENTS. The errors of iact in "J. M. W's" article are only important to emphaiz3 the errors of inference. The distance of the houses which he states at 20 feet, is nearer 40. The distance from Huron-st. he understates. These dififerences are not believed intentional, but they show the general inconsistency of the whole article. He speaks of the "selection" of the house used as a hospital, as though the board ef health had a number of houses to choose from, thouh he was directly informed that this was the only unoccupied house fit to put a sick man in, that could be secured. He cali the Iccation "11 advised, if not inexeusable." Yet he, nor any of the delegaiion of his neigbbors, had any advice with which to aid the board, except to lócate the patiënt iomewhere else. The delegation of his neighbors expressid themselves as salisfied that the board had done the bett it coulJ, after hearing that the entire board had spent the whole day ' in looking for suitable quarters, Messrs. Moore and Dodsley riding over the whole city ia the storm. Each one oL this delegation, J. M. W. als-o, admitted that they were not afraid of tho disease. Yet, instead of infusiag this courage into families and neighbors, J. M. W. wntes that the selection of this house for a hospital on the west eide of the town is a flagrant (?) viulation of aiore recer.t theories of disense, and tends to increase the danger instead of lessening it I MISTASE! OF THE BOARD. Now if this were true, and not assumption, then the board has made a roistake which it ought to corree', and would justify J. M. W's demand tbat the board take a little moie time and exercise a much better judgment in establiehing a pest house. But the members of thboard believe they have acted intelligemly as well as disinterestedly and legaliy. The board of health is required by law not only to protect the public he 1 li. but to secure to the sick isolated for ub lic good, all neoessary care. Tbey )id hot propose to put a sick man int qiurters unfit for J. M. W. or one of tbeuit-lves if either should be so unfortunate as to have to be sent there. If this house, one half mil west of Main-st., exposes "the h-art of the city," where will J. M W. fix the necessary mile pquare of un-jcoup r-d ground, available to the city, ia tne middle of which it can safely locale a hospital lor contagious disease? DANOER3 OF WAITING. Further, if the board had taken the "more time" advised, how about the houses "in the heart of the city" on all sides of the patiënt, some of which, ae cording to J. M. W's theorie, mint have beer exposed, whichever way the wiud blew? Suppose, too, while takinif "more time," the patiënt became unable to be moved and had to remain in that tbickly populated part of the city. Shoulrt we have berd from J. M. W. then ? Yet if the owner of the house where the patiënt was taken sick, had consented, the patiënt would not have been removed. And in the opinión of the attending physicians, in which the heallh officer concurred, the public would not have been endnyered. It is not the exposure from known and placarded cases of small-pox that endanger the public, but the exposure of persons unprotected by vaccination, to unrecognized caes, or to infected clothiug, or vehicles of travel. PROTECTION BY VACCINATION. The point I wish to emphasize is that the ever ready protection against srnall pox is to maintain non-susceptibility to the disease, ny vaccination, thorough and repeated. Rasonable isolation of cases, nd di-idfeclion of all infected materia!, are to be had of course. But there are neither accepted theories nor facts to prove it unsafe for protected persons to pass along streets as near to a small pox hospital as is the one on Mann St. CREAT1NO PANICS. It is the tendency in J. M. W's article to justify these extravagant notions, to which I take exception. It seems to me unfortunate tbat euch mischievous alarm and unhealthy excitement as prevailed on our si reets, and in the schools, a fortnight ago should be encouraied. It seetns wrong that the pulilic shouM be further educated in the b'lief that the chief protection agsinst small pox is to fiVe fiom u, or send it from us, Instead of fortifying by vaccination. This kind of teaching créales panics, and renders it diffloult and cometióles impracticable to properly case lor the sick, to eecure shelter or uurses. It is not creditable to our humanity, to say nothing of our christianity. NOT A PEST HOUSE. It is this unrensonnble fear that causes mucb of the difficulty a board of health enouunters ; that sends sitk persona into hnuses vacant becnuse unfit tor well people to live in. The exposure and sometimes lack of care makes a pest house indeed, and to the fear and horror of the di.ease, as well as to its mortality. All honor to the medical students who, in ihe face of such public prejudice, volunteer to nurse the sick at Azalia! That but one of them, constantly in the midst of the diaease, shotild have taken it. and that very mildly, furnishes the best evidt-nce ot the good groand of their faith in vaccination. HOSPITAL FOR CONTAGIÓOS DISEASE3. The practical part of J. AI. W'g letter, the whole board will heartily coaimend (oarring the " has.te and indiscretion") as it is the substatjce of suggestions urged on hina by the health officer, that he would continue nis interest in the matter beyond thu ou'.break and use his influence to secure a permanent hospital for contagious diseases. rtns, with an ambulance lor the removhI of infected patients, the city needs. It would relieve future boardR of health of d fficult and vexatioug work; it would be more economical to the city in the lonj run. It would obviate m'jch of the sen sational scare to the public, indulged in usually by villnges rather than by cities and would lessen the fear of patients an their friends to know they were to go toa ■Uitable place for the sick, rather than to a pest house with its traditional horrors. I recommended this to the council am board of supervisors several years ago. Give us this, and a state law requiring evidenco of vaccination of every person luimitted to any public institution in the Sime, every school fiom the primary up to the utnversity, every countypoor hou=e ja.il, prison, asyium, not omitting the legislaiure, and we will have little trouble f rom i-mail pox.