"I look for the time when our courts of law shall punish cities and villages, for permitting any of the sources of bilious and malignant fevers to exist within their jurisdiction." — BENJ. RUSH. "There are people who think that every thing may be done, if the doer, be he educator or physician, be only called in season. No doubt; but in season would often be a hundred or two years before the child was born, and people never send so early as that."-O. W. HOLMES. In a wide sense, the science of public hygiene enlists the services of the people themselves, in continuous efforts at self-improvement; of the teachers of the people, to inculcate the best rules of life and action; of physicians, in preventing as well as curing disease; and of law-givers, to legalize and enforce measures of health preservation.” — WILSON, Handbook of Hygiene. 17012 PUBLIC HYGIENE IN AMERICA: BEING THE CENTENNIAL DISCOURSE DELIVERED THE INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL CONGRESS, PHILADELPHIA, SEPTEMBER, 1876. BEFORE BY HENRY I. BOWDITCH, M.D. MICHIGAN WITH EXTRACTS FROM CORRESPONDENCE FROM THE VARIOUS STATES. TOGETHER WITH A DIGEST OF AMERICAN SANITARY LAW, BY HENRY G. PICKERING, Esq. BOSTON: LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. LONDON: TRÜBNER AND COMPANY. TO THE MEMORY OF MY BELOVED MASTER IN MEDICINE, LOUIS, Whose noble example will always lead every honest scholar to a reverent regard for scientific truth; whose works have been to me a stimulus to patient labors in my profession, and whose friendship was to me a life-long delight; and TO MY LIVING ASSOCIATES, My Professional Brethren throughout these United States, without whose courtesy and cordial co-operation it would have been impossible for me to prepare it, I respectfully and gratefully dedicate this Centennial Discourse. Boston, March, 1877. HENRY I. BOWDITCH. |