Jehiel Abbott as commissioners, and Mr. Shattuck formulated their conclusions in a report that to-day is one of the most interesting and instructive of sanitary documents. Sanitary science, as we now know it, had not come into being then, so that to write about it as an existent fact was considerably like "coining a vacuum"; but Mr. Shattuck condensed into it all that history can teach on hygiene from Moses down, and, as he was keenly alive to all that was going on in England, he did not fail to call attention to the great awakening on the subject there, where already two sanitary journals were established, and public meetings were being held in all parts of the country, where it was declared that "sanitation is the great idea of the age." Every consideration which it was thought could influence the legislative mind was brought to bear. The commission called attention to the fact that there had already been costly and valuable reports made on insects; the invertebrates; on fishes, reptiles, and birds; and one on trees and shrubs; and they say it would be reasonable to suppose that man was entitled to a consideration equal to either of these subjects. They cite the fact that two costly expeditions had been fitted out to search for Sir John Franklin, and ask if the preservation of the lives of many possible Franklins is not as worthy an object. They maintain that the average of human life may be much extended, its physical power augmented . . . . untimely deaths prevented, and that measures for prevention will effect infinitely more than remedies for the cure of disease. They compute the needless loss of life and the cost of avoidable sickness. They appeal to intelligent men of all classes, medical and non-medical, and quote from Simon's Report on the Condition of London: "Ignorant men may sneer at the pretensions of sanitary science. Weak and timorous men may hesitate to commit themselves to its principles, so large is their application. Selfish men may shrink from the labor of change, wicked men may turn indifferently from considering that which concerns the health and happiness of millions of their fellow-creatures, but in the great objects which it proposes to itself it transcends in importance all other sciences, and in its beneficent operation it seems to embody the spirit and to fulfill the intentions of practical Christianity." They brought the argument home, by demonstrating that at least $7,500,000 were lost annually to Massachusetts through untimely deaths and needless sickness.
The Board of Health they recommended was to consist of two doctors, one lawyer, one chemist or naturalist, and two of other occupations; and an elaborate plan of action was drawn up, covering nearly every possible combination of circumstances that such a board would be likely to encounter. Dr. Bowditch
