PREVENTION op SCARLET FEVER AND -0CONTAGION.

Dunstan Times, Issue 714, 24 December 1875, Page 3

PREVENTION op SCARLET FEVER AND -OCONTAGION.

The above w the subject of a lecture recently delivered in the Victoria Hall, Hrnmmrnd-street, Carlton, by Hr Girdlestone, .the health officer of. Melbourne M lerman.O'Grady occupied the chair, and there eves a numerous atten lance. The 1 etnrer observed that, scarlet fever was a disease that, was more easily presented than cured, and this being the case it, behoved every u.arent to studv the leading princip'es of hygiene, and also that those principles should be made part of the o’ementary instruction in schools. Scarlet fever could not he so virulent in a clean, well-ventilated house as in a place where cleanliness and ventilation were ne lected, and in these cases the words of scripture were most ap. n'icable. “ As a man soweth so shall he also reap.” The disease was given off in enormous quantities by persons suffering from it, and the patients required to be isolated. The abolition of cesspits, the drainage of streets, and the clearing awav of fi’th by the public bodies, were good remedies, but to make «he remedy Complete, assistance must come from within as we’l as from without. The authorit'e* and househo’dcrs ought to work together. To keep off attacks of fever, thn water used by a fami'v must ho pure, Tho appearance of water wm no guarantee of its purity. Thn-e water was necessary for health ; if pcoulo drank impure water the to 10 of the beabh was lowered, sufl they were more likelv ‘o catch an epidemic. He therefore ,adv : sed everybody to boil water before using i l , ns tho heat of boiling destroyed the poise n it

might contain, Ha believed that numbers of people placed dark blinds at their windows to save their furniture from the action of the sun, but ho recommended them to consider their health bulore their furniture, and warned them that the sun must enter if a room was to bo kept sweet and healthy. Speaking of tho back promises of houses, Dr Girdlestone urged that tho authorities should appoint an officer whoso duty should bo to seo tho plans of every house before it was built, and ascertain whether there were proper means of drainage before allowing the building' to be orectod,*XT T nder existing laws, it was often the case that half a dnz n n houses wore put together where there should be only three, and it was found to be impossible to drain them, and the occupants suffered in health in consequence Above all, tho lecturer urged upon his hearers to allow a continuous supply of fresh air to enter the rooms of their houses, as it diluted the poison of tho disease.