ROAD BOARDS.

Globe, Volume III, Issue 234, 10 March 1875, Page 3

ROAD BOARDS.

EICCARTON. The ordinary meeting of this Board was held on Saturday, at the office, Cashel street west. Present—Messrs Hall (chairman), Nun week, Greig, and Patterson. The minutes of the last meeting were read and confirmed. Tenders were received for supplying metal for the main roads of the district; also for metalling the Papanui and Fendaltown Junction road, and one was accepted n each case. A letter was read from Mr Reed, calling the attention of the Board to the state of the drain on the northern boundary of his section. Referred to the surveyor. A letter was received from Mr Washbourne offering to sell sufficient land on the northern boundary of section 112 to make the road fronting thereon a chain wide. The surveyor was directed to forward Mr Washbourue’s letter to the Government, and state that the Board recommends the purchaso. A letter was read from the Secretary for Public Works (in reply) stating that the patter of widening the railway gates had been referred to the railway engineer. A circular was received from the RegistrarGeneral asking to be supplied with statistics in the district for 1874. The surveyor stated that the information had been forwarded. A letter was read from the chairman of the Central Board of Health, asking the Board to report on the general sanitary state of the district, and upon the working of the Public Health Act. The chairman was directed to draft a report for the consideration of the Board. A letter was read from the Secretary for Public Works, stating that the sum of £164 has been allotted to the Board out of the General Government grant for 1874-75, twothirds of which sum are now payable. Correspondence was read from Mr T. S, Duncan (as solicitor for the attorney of Mr Boag, of Fendaltown), and from the Secretary for Public Works, asking the Board to desist from putting gravel on the reserve road, as the Government proposed to exchange it for a road on Mr Boag’s section. The chairman stated that he had called on Mr Duncan, and also on the attorney for Mr Boag, and explained the matter. Also, that he had replied to the Secretary for Public Works’ letter, stating that the contract for forming and metalling the reserve road was let by public tender, and that the contractor being bound (under penalty) to complete by the 4th March, the Board declined to stop the work. The Board approved of the action taken by the chairman in the matter. A letter was read from the Commissioner of Police, acknowledging the receipt of the Board’s letter in reference to the footpath on the Riccarton road, and stating that the police will be instructed to render every assistance to the Board in preventing trespass upon the path. Also suggesting that notice boards be erected in a conspicuous place, cautioning the public from using it otherwise than as a footpath. The surveyor stated that notice boards had been erected in accordance with the suggestion of the commissioner. The Board directed the surveyor to inform Mr T, P. Partridge that it could not entertain his tender for supplying gravel for the maintenance of the roads in the district, in consequence of his having failed to carry out the last contract let to him. but that in future sureties would be required before the Board could consider his tenders. The surveyor reported that guide postshad been erected at the principal cross roads of the district, for the convenience of travellers. The report ordered by the Board on the condition and estimated cost of re-construc-tion cf, and repairs to certain bridges in the district was deferred for consideration. After passing accounts, &c, the Board adjourned.

A CURE FOR TYPHOID. The following letter has been addressed to the editor of the Times-. Sir, —In the recent discussion as to the cause of typhoid fever, has not an equally, if not more important question been overlooked — viz., whether the treatment of fever almost universally adopted throughout England is the most efficacious means of arresting, eradicating, and curing the disease ? That there is another system worthy of serious consideration at the hands of the medical profession at large the following facts clearly prove:— On my being taken suddenly ill last year at Lucerne, and accute symptoms of a threatened fever setting in, my friends forthwith called in Dr Steiger, who enjoys a considerable reputation throughout Switzerland. He ordered me at once to be what is called •‘packed;’’ and on my expressing surprise, he said, “ I am thankful to tell you that the doctors in Switzerland and Germany have at last learnt the value of simple remedial measures ; when Bourbaki’s army entered Switzerland, I had charge of the fever hospital for this district, and out of twentyfour patients suffering from typhoid fever (two were brought in dying), loured twentytwo entirely by application of the wet sheet. I used neither medicines nor stimulants, and the soldiers completely recovered their health in a very short time. During the last eight years this system has been carried on in the Basle Hospital with signal success, reducing in a surprising manner the death rate in the fever wards. In private practice I invariably adopt this system, and rarely loose a patient whom I have treated from the commencement of the fever. I have been particularly successful in puerperal and scarlet fevers. This system is nowalmost universallyadopted throughout Switzerland and Germany.” Through Dr Steiger’s assiduous attention and packing treatment, I was able to resume my journey in two days. Now, if not trespassing too much on your valuable space, may I be allowed to explain the process and principle. 1. The Process. —A blanket is spread out on the bed, and a sheet, wrung out in cold water, placed on the blanket; the patient is then wrapped up in the sheet, and the blanket tightly packed round the body, other blankets are finally placed over the patient. In lieu of the sheet, a towel or towels may be used, depending entirely on the extent of fever and the probable reactionary powers of the patient. The sheet is renewed every ten minutes or quarter of an hour, according to the temperature of the body, which is ascertained from time to time by placing a thermometer in the arm-pit of the patient. It will be found that each sheet will reduce the fever from three to seven degrees. This process is continued for about an hour, after which the patient is quickly washed over for a couple of minutes, either on the bed or in a tepid bath, and put back into bed. It is renewed at intervals of four or five hours until the fever is entirely subdued, which crisis is usually shown by a spontaneous outbreak of natural perspiration. By means of the thermometer, the fever can be kept in check by repeated sheets as easily as a steam engine can be controlled by the handle of the machine. 2. The Principle.—lt is always difficult to explain in simple language a system depending upon and that ought to be studied by the laws of science, but, in plain words, the wet-sheet-pack is simply a cooling poultice. As is well known, the rationale of all diseases is the determination of blood in excess to the interior of the body, and the foundation of all curative processes ought to be the withdrawal of such blood for healthy re-distribu-tion throughout the body. This is the principle of a poultice, and of the wet-sheet-pack. It withdraws the heat of fever as generated by accumulated blood, and it is continuously repeated till the body regains its normal temperature through a restored equilibrium of circulation. the poisor, which is the causa of all specific fevers, is thus made to expend itself harmlessly, without involving the body in the destructive consequence of prolonged febrile excitement. It has been proved, without doubt, that the disease by this system can be arrested and eradicated in the course of a few days, without running what is considered the usual course of seven, fourteen, twentyone, and forty-two days. The subsequent period, also, of a long convalescence is entirely avoided. It is at the urgent request of many friends that I now venture to make public these statements ; and I trust the medical profession at large, towards whom we all owe a deep debt of gratitude, will kindly accept these suggestions in the spirit in which they are offered. As a layman, I am unable to enter into the medical and scientific part of the question ; but Dr Steiger, of Lucerne, with whom 1 have lately been in correspondence, has kindly given me permission to use his name, and any letters addressed to him on the subject will, I am sure, receive his best attention. The only apology I can now offer for this letter is the deep interest I have long taken in hospital work, and the conviction that a system so simple in its application and so effective in its cure, when adopted in such countries as Germany and Switzerland, is not unworthy the practical consideration of the medical profession in England.—l have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, JOHN O. Stephens, Vicar of Savernake, and Honorary Secretary to the Savernake Hospital, November 28 th.