USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Somerville > Report of the city of Somerville 1879 > Part 10
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15
Total number of persons aided by city, towns, and State,
1,324
Total number of orders given : -
for fuel, 1,588
66 " groceries, 3,987
66 " dry goods, boots
and shoes, etc. 732
6,307
Total number of burials,
29
66 persons boarded in families, 14
66 . . 66 public institu-
tions, 23
Total number of families aided, chargeable to city,
163
Total number of families aided, chargeable to other towns and cities, 48
Total number of families without settlement, aided by city, 155
Total number of families partially aided by State, included in above, 115
Total number of families aided by other towns and cities, chargeable to city, 42
Whole number of families registered, 631
Number added during the year, 39
TABLE NO. 2. - RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURES.
DR.
CR.
To appropriation
$13,000 00
By pay-roll to Jan. 31
$3,515 45
cash from Dracut .. Boston
81 82
Feb. 28
2,025 58
541 93
March 31
2,442 25
Lawrence .
68 25
April 30
1,617 13
Nantucket
32 63
May 31
549 12
Chelsea .
39 83
June 30
676 89
Melrose ..
39 10
July 31 .
1,838 33
Abington
48 44
Aug. 31
551 80
Woburn .
40 30
Truro . ..
3 80
Oct. 31
1,031 29
Oakham .
6 20
Nov. 30.
971 56
Cambridge .
116 23
Dec. 31
1,231 75
State of Massachusetts
2,227 13
Boston
610 18
Cambridge
....
.
.
House rents
$966 94
Board in families
719 98
Burials
535 25
Salem ..
Dry goods, boots and shoes and clothing . .. .
1,382 02
Natick .
20 40
Fuel
3,057 58
Melrose .
42 05
Groceries
4,945 46
3 00
Lodgers .
9 00
189 10
State institutions
2,708 00
Woburn
62 40
Towns and cities
1,595 45
Truro
21 50
Sundries
167 92
Bridgewater
51 50
Stationery, etc
56 30
Oakham . .
.
Medford
22 95
Dedham ·
33 40
Melrose
25 15
.
Nantucket
16 20
Bridgewater
61 30
Balance to Cr.
Board ..
32 74
$17,676 64
$17,676 64
188
..
..
....
. ...
.....
. ... .. .
. .. .
.. .....
. . ..
.
28 40
Salaries
1,500 00
.
.
.. .....
.. .
.
.
..
... .
...
. .
...
. . .
. .
. . .
..
..
.
...
. . .
.
.
.
. .
....
..
...
.
...
Nantucket
24 35
Chelsea .
21 80
16 05
Lawrence .
89 15
.
.
Milford .
.
Abington .
.
17,643 90
Abington .
12 00
.
1.192 75
Sept. 30.
.
80 10
189
TABLE NO. 3, STOREKEEPER'S REPORT.
DECEMBER 31, 1879.
Stock on hand Jan. 1. 1879,
$112 29
Amount of goods bought for account store, 4,624 35 -
$4,736 64
Goods delivered on orders from overseers from Jan. 1, 1879, to date, $5,485 37
Goods delivered to police station for tramps, 189 93
Amount stock on hand in city store,
134 96
5,810 26
$1,073 62
Expenses of store : -
Storekeeper's salary,
$300 00
Insurance on building,
17 50
317 50
$756 12
Gentlemen, in closing this brief report, we wish to thank your body for the appropriation made in aid of this department, and also to thank the several charitable associations of this city for the very general assistance in the care of the poor, and to give them a word of caution. There are many applicants for aid who do not come under what may be called " worthy and well qualified," and would say to them, that we have at our office the registered history of six hundred and thirty-four families, who are receiving or have received aid, and these histories will be freely given to any members of these associations.
We shall soon again call on you for an appropriation for the present year, with the full confidence that in your kindly feelings for the class we represent, it will be full and ample.
ANSEL LEWIS, FRANK G. WILLIAMS, N. HOWE,
Overseers of the Poor.
SECOND ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE
BOARD OF HEALTH
OF THE
CITY OF SOMERVILLE,
FOR THE
YEAR 1879.
CITY OF SOMERVILLE.
IN BOARD OF MAYOR AND ALDERMEN, Feb. 3, 1880.
Referred to the Committee on Printing, with instructions to print the same in the Annual Report for 1880. Sent down for concurrence.
CHARLES E. GILMAN, Clerk.
Concurred in.
IN COMMON COUNCIL, Feb. 3, 1880.
DOUGLAS FRAZAR, Clerk.
CITY OF SOMERVILLE.
OFFICE OF THE BOARD OF HEALTH,
CITY HALL, SOMERVILLE, MASS., Jan. 28, 1880. To the Honorable the Mayor and the City Council of the City of Somer- ville :
GENTLEMEN, - In compliance with the provisions of Chap. 133 of the Acts of the Legislature of 1877, we present the following report for the year 1879 : it being the second annual report of this Board.
MEMBERSHIP.
On the first of January the board consisted of Messrs. Charles W. Sawyer. chairman, Emory L. White, city physician, and George A. Kimball. Jan. 9, the mayor reappointed George A. Kimball a member of the board for two years, and the appoint- ment was confirmed by the Board of Aldermen. July 1, the mayor appointed, with the approval of the Board of Aldermen, John F. Couch, city physician, and ex officio a member of this board, for three years, in accordance with Chap. 21 of the Acts of the Legis- lature of 1878 : Dr. White retiring.
ORGANIZATION.
Feb. 5 the following officers were re-elected : --
Chairman
CHARLES W. SAWYER,
Clerk
GEORGE I. VINCENT,
Inspector WILLIAM H. BRINE, 40 Houghton Street.
WORK.
Our work has consisted mainly of abating nuisances, regulating offensive trades, supervising the issuing of licenses to keep swine and goats and to collect grease, the collection of ashes and house offal, and the removal of night soil, and dealing with diseases dangerous
13
194
to the public health. We have approved physicians' certificates of deaths, as required by Chap. 174 of the Acts of the Legislature of 1878.
We have also given considerable attention to the impurities in the Mystic water, which were quite noticeable during the summer months.
CONTENTS OF REPORT.
The remainder of this report consists of a detailed statement of the work done, given in order as above named ; an item on sewers,. and another on house-drainage ; a table of mortality in Somerville during the year ; a comparison of the rates of mortality, the prev- alence of diseases dangerous to the public health, and the number of nuisances abated in the ten sanitary districts of the city ; and a statement of expenses.
Appended to this report is a paper on the " prevention of dis- ease," by John F. Couch, M. D., city physician, with the city physician's report.
NUISANCES.
The following is a table of nuisances abated, arranged by the months in which the complaints were made, except that those placed under January include nuisances referred to us by the board of 1878 :-
.
195
NUISANCES ABATED IN THE YEAR 1879.
* January.
February.
March.
April.
May.
June.
July.
August.
September.
October.
November.
December.
Total.
Cellar damp
4
Cesspool defective
6.
offensive .
overflowing
1
2
4
1
1
3 1 81.9
1
1
3
under house offensive,
under stable offensive,
1
Connections of waste with drain- pipes defective
2
6
5
7
4
8
4
3
3
1
1
44
Drainage defective
37
3
1
5
3
1
4
?
1
.
1
15
Drain-pipe broken and leaking,
4
2
2
2
1
4
5
3
2
1
1
1
40
66
not trapped stopped up
1
1
1
4
2
1
1
1
5
11
Dwelling-rooms in basement
low and damp
1
2
2
.
6
on premises
6
1
1
9
1
1
1
1
1
Hennery offensive .
1
1
1
7
2
1
·
31
Manure-pit not properly con- structed
2
2
Offal on land
2
2
2
10
Offensive odor in and about dwellings .
22
3
2
3
4
6
3
1
44
Pig-pen offensive
1
.
1
1
2
1
Rendering, method of,defective,
1
·
2
1
2
2
4
2
1
1
1
16
Soil-pipe not ventilated
3
1
1
1
1
5
2
7
2
66
on surface
9
3
5
2
4
.
.
19
1
3
227
leaking
not properly constructed,
9
4
1
5
7
2
4
3
1
38
66
.. ventilated 11
·
·
.
. .
11
1
2
7
2
6
9
1
2
2
43
Waste-pipes defective
3
2
3
3
.
.
.
.
.
17
not trapped
62
17
10
11
11
15
17
27
13
13
12
1
209
stopped up
3
.
3
1
1
4
2
1
1
4
1
28
plied with water
3
3
Water-closet not supplied with water . . .
3
1
3
7
Water-closet offensive
6
1
1
4
3
.
.
15
Water-course obstructed 66
polluted
.
1
3
1
3
11
2
1
6
29
233
95
64
92
160
114
146
113
86
62
22
10
1197
·
1
1
2
00 . 8
5
2
2
5
13
4
1
15
in cellar defective
3
6
2
11
30
10
2
2
1
.
1
56
emptying in cellar emptying on surface .
1
1
5
.
1
.
.
1
.
.
.
.
·
·
1
1
Filth in cellar
20
Garbage in street
2
5
1
Offensive materials carted thro' streets
1
1
2
·
.
1
1
6
Stagnant water in house cellar
1
2
.
1
2
.
·
23
44
43
1
.
·
15
Vault full . . 66
14
18
11
6
29
1
4
6
16 3
2
12
Water-closet defective 66 insufficiently sup-
·
.
.
.
.
.
.
1
Wooden waste-pipes and drains, 1
.
.
offensive
1
6
20
4
23
·
.
1
1
2
1
.
1
Privy not properly constructed
5
1
Slops thrown on surface .
Stable filthy .
1
3
1
1
1
* Hens kept in cellar Horse kept in house Manure exposed
5
6
4
10
1
2
2
11 1
30
7
6
I
1
5
4
1
88 -
66
9
·
2
4
stopped up
1
1
2
5
5
1
·
3
6
10
1
offensive
in stable cellar .
1
* Including nuisances referred to us by the Board of 1878.
14
1
196
Number of nuisances abated, 1,197 ; number referred to Board of 1880, 148; total, 1.345.
Number of complaints, 639 ; number made without sufficient cause, 6.
Number of tenements ordered vacated, 30; number vacated in compliance with our orders, 8; number caused to be vacated by the Chief of Police, 2; number ordered to be vacated that have been put in proper sanitary condition, 26.
Number of notices issued through the police department and the mails, 819 ; number served by constables, 49 ; total, 868.
Number of letters sent, 160.
PRIVIES. - Many complaints have been received of privy-vaults being full. offensive, not properly constructed or ventilated, etc. We again recommend that wherever it is practicable, privies be abandoned and water-closets used. Where privies must be used, however, it is possible so to construct and manage them as to give no cause for complaint, as is done in some instances in our city. , The vault should be water-tight and as near air-tight as possible. It should be emptied often, and during warm weather disinfectants should be freely used. Both vault and privy should be well ventilated. No sink or surface drainage should be allowed to go into the vault. During the year 19 privies have been abandoned.
STABLES. - Several nuisances caused by filthy stables and their surroundings have received our attention. In many cases, owners and occupants of stables do not exercise the care that they should to keep their premises in a cleanly condition, especially when located in thickly settled neighborhoods. They allow the floors to - become rotten and saturated with urine and manure, have poor drainage or none at all, provide no suitable pit for manure, and no ventilation for manure or stable. The manure pit and stable should be provided with separate ventilators extending through the roof to a point above neighboring windows, and the cellars should also have proper ventilation.
We recommend that all petitions to the City Council for permis- sion to erect stables be referred to this board.
STAGNANT WATER. - Several long-existing nuisances caused by stagnant water have been abated.
The large pond on land on Broadway opposite the park is in
197
process of being filled; and when the work is completed, an unhealthy and unsightly pool will be removed.
There yet remain quite a number of localities where these pesti- lential nuisances exist ; and in several cases, the owners of the land and of neighboring estates have petitioned for sewers.
We trust the Board of Aldermen will speedily grant these petitions, as their construction will not only be conducive to health, but enhance the value of real estate in the vicinity.
ALEWIFE BROOK. - The nuisance at Alewife Brook, referred to in our last report, remains in the same condition. In a recent report of a special committee, appointed by the City Council of Cambridge to consider the matter of the prevention of further pollution of the water supply for that city, the following is the first recommendation : -
"That Alewife Brook should, if possible, be restored to purity by withdrawing from it the sewage of Cambridge, and the very offensive matter from the hog-slaughtering house of Niles Brothers ; that this relief to the brook can be obtained more advantageously to the city by means of a sewer along the right bank of the stream, from North Avenue to Concord turnpike and thence to Charles River, as recommended in a report of the city engineer."
If the above recommendation is carried out by the city of Cam- bridge, the nuisance will be abated.
OFFENSIVE TRADES.
RENDERING. - No permits to render grease have been granted during the year, and a copy of our order forbidding the same has been served upon one person.
One party who was granted in 1878 a recommendation to the Boston Board of Health for a license to collect grease in that city, on the condition that he should not render grease in Somerville, was found in January last to have violated that condition. At our request his license was revoked by the Boston Board of Health, and in consequence he was obliged to suspend his business.
In July last a communication was sent by us to the Cambridge Board of Health, informing them of a nuisance existing at prem- ises on Columbia Street, in Cambridge, near the boundary line, caused by the rendering of grease, the extremely offensive odor from which seriously annoyed those of our citizens residing south
198
of Union Square, and requesting that the matter receive early attention. The nuisance has not been abated.
Four parties were engaged in the rendering business during the year, namely : Charles H. North & Co., Medford Street ; Lincoln, Chamberlin & Co., South Street ; Charles O'Neil, Linden Street, and Thomas Spellman, Ward Street. Messrs. North & Co. also do a large pork-slaughtering and packing business, and Messrs. Lin- coln, Chamberlin & Co.'s principal business is pork-packing. Dur- ing the year the last-named firm has, at our request, placed in their works an improved apparatus for destroying noxious gases. We have given considerable attention to Mr. O'Neil's establish- ment, in which a general grease-rendering business is carried on, principally of house grease. Different methods of disposing of gases have been tried by the proprietor, but he has not as yet pro- cured the best apparatus known. Mr. Spellman does a small busi- ness, rendering only the grease that he collects himself. He has recently put in a new apparatus, and keeps his premises very neat.
SLAUGHTERING. - There are four beef-slaughter houses in the city, and one pork-killing, packing, and rendering establishment ; the last-named being Messrs. Charles H. North & Co.'s works on Medford Street.
On the 11th of June last, Messrs. North & Co. moved into their new works on Medford Street, on the site of those destroyed by fire June 17, 1878. Since June 11, the premises which they occu- pied after the fire, and which were formerly owned by the Boynton Packing Company, have been used by Messrs. North & Co. for their cooperage department only. The new buildings are substan- tial brick structures, three and four stories high, with an aggregate length of 500 feet and an average width of 125 feet. The founda- tion is of piles capped with granite, upon which is a bed of gravel two feet deep, covered with six inches of concrete sloping to the centre, where a drain extends the entire length of the buildings, flush with the concrete. Six inches above the concrete is the cel- lar floor of plank, for working purposes. All the other floors are of hard pine, and water-tight, sloping to the centre, the drainage being conveyed by iron pipes to the drain under the cellar floors. An iron pipe on the outside of the building conveys all hot water from tanks, etc., into a brick sewer. The floors of the hog-yards are of hard pine, and water-tight, and are furnished with troughs for fresh water.
4
199
In the storehouse for live hogs, which is four stories high, an open space six feet wide, running the entire length of the building, extends from the first floor to a ventilator ten feet wide in the roof. Means of ventilation are also provided for the other buildings. The hogs are driven from the fourth floor of the storehouse to the third floor of the slaughter-house, where they are killed ; the blood passing through pipes into a receptacle on the floor beneath. The hogs are dropped to the next lower floor, where they are scalded, cleaned, and dressed for market. The entrails are rendered by steam in tight tanks ; the gases going through a condenser, into which chemicals are introduced for the purpose of destroying them. The blood and the residue from the rendering tank are converted into fertilizer in a steam dryer. The rendering tank is of the patent known as the "Perry Digester," the dryer is of the " Hogle " patent, and the condenser is the " Shaw Patent Oxydizer."
The capacity of the works is sufficient to slaughter and prepare for market 1,500 hogs daily.
LICENSES.
The granting of licenses to keep swine and goats, and to collect grease, has been under the supervision of this board during the past year, the same as in 1878; the city clerk being instructed by the Board of Aldermen to issue licenses to such parties as we may direct.
SWINE. - Applications have been received for licenses to keep 169 swine ; we have recommended that licenses be granted for 162 (including 100 at the McLean Asylum), and refused for 7.
Two persons have been prosecuted by the chief of police for keeping swine without a license, and have been fined by the court.
GOATS. - Applications have been received for licenses to keep 44 goats ; we have recommended that licenses be granted to keep 43, and refused for 1.
GREASE. - Applications have been received from 15 parties for licenses to collect grease, and we have recommended that they all be granted. Of this number 9 reside in Somerville, 3 in Cambridge, 2 in Boston, and 1 in Medford ; all of the non-residents having pre- sented recommendations from the Boards of Health of the respective places where they reside.
We have given 15 recommendations for licenses to collect
200
grease in Cambridge, and 2 recommendations for licenses to col- lect in Boston.
Number of Somerville people licensed to collect grease in Cam- bridge in 1879, 15 ; number licensed in Boston, 44. All of those licensed in Cambridge received recommendations from us during the past year ; but nearly all of those licensed in Boston, having been recommended by us in 1878, had their licenses renewed without further recommendations.
ASHES.
Ashes and house dirt have been collected once a month as in 1878, except that in that year the first collection was made in April, making nine collections for the year, while in 1879 there were twelve collections.
Ashes are collected in Ward 1 on the first Monday of each month ; in Ward 2, the second Monday; in Ward 3, the third Monday; and in Ward 4, the fourth Monday : and householders are required to place their ashes in suitable receptacles on tlie outer edge of the sidewalk in front of their premises on the fore- noons of these days.
3,999 loads of ashes and dirt were collected in 1879, at a cost of $977.19.
HOUSE OFFAL.
House offal has been collected during the year by Mr. G. W. Cummings, under a two years' contract dated June 26, 1878, for a compensation of $980 per annum.
Collections are required to be made three times a week in the months of May, June, July, August, and September ; twice a week in the months of April. October, and November; and once a week in the months of December, January, February, and March.
REMOVAL OF NIGHT SOIL.
Night soil has been removed during the year by Messrs. Russell & Fitch, the same parties who have done this work for several years past. A new contract for one year was made with them April 25, on the same terms as the former contract ; viz., the compensation to be received by them from the owners or lessees of premises where vaults are emptied, being $3 per load, or part of a load of eighty cubic feet, in the months of April, May, June, July, August, September, and October, and $2 for the same in the months of November, December, January, February, and March. 460 vaults and cesspools have been emptied during the year.
201
Books for orders to clean vaults and cesspools are kept at the police station, Bow Street, and at the grocery store, corner of Perkins and Franklin Streets.
DISEASES DANGEROUS TO THE PUBLIC HEALTH.
SCARLET FEVER. - There were 171 cases of this disease reported during the past year, 15 of which proved fatal. From the 1st of March to the 31st of December, 18:8, inclusive, there were 108 cases reported. In the corresponding months of 1879 there were 118 cases reported. The public are not yet fully aware of the dangerous nature of this disease, and we still have much to do before we can hope to stamp it out.
A circular embodying the views of the board as expressed in the first annual report, and containing many valuable suggestions, has been left at every house in which there has been a case of the disease. Children are not permitted to attend school from any house in which a case of the disease occurs, until four weeks after the commencement of the last case.
We have, whenever requested to do so by the family, fumigated houses in which cases of this disease occurred, and since Jan. 1, 1880, have made a rule to fumigate every house in which a fatal case occurs.
DIPHTHERIA. - There were 113 cases of diphtheria reported in 1879. and 29 deaths. In 1878 (excluding January and February, when there were no reports) there were 70 cases, with a mortality of 21. During the last ten months of 1879 there were 91 cases and 18 deaths.
The inspector of the board has made a careful inspection of the sanitary condition of every house in which a case of this disease occurred. The evidence presented by him is a strong argument in favor of the theory that insanitary conditions are potent factors in the dissemination of the disease. (See accompanying table. )
We are pleased to be able to report the fact that in houses where this disease occurred, in which the suggestions and orders of the board were carried out, there were no subsequent cases reported.
Of the contagiousness of the disease we have no doubt, having seen many proofs of it during the year.
Since Jan. 1, 1880, every house in which a fatal case has occurred has been fumigated, and houses where the result is not fatal are fumigated if requested.
202
TYPHOID FEVER. - This disease has not prevailed to any extent during the past year, but 15 cases (3 proving fatal) having been reported, as compared with 18 in the last ten months of 1878. When we consider that we have in our midst many of the pre- disposing causes of this disease, in imperfect drainage, filthy privies, nauseous cesspools, and large tracts of inhabited terri- tories in which there are no sewers, the wonder is that we have had so few cases.
It is to be feared that some of our physicians do not report their cases of this disease as carefully as those of scarlet fever and diphtheria. The board regards this as a " disease dangerous to the public health," and physicians and householders alike should remember that they are required by law to report it.
The first of the two following tables shows the number of cases of scarlet fever, diphtheria, and typhoid fever reported, with the number of these cases that have, up to this date, proved fatal. The second shows the number of deaths from each of these dis- eases in 1877, 1878, and. 1879 : -
SCARLET FEVER, DIPHTHERIA, AND TYPHOID FEVER REPORTED IN 1879.
SCARLET FEVER.
DIPHTHERIA.
TYPHOID FEVER.
MONTHS.
Cases
reported.
Fatal cases.
Percentage
of deaths.
Cases
reported.
Fatal cases.
Percentage
of deaths.
Cases
reported.
Fatal cases.
Percentage
of deaths.
January
40
4
10
13
4
31
February
13
9
4
44
March
21
1
5
6
April
21
2
10
5
1
20
May
18
3
1
1
100
June
18
1
6
5
1
20
1
July
6
2
33
2
1
August
3
6
4
67
2
September
1
7
2
29
6
1
17
October
4
20
5
25
1
November
10
3
33
22
2
9
2
1
50
December
16
2
12
15
4
27
1
Total
171
15
9
113
27
24
15
3
20
.
·
.
.
.
·
.
.
DIPHTHERIA IN 1879 .- INSPECTOR'S REPORT.
201A
No. of Family
Nationality.
Occupation of Head of Family.
Sex of Patient.
Date of Sickness.
Result.
Soil.
Locality.
Honse Drainage.
Condition of Cellar.
Privy.
Remarks.
Italian ..
Laborer.
1
Female .. .
6
January
Fatal ..
Sand Clayey Gravel .. .
Damp Good
On surface Waste pipe not trapped
.Damp
Vault full ; privy adjoining kitchen. Water closet in cellar.
4 5
= German .....
Musician.
5
3
V
Good
Offensive odor from vault Dry.
Water closet in cellar ; defective. In shed adjoining house. In yard 8 feet from house
This lady attended patient number 3. § About this time there were two fatal cases of ? scarlet fever in this house. Soil pipe not ventilated.
6 7
American .. Irislı
Male
26
Clay ..
Damp
8
American.
Bookbinder.
31
=
3
x.
=
II.
=
VII.
III. Sand
Low
Into cesspool 10 ft. from house ; waste pipo not trapped ..
Basement rooms.
Irislı .
Carpenter.
8
Fatal ..
18
Male
5 9
March. February
VII. IX
Clayey Gravel .. . Sand
Opening in drain pipe in cellar ; joints of d. p. not cemt'd Good. On surface, 8 feet from house .
Damp Dry Damp
In yard 10 feet from house. Water closet in house. In yard 8 feet from house.
In yard ; vault full.
24
6ª
September March
I.
Clayey Gravel .. .
Low
Connection of w. p. with d. p. defective ; w. p. not trapped
Dry
In yard 6 fect from house ; vault full.
Offensive odor from sink.
American. Superintendent ..
33
III
Good
Good.
Damp
Irish
( Widow)
Female .. . Male
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.