USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Arlington > Town of Arlington annual report 1904-1906 > Part 44
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A record is kept by the Board of all complaints of whatever nature, each one investigated and decided on its merits, - the ob- ject of the Board being to abate all nuisances and prevent condi- tions that are a menace to health.
The past year more complaints than usual have been reported and received the attention of the Board.
Sanitary Inspection - A knowledge of the real sanitary condi- tion of the various parts of the Town and a thorough inspection of specific complaints requires the services of an inspector, avail- able at all times. A sufficient appropriation should be made to command such services.
Gipsy and Brown-Tail Moths .- As Chapter. 381 of the Acts of 1905 declares these pests a nuisance and provides method and means for their suppression, no action by this Board has been re- quired. The Board, however, would call the attention of the citizens to the fact that boxes, papers, cans, etc., should not be scattered about the yards as they are convenient breeding places for the moths and all such rubbish should be examined and re- moved.
166
BOARD OF HEALTH.
Sewer Connection .- Connection with the public sewer has been required in a large number of cases. All premises on the line of the public sewer should be connected at an early date. The in- creased number of dwellings in the Town renders the use of cess- pools more objectionable and dangerous each year.
Spy Pond - In response to a petition relative to cleaning the shores of Spy Pond, the Board investigated said shores, but did not find the condition such as to warrant action on their part. In order to make any substantial improvement in the pond, it will be necessary for the Town to make a special appropriation for that purpose.
CONTAGIOUS DISEASES.
By reference to the annexed tables it will be seen that the health of the Town has been excellent. No epidemic of any dis- ease has occurred during the past year, and the number of con- tagious diseases is much less than the year previous.
Circulars of Information - Circulars of instruction for the gen- eral care of patients, suggesting means for preventing the spread of diphtheria, scarlet fever, typhoid fever, measles and consump- tion or tuberculosis have been printed, to be sent to families in which any of said diseases occur.
Fumigation - A more thorough system of fumigation has been adopted and on the recovery or death of each case of diphtheria, scarlet fever, and tuberculosis the Board attends immediately to the fumigation of the premises. The expense is met by the Town, except where extra fumigation is requested.
Reportable Diseases - The Board has adjudged the diseases known as scarlet fever, measles, typhoid fever, diphtheria, small- pox, membraneous croup, cholera, yellow fever, typhus fever, cerebro-spinal meningitis, hydrophobia, malignant pustule, lep- rosy, tricknosis, tuberculosis and ophthalmia of the newly born as infectious or contagious, and dangerous to the public health and safety within the meaning of the Statutes. Physicians are re- quired to report immediately to the Board every case of either of these diseases coming under their care, and postal cards conven- iently printed and addressed are supplied to them for this purpose. On receipt of a card from a physician the Superintendent of Schools, Principal of High School, Trustees of Robbins Library and Medical Inspector of Schools are notified. Mr. Charles T. Hartwell acts as fumigator in behalf of the Board.
167
BOARD OF HEALTH.
Culture Stations - Culture tubes for diphtheria, sputum bottles, for suspected tuberculosis and anti-toxin are provided by the State Board of Health and placed by this Board with H. A. Per- ham, druggist, for the use of physicians.
School Inspection - Schools, perhaps more than any other one factor, are largely responsible for the spread of diphtheria, scar- let fever and other diseases that prevail among children. In 1900 as a preventive measure a medical inspector of schools was ap- pointed and the results are believed to justify the wisdom of said action.
We are of the opinion that this inspection should go further and that special attention should be given to the eyes, ears, naso- pharynx and teeth of all school children. This would save many children from arrest of physical and mental development, prevent many cases of eye strain, deafness, nervous diseases and prema- ture loss of teeth and ill health, and suffering therefrom.
The apparent dullness of school children is often the result of defective eyesight or hearing, - and many a child has suffered in- justice thereby.
ALEWIFE BROOK MARSHES.
It may be of interest to our citizens to know that during the year 1904, Mr. John R. Freeman, the eminent engineer, upon whose report the legislature authorizing a dam across Charles River to replace Craigie Bridge was based, has conducted an in- vestigation, at the request of the Metropolitan Park Commission, upon Mystic River, Alewife Brook and Fresh Pond Marshes, and from his interesting and valuable report, published by the Com- mission, we select the following :
SANITARY CONDITIONS - MALARIA.
Mr. Freeman says :-
As soon as I began my investigations I found conditions already ex- isting along Alewife Brook and in the bordering marsh lands so con- trary to what modern sanitary science teaches they should be that I was led to request of your Board that a complete sanitary survey of the neighborhood be authorized, in order to learn how far the health of those living near the marshes had already suffered. This request was granted.
The results of this inquiry were startling. Every physician who was consulted testified that malarial disease was already prevalent, and that it was apparently increasing and slowly ex-
168
BOARD OF HEALTH.
tending northerly and easterly from Cambridge and through the lowlands of Arlington toward West Medford.
A canvass of twelve prominent practising physicians of Cam- bridge, Belmont, Arlington and Somerville disclosed that during the summer of 1903 these twelve physicians had treated in all about 800 cases of malaria in the region tributary to Alewife Brook, and that the disease was spreading away from the cheaper houses near the marshes and clay pits to the more expensive resi- dential districts on the upland. The sum total of cases which twelve physicians reported, each for his own practice during the twelve months previous, reached 807. The records of these cases were not so complete as is desirable, and the count by the phy- sicians was based largely on memory and general impressions, but any possible overestimate by these physicians may be regarded as balanced by the well-known fact that in many of the milder cases no physician was consulted.
A brief house-to-house canvass through the lowlands and the houses near the marshes, visiting one-sixth of all the houses within a half-mile of the stream and its branches, but naturally taking those nearest the stream first, made in December, 1903, showed that out of a total of 942 persons living in these 168 houses 242 cases of malaria were reported,-a ratio of I to 4. This house-to-house canvass, made under the supervision of Messrs. Underwood and Winslow by W. C. Lounsbury, was ex- tended subsequently over a larger area, and the territory covered is shown on an accompanying map.
The results in brief are as follows :
Persons.
Families visited 683
3,34I
Families reporting malaria within past five years 222 446
Proportion of families that had suf- fered from malaria I in 3 I in 7.5
Within half a mile of these marshes the number of dwellings are : Cambridge, 525; Belmont, 123; Arlington, 201 ; Somerville, 307 ; total, 1,156. Estimated at 5 persons per house, total is 5,780.
If proportions for whole district were as found above, I-3 is 385; 1-7.5 is 770.
On August 11, 1904, Mr. Underwood made a partial inspection of the marshes, visiting such places between Concord Avenue and the mouth of Little River as could be reached without a boat. Out of 32 pools examined 15 contained Anopheles larvæ and 25 contained Culex In
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BOARD OF HEALTH.
many of these pools both species were breeding, and in only 4 of the places examined were mosquito larvæ absent. Just back of the build- ings formerly of the Boston Packing Company, but lately re-opened as a glue factory, more mosquito larvæ to the cubic foot were found than Mr. Underwood had ever observed elsewhere. In some places over an area of twenty square feet the water was so filled with wigglers that the bottom could hardly be seen. Three large spoonfuls of water of one ounce each dipped out contained by actual count 482, 495 and 733 lar-
væ. A laborer from the glue factory said, "Everybody who works here has been sick with malaria; about 50 work-people who came here since the glue factory opened took sick and left. I have had the chills twice; only old hands can stand it." The water in some of the pools was foul with what appeared to be some kind of refuse from the glue factory of a putrescible nature that gave off nauseating odors when stirred up. Along Alewife Brook among the growing canebrake Anopheles are abundant.
In summing up his recommendations Mr. Freeman says :
In brief, I find that the present sanitary condition of Fresh Pond Marshes and Alewife Brook is a serious menace to public health and a very pressing cause of excessive malaria, and that malaria is spreading from them to the upland residential sections of the neighboring cities and towns. I find that the first and most effective remedy, and the clear duty of the community concerned, for this serious sanitary condition is to drain marshes and brooks, and that the most effective and economi- cal way to accomplish this result is by a plan which I have prepared and submitted herewith. This plan divided the necessary work so that, in my opinion, your Board may with safety and consideration for all interests 'at once build tide gates and weirs in the neighborhood of Cradock Bridge, and roads along the Mystic River, and improve the connection with Mystic Lower Lake; and other parties interested may, whenever they are ready, continue the work in and along Alewife Brook and the marshes above. Your work will not hamper Arlington, Belmont, Cambridge and Somerville from proceeding under Chapter 327 of the Acts of 1903, but, on the contrary, will assist them in any feasible plan which they may have devised, and will reduce the expense to them of satisfactory sanitation. I suggest that you urge these cities and towns to enter at once upon their part of the work; and I recommend that, if possible, you assist in the work, by locating a parkway along Alewife Brook and acquiring the necessary land for that purpose, or by any other means in your power.
MISCELLANEOUS.
Board of Infants - The Board has given its approval to five applications for licenses to board infants or children, namely ; Mr. and Mrs. Peter O. Fouquet, 51 Teel St .; Miss Lizzie H. Green- wood, 35 Mass. Avenue; Mrs. Helen Hatfields, 1012 Mill St .; Rosa Simmonds, 32 Appleton St .; Miss Annie C. Sullivan, 60 Mystic St.
Hospital Cases - A bill of $66 has been paid for care and nurs- ing a case of diphtheria in the City Hospital, Boston, the patient having a settlement in Arlington, but residing in Boston.
170
BOARD OF HEALTH.
Aid rendered by the Town to paupers usually comes under the jurisdiction of the Overseers of the Poor, but in cases of conta- gious diseases the Statutes place authority with the Boards of Health.
Reports of Officers of the Board - The reports of the several officers of the Board are appended, to which attention is called.
Financial - For detail as to expenditures reference is made to the report of the Auditor.
LICENSES.
Licenses have been granted as follows :
Stables - George Clark, 30 Mystic St .; John Lyons, Bucknam Court.
Undertakers - J. Henry Hartwell & Son, Medford St .; Daniel W. Grannan, and William D. Grannan, 378 Mass. Ave .; James P. Daley, 20 Franklin St.
Slaughtering - Frank Borman, 27 Broadway; Henry R. Bor- man, rear 27 Broadway ; William Borman, rear 27 Broadway.
Plumbing - Joseph A. Tole, 30 Lewis Ave .; Andrew Bain, 49 Lowell St .; John L. Hibbert, I Park Terrace.
EDWARD S. FESSENDEN, DR. EDWIN P. STICKNEY, JOHN S. LAMSON, Board of Health.
ORDER ADOPTED BY THE BOARD OF HEALTH IN 1905.
Ordered : - That the following regulation be and hereby is adopted : -
The Board of Health hereby adjudges that the exercise of the trade or employment of conducting a tannery is a nuisance, in- jurious to the estates of the inhabitants of the Town of Arlington and attended by noisesome and injurious odors, and hereby pro- hibits the conducting of a tannery within the limits of the Town of Arlington.
Ordered : - That the Board of Health may in its discretion, however, permit a tannery to be conducted within the limits of the
171
BOARD OF HEALTH.
Town under such restrictions and such regulations as it may from time to time see fit to impose.
Ordered : - That the following regulation be and hereby is adopted :
No person shall drive or cause to be driven any cart or vehicle of any kind containing manure, dead animal matter, or other offensive material, through any public street, court, lane, or way of this Town, unless said cart or vehicle is tight, and securely covered with canvas, to prevent an escape of contents therefrom upon said streets, courts, lanes or ways.
And no person shall drive, or cause to be driven, any cart or vehicle of any kind containing swill or house offal through any public street, court, lane or way of this town, unless said cart or vehicle is water tight, and is provided with wooden or iron covers, which shall be kept tightly closed while it is in motion.
Whoever violates this regulation shall forfeit a sum not exceed- ing one hundred dollars for each offence.
Ordered : - That the Boston and Maine Railroad Company be and hereby is directed to discontinue the delivery of manure of any sort or description at the sidings located at Linwood street, Water street, and Arlington Heights Railroad Station, all within said Arlington on and after the Ioth day of July, 1905.
And it is adjudged by this Board that the delivery of manure at the aforesaid sidings is a nuisance and attended by noisome and offensive odors, and that public health, public comfort and con- venience require that the said Boston and Maine Railroad Com- pany be ordered as aforesaid to discontinue deliveries at said sid- ings on and after the Ioth day of July, 1905.
The Board of Health hereby assigns the portion of the Allen Farm northeast of the railroad track and east of Lake street, in said Arlington, as a place for the delivery of manure by said Boston and Maine Railroad Company, no cars to be unloaded within five hundred feet of Lake street, or one thousand feet from Massachusetts avenue.
Voted : - To adopt the following regulation :
The Board of Health hereby adjudges that the use of "wall draperies" at funerals is a source of filth and cause of sickness, and hereby orders :
That the use of such draperies in any room or place used for a funeral or for the preparation or retention of any human body
172
BOARD OF HEALTH.
before or in connection with such funeral, be and hereby is for- bidden.
Any person violating the foregoing regulation shall forfeit a sum not exceeding one hundred (100) dollars.
Voted : - That in addition to small-pox, the following diseases shall be considered as dangerous to the public health and that a report be required from physicians of each case, according to law, - cards being furnished for that purpose, namely: scarlet fever, measles, typhoid fever, diphtheria, membraneous croup, cholera, yellow fever, typhus fever, cerebro-spinal meningitis, hydrophobia, malignant pustule, leprosy, trichinosis, tuberculosis and ophthalmia of a newly-born child.
Attention is called to the following regulations of the Board of Health and extracts from the Revised Laws.
Diseases dangerous to the public health. From regulation of Board of Health :
DISEASES DANGEROUS TO THE PUBLIC HEALTH.
From regulation of Board of Health.
SECT. 3. Upon the outside of every house in which there is a person sick with small-pox, diphtheria, membranous croup, measles or scarlet fever shall be placed a suitable placard with the name of the disease. The Board of Health may in special cases permit the placard to be placed upon interior apartments only. This placard shall not be de- faced or removed by any person without authority of the Board of Health.
SECT. 4. No person shall remove or permit to be removed from any house or apartment upon which a placard has been placed, as provided in Section 3, any clothing, books or other property without a permit from the Board of Health; nor after a house is established as a hospital under the provisions of Chapter 80 of the Public Statutes, shall any occupant of such house take up a residence elsewhere without such permit. No public or circulating library book shall be taken into any house or apartment whereon a placard has been placed, as provided in Section 3, before the authorized removal of said placard: All books, papers, toys and other articles in a room where there is a person sick with scarlet fever or diphtheria which cannot be thoroughly disinfected must be destroyed.
SECT. 5. No person living in a house or interior apartment upon which a placard has been placed, as provided in Section 3, shall attend or visit any school in the town without a permit from the Board of Health.
SECT. 6. No person who has visited a house in which there was at the time a case of small-pox, diphtheria, membranous croup, or scarlet fever, shall attend school until the expiration of two weeks from such visit.
SECT. 7. Danger of conveying small-pox, diphtheria and scarlet fever shall not be considered to have passed until two weeks have expired
1
173
BOARD OF HEALTH.
after the rooms occupied by a person who has been sick with either of said diseases, and the articles used by him have been disinfected to the satisfaction of the Board of Health.
SECT. 8. In case of the removal of a child from the house where a person is sick with any of the diseases mentioned in Section 11 of Chap- ter 496 of the Acts of the year 1898, two weeks must elapse before such child is allowed to attend school.
SECT. 9. No case of diphtheria shall be considered recovered until a negative culture has twice been obtained, at not less than three days' interval, from such patient.
SECT. 10. No case of scarlet fever shall be considered recovered until desquamation is complete on every part of the body.
SECT. 11. No child having chicken-pox or mumps shall be allowed to attend any school in this town.
Extracts from the Revised Laws, as amended :
CONTAGIOUS DISEASES.
EXTRACTS FROM THE REVISED LAWS AS AMENDED.
CONTAGIOUS DISEASES.
Chapter 75 - Section 49. A householder who knows that a person in his family or house is sick of small-pox, diphtheria, scarlet fever or any other infectious or contagious disease dangerous to the public health shall forthwith give notice thereof to the Board of Health of the city or town in which he dwells. Upon the death, recovery or removal of such person, the householder shall disinfect to the satisfaction of the Board such rooms of his house and articles therein as, in the opinion of the Board, have been exposed to infection or contagion. Should one or both eyes of an infant become inflamed, swollen and red, and show an unnatural discharge at any time within two weeks after its birth, it shall be the duty of the nurse, relative or other attendant having charge of such infant to report in writing within six hours thereafter, to the Board of Health of the city or town in which the parents of the infant reside, the fact that such inflammation, swelling and redness of the eyes and unnatural discharge exist. On receipt of such report, or of notice of the same symptoms given by a physician as provided by the following section, the Board of Health shall take such immediate action as it may deem necessary in order that blindness may be prevented. Whoever violates the provisions of this section shall be punished by a fine of not more than one hundred dollars.
Chapter 75 - Section 50. If a physician knows that a person whom he is called to visit is infected with small-pox, diphtheria, scarlet fever or any other disease dangerous to the public health, or if one or both eyes of an infant whom or whose mother he is called to visit become inflamed, swollen and red, and show an unnatural discharge within two weeks after the birth of such infant, he shall immediately give notice thereof in writing over his own signature to the Selectmen or the Board of Health of the town; and if he refuses or neglects to give such notice, he shall forfeit not less than fifty nor more than two hun- dred dollars for each offence. [Approved March 31, 1905.]
VACCINATION.
CHAP. 75, SECT. 136. A parent or guardian who neglects to cause his child or ward to be vaccinated before the child or ward
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BOARD OF HEALTH.
attains the age of two years, except as provided in section one hundred and thirty-nine,* shall forfeit five dollars for every year during which such neglect continues.
CHAP. 75, SECT. 137. The board of health of a city or town if, in its opinion, it is necessary for the public health or safety, shall require and inforce the vaccination and re-vaccination of all the inhabitants thereof and shall provide them with the means of free vaccination. Whoever, being over twenty-one years of age and not under guardianship, refuses or neglects to comply with such requirement shall forfeit five dollars.
CHAP. 44, SECT. 6. A child who has not been vaccinated shall not be admitted to a public school except upon presentation of a certificate signed by a regular practising physician that he is not a fit subject for vaccination. A child who is a member of a household in which a person is sick with small-pox, diphtheria, scarlet fever, or measles, or of a household exposed to such con- tagion from another household as aforesaid shall not attend any public school during such illness or until the teacher of the school has been furnished with a certificate from the board of health of the city or town, or from the attending physician of such person, stating that, in a case of small-pox, diphtheria, or scarlet fever at least two weeks, and in a case of measles at least three days, have elapsed since the recovery, removal, or death of such person, and that danger of conveying such disease by such child has passed.
NUISANCES.
CHAP. 75, SECT. 65. The board of health shall examine into all nuisances, sources of filth, and causes of sickness within its town, which may in its opinion be injurious to the public health, shall destroy, remove, or prevent the same as the case may require and shall make regulations for the public health and safety relative thereto, and relative to articles which are capable of con- taining or conveying infection or contagion or of creating sick- ness which are brought into or conveyed from its town. Whoever violates any such regulation shall forfeit not more than one hundred dollars.
Note -- Section 139, referred to above, exempts children who present a certificate signed by a registered plrysician that they are unfit sub- jects for vaccination. Application for free vaccination, by persons who are unable to pay for it, may be made to the Clerk or Agent of the Board of Health.
175
L
BOARD OF HEALTH.
REPORT OF THE INSPECTOR OF SCHOOLS.
ARLINGTON, December 31, 1905.
To the Board of Health:
I hereby respectfully submit the following report for the year 1905 :
During the year 569 children were examined, of whom 64 were sent home for the following reasons :- Pediculi, 22; Re-vaccina- tion, 22; Vaccination, 3 ; Chicken-pox, 5 ; Sore Throat, 4 ; Mumps, 3 ; Measles, I; Stye, 3; Poison Ivy, I.
250 children were examined for vaccination, of whom 22 were asked to be re-vaccinated and 3 vaccinated. Later inspection showed successful vaccination.
A large number of children have been requested to have their eyes tested for glasses.
ROY D. YOUNG,
Inspector of Schools.
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BOARD OF HEALTH.
VITAL STATISTICS. ·
Total number of deaths from all causes, exclusive of stillbirths.
15
NOTE - For names of persons dying see report of Town Clerk.
DEATHS BY SEXES. (Stillbirths Excluded.)
Number of deaths of males ..
59
. .
unknown
124
DEATHS BY AGES.
Deaths of persons under one year
From 1 to 2 years
2
1
1
2 3
-
3
2
1
3 4
4 5
·
..
.
5 10
2
1
1
10 15
3
1
2
. .
66
15 "20
5
5
. .
66
20 "30
10
5
5
40 50
7
3
4
..
50 60
66
20
10
10
. .
66
70 " 80
66
18
9
9
. .
Over 80
12
1
11
. .
·
. .
. .
..
Total
124
58
66
Average age of deaths : 45 yrs. 8 mos. 18 days. Age of oldest person :
DEATHS BY MONTHS.
(Stillbirths Excluded.)
1903.
1904.
1905.
January
10
16
6
July ...
1903. 13
6
12
February
16
15
17
August ... ..
9
15
12
March
16
11
8
September
14
11
5
April
7
8
13
October . .
5
9
11
May
12
· 10
8
November.
4
14
2
June.
9
9
13
December
9
10
12
Total
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