USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Arlington > Town of Arlington annual report 1907-1908 > Part 13
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JOHN S. LAMSON, CHARLES F. ATWOOD, M.D., LAURENCE. L. PEIRCE, M.D.V., Board of Health.
Nov. 26, 1907.
The decision of the Court leaves the Board without any regula- tion governing the keeping of swine. The advisability of issuing a new regulation is to be considered.
BURIAL AND TRANSPORTATION PERMITS. Forms of permits for burial and transportation are gotten up by the State Board of Regis- tration in Embalming and are furnished to Local Boards of Health by the State. Rules and regulations have also been formulated by said Board of Registration governing the burial and transportation of dead bodies. According to these rules and regulations no permits for removal, burial or disinterment can be issued to any person or persons who have not been registered and received a certificate from the State Board of Registration in Embalming. The object of these requirements is to secure uniformity and to remove certain irregu- larities that had become prevalent.
·
138
BOARD OF HEALTHI.
EXTENSION OF SEWER SERVICE. Several houses have been con- nected with the Town sewer this year, and the Board recommends the early extension of some main sewers, so that other houses where cesspool drainage is not adequate, may be connected.
MEDICAL AND SURGICAL APPLIANCES. At a meeting held Nov. 29, 1907, the following list of medical and surgical appliances was approved, the same to be kept and maintained by factories and shops in Arlington in compliance with Chap. 164, Acts of Legislature of 1907.
2 Elastic tourniquets (minimum or inches).
2 Rolls & in. zinc ox. adhesive plaster.
2 Rolls 2 in. adhesive plaster.
4 Dozen gauze bandges, assorted sizes, from 1 to 4 inches. 10 yds.
1 lb. Absorbent cotton.
1 Yard Sterile gauze.
1 Dozen Emergency slings.
5 Yards Canton flannel (used with carron oil for burns).
1 Pair Surgical Scissors, straight (2} in. blade).
200 Tablets 7 3-10 gr. corrosive sublimate and citric acid.
6 Whitewood strips, 40 x 4 x 3-16.
2 Pillows.
1 Package of Pins.
3 Dozen Safety pins.
8 Ounces Spt. Ammonia aromatic (rubber stopple).
1 Gallon Carron Oil.
1 Pint Brandy.
1 Basin.
HOME WORK FOR FACTORIES. No home work for manufactories is allowed except by persons receiving a license from Dr. Charles E. Simpson, state inspector of health.
Several persons residing in Town have been granted such licenses, a list of which is on file with this board.
HEALTH DISTRICTS. In accordance with Chapter 537, Acts of 1907, the State has been divided into health districts.
Arlington is in District No. 9, and Charles E. Simpson, M. D., of Lowell, has been appointed state inspector of the district.
The act establishing health districts is as follows :
CHAPTER 537. ACTS OF 1907.
AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF HEALH DISTRICTS AND THE APPOINTMENT OF INSPECTORS OF HEALTH.
Be it enacted, etc., as follows : -
SECTION 1. The state board of health shall as soon as may be after the passage of this act, divide the Commonwealth into not more than fifteen dis- tricts, to be known as health districts, in such manner as it may deem neces- sary or proper for carrying out the purposes of this act.
SEC. 2. After the division aforesaid has been made, the governor, with the advice and consent of the council, shall appoint in each health district one practical and discreet person, learned in the science of medicine and
139
BOARD OF HEALTH.
hygiene, to be state inspector of health in that district. Every nomination for such office shall be made at least seven days prior to the appointment. The said state inspectors of health shall hold their offices for a period of five years from the time of their respective appointments, but shall be liable to removal from office by the governor and council at any time.
SEC. 3. Every state inspector of health shall inform himself respecting the sanitary condition of his district and concerning all influences dangerous to the public health or threatening to affect the same ; he shall gather all in- formation possible concerning the prevalence of tuberculosis and other dis- eases dangerous to the public health within his district, shall disseminate knowledge as to the best methods of preventing the spread of such diseases, and shall take such steps as, after consultation with the state board of health and the local state authorities, shall be deemed advisable for their eradica- tion ; he shall inform himself concerning the health of all minors employed in factories within his district, and, whenever he may deem it advisable or necessary, he shall call the ill health or physical unfitnes of any minor to the attention of his or her parents or employers and of the state board of health.
SEC. 4. The state inspectors of health shall be under the general super- vision of the state board of health and shall perform such duties other than those hereby imposed upon them as the said board from time to time shall determine. They shall keep a record of their proceedings and observations, shall annually make a report of the same to said board on or before the thirty-first day of October, shall from time to time furnish said board with such information as it may require touching circumstances affecting the public health in their respective districts, and shall in every instance where written suggestions are made by them to the local authorities send copies of such suggestions to said board.
SEC. 5. The state inspectors of health shall, under the direction of the state board of health and in place of the inspection department of the district police, enforce the provisions of section forty-one of chapter one hundred and four of the Revised Laws so far as said section provides that factories shall be well ventilated and kept clean, sections forty-one, forty-four' and forty-seven to sixty-one, inclusive, of chapter one hundred and six of the Revised Laws, chapter three hundred and twenty-two of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and two, chapter four hundred and seventy-five of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and three, chapter two hundred and thirty-eight of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and five, and chapter two hundred and fifty of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and six ; and the powers and duties heretofore conferred and imposed upon the members of said inspection department of the district police by section eight of chapter one hundred and eight of the Revised Laws in respect to the foregoing sections and acts, and in respect to all acts in amendment thereof or in addition thereto, and in respect to any other laws, are hereby conferred and imposed upon said state inspectors of health or such other officers as the state board of health may from time to time appoint : provided, however, that neither said board of health nor any inspector thereof shall have authority to require structural alterations to be made in buildings, but shall report the ne- cessity therefor to the inspection department of the district police. Wher- ever in said provisions of law the words " inspector " or "inspectors of factories and public buildings", "inspection department of the district police ", "in- spector " or "inspectors of the district police", "district police", "factory inspector " or "inspectors", and " member " or " members of the district po- lice " occur, they shall be taken to mean state inspector or inspectors of health. Wherever the words " chief of the district police" occur, they shall be taken to mean the state board of health.
SEC. 6. The governor, with the advice and consent of the council, shall es- tablish the salaries of said state inspectors of health, having regard in each dis- trict to the extent of territory, the number of inhabitants, the character of the business there carried on, and the amount of time likely to be required for the proper discharge of the duties. The salaries thus established shall be paid from the treasury of the Commonwealth monthly.
SEC. 7. There may be expended out of the treasury of the Commonwealth annually, for the purposes specified in this act, for salaries, a sum not exceed- ing twenty-five thousand dollars, and for other expenses, a sum not exceeding five thousand dollars.
SEC. 8. For the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this act the state board of health may employ from time to time experts in sanitation.
SEC 9. This act shall take effect upon its passage. [Approved June 19, 1907.
140
BOARD OF HEALTH.
CIRCULARS OF INFORMATION. Circulars of instruction for the general care of patients, suggesting means for preventing the spread of diphtheria, scarlet fever, typhoid fever, measles and consumption 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, leprosy, trichi- nosis, tuberculosis, opthalmia of the newly born, actinomycosis, glanders, tetanus, varicella, whooping-cough as infectious or contagi- ous, and dangerous to the public health and safety within the mean- ing of the Statutes. Physicians are required to report immediately to the Board every case of either of these diseases coming under their care, and postal cards conveniently printed and addressed are supplied to them for this purpose. On receipt of a card from a physician the Superintendent of Schools, Principle of High School, Trustees of Robbins Library, and School Physician are notified. Mr. Charles T. Hartwell acts as fumigator in behalf of the Board.
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. Perham, druggist, for the use of physicians.
June 28, 1907, the Board passed the following vote.
Voted, that all physicians practicing in the Town of Arlington be notified that culture tubes for examination for release from quarantine in cases of diphtheria will be allowed at intervals of not less than four days until further notice from the Board of Health.
MISCELLANEOUS.
BOARD OF INFANTS. The Board has given its approval to appli- cations for licenses to board infants or children as follows : - Mrs. Helen Hatfields, 47 Massachusetts Avenue; Rosa Simmonds, 32 Appleton St. ; Miss Annie C. Sullivan, 60 Mystic St., S. A. Gil- patrick, 14 Teele St. Place, Margaret Whelply, 81 Westminister Avenue.
HOSPITAL CASES. Two cases of diphtheria have been committed to the Waltham Hospital for which the town has been reimbursed, and one case to the Somerville Hospital the same being a charge against the State.
141
BOARD OF HEALTH.
Notices have been received from Cambridge, Revere, and Boston, the first being a case of consumption and the others diphtheria, all committed to hospitals. All having legal settlements in Arlington, the expenses are chargeable to the town.
Aid rendered by the Town to paupers usually comes under the jurisdiction of the Overseers of the Poor, but in cases of contagious 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 hrve been granted as follows :
STABLES. George Clark, 30 Mystic St .; John Lyons, Bucknam Court ; Mary A Law, Mill St.
UNDERTAKERS. J. Henry Hartwell & Son, Medford St. ; Daniel W. Grannan, and William D. Grannan, 378 Massachusetts Avenue ; 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 Avenue; Andrew Bain, 49 Lowell 'St .; George M. Bruce, Frank E. Gallagher.
JOHN S. LAMSON, CHAS. F. ATWOOD, M.D. LAWRENCE L. PEIRCE, M.D.V. Board of Health.
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.
At a meeting of the Board of Health, it was voted :
That actinomycosis, glanders, tetanus, varicella, and whooping cough be added to the list of dangerous diseases to be reported by physician.
SECTION. 3. Upon the outside of every house in which there is a person sick with small-pox, diphtheria, membraneous 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
142
BOARD OF HEALTH.
apartments only. This placard shall not be defaced or removed by any per son without authority of the Board of Health.
SEC. 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 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.
SEC. 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.
SEC. 6. No person who has visited a house in which there was at the time a case of small-pox, diphtheria, membraneous croup, or scarlet fever, shall attend school until the expiration of two weeks from such visit.
SEC. 7. Danger of conveying small-pox, diphtheria and scarlet fever shall not be considered to have passed until two weeks have expired 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.
SEC. 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 Chapter 496 of the Acts of the year 1898, two weeks must elapse before such child is allowed to attend school.
SEC. 9. No case of diphtheria shall be considered recovered until a nega- tive culture has twice been obtained, at not less than three days' interval, from such patient.
SEC. 10. No case of scarlet fever shall be considered recovered until des- quamation is complete on every part of the body.
SEC. 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.
[CHAPTER 480 ACTS OF 1907] 1
AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE COMPULSORY NOTIFICATION AND REGISTRA- TION OF TUBERCULOSIS AND OTHER DISEASES DANGEROUS TO THE PUB- LIC HEALTH.
Be it enacted, etc., as follows :
SEC. 1. Sections forty-nine and fifty of chapter seventy-five of the Revised Laws, as amended by chapter two hundred and fifty-one of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and five, and section fifty-two of said chapter seventy- five are hereby amended by inserting after the word "disease", wherever it may occur in said sections, the words :- declared by the state board of health to be, - so as to read as follows : - Section 49. A householder who knows that a person in his family or house is sick of smallpox, diphtheria, scarlet fever or any other infectious or contagious disease declared by the state board of health to be 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
143
BOARD OF HEALTH.
that such inflamation, swelling and redness of the eyes and unnatural dis- charge 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 blind- ness may be prevented. Whoever violates the provisions of this section shall be punished by a fine of not more than one hundred dollars. Section 50. If a physician knows that a person whom he is called to visit is infected with smallpox, diphtheria, scarlet fever or any other disease declared by the state board of health to be 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, swol- len 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 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 hundred dollars for each offense. Section 52. If the board of health of a city or town has had notice of a case of small-pox, diphtheria, scar- let fever or of any other disease declared by the state board of health to be dangerous to the public health therein, it shall within twenty-four hours thereafter give notice thereof to the state board of health stating the name and location of the patient so afflicted, and the secretary thereof shall forth- with transmit a copy of such notice to the state board of charity.
SEC. 2. This act shall take effect upon its passage. [Approved June 6, 1907.
VACCINATION.
CHAP. 75, SEC. 136. A parent or guardian who neglects to cause his child or ward to be vaccinated before the child or ward 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, SEC. 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 enforce 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 require- ment shall forfeit five dollars.
CHAP. 44, SECT. 6. [Revised Laws, as amended by Chap. 371, Acts of 1906.] 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 practicing physician that he is not a fit subject for vaccination. A child who is a member of a household in which a person is ill with small-pox, diphtheria, scarlet fever, measles, or any other infectious or contagious disease, or of a household exposed to such contagion from another household as aforesaid shall not attend any public school during such illness 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 danger of conveying such disease by such child has passed.
Note - Section 139, referred to above, exempts children who present a certificate signed by a registered physician that they are unfit subjects 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.
144
BOARD OF HEALTH.
NUISANCES.
CHAP. 75, SECT. 65. The Board of Health shall examine into all nuisances, source 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 sickness which are brought into or conveyed from its town. Whoever violates any such regulation shall forfeit not more than one hundred dollars.
VITAL STATISTICS.
1907.
Total number of deaths from all causes, exclusive of still-births. 167
Number of still-births .
13
DEATHS BY SEXES.
(Still-Births Excluded.)
Number of deaths of males .
87
66
66 66 66 females
80
66
66
66 unknown 00
167
DEATHS BY AGES. (Still-births Excluded.)
Total.
Male.
Female. Unknown.
Deaths of persons under one year.
22
14
8
.
From 1 to 2 years.
3
1
2
. .
66
66 4
1
. .
1
. .
66 5 " 10
6
4
2
66
15 ' 20
66
66
15
11
4
66
40 ' 50
66
15
S
7
·
66
16
8
8
66 60
50 60 ' 70
27
11
16
66 70 “80
23
11
12
. .
Over 80
66
18
4
14
. .
Ages unknown.
. .
·
. .
. .
Total .
167
87
80
3
1
. .
1
. .
4 5 ,
2
2
66 10 " 15
3
3
. .
. .
1
. .
1
20 " 30
30 "' 40
14
10
4
.
.
. .
Age of oldest person : 98 yrs.
NOTE. For names of persons dying see report of Town Clerk.
180
145
BOARD OF HEALTH.
DEATHS BY MONTHS. (Still-births Excluded.)
1907. 1906.
1907.
1906.
January
18
13
July .
8
11
February.
16
19
August
17
20
March .
21
13
September.
11
15
April
13
15 October
13
10
May
14
8
November
5
14
June
.. .
10
14
December
21
16
Total
167
158
Still-born
13
12
Total
180
170
CAUSES OF DEATH. (Still-births Excluded.)
Deaths from phthisis or consump-
Deaths from bronchitis.
4
tion .. .
15
66 diseases of heart ... 20
66
scarlet fever .
0
66 diseases of kidneys 17
66
66
diphtheria and croup
1
66 cancer.
9
66
cerebro-spinal menin- gitis.
3
66
erysipelas
0
DEATHS FROM VIOLENCE.
66
66
cholera infantum
1
From suicide 0
66
66
pneumonia 15
From accident. 6
101
Number of deaths from all other causes not specified above (not including still-births)
66
Total
167
SOCIAL RELATIONS OF DECEASED.
(Still-births Excluded.)
Married
55
Single
65
Widow
34
Widower
13
Divorced
0
Unknown
0
167
66
dysentery .
0
Diseases of the brain and spinal cord 10
146
BOARD OF HEALTH.
NATIVITY.
Nativity of Parents.
Nativity of Deceased (Still births excluded.)
Father.
Mother.
Arlington
34
5
7
Massachusetts
55
39
42
Other New England States.
24
23
24
Other States
5
6
5
Canada and the Provinces'
12
19
14
England, Scotland and Wales
2
5
3
Ireland.
26
42
46
Italy
0
3
3
Norway and Sweden.
2
2
2
Russia
1
2.
2
Other countries
5
9
6
Unknown
0
12
13
Total
167
167
167
American parentage
66
Mixed parentage
12
Foreign parentage.
73
Unknown parentage
16
Number of non-residents dying in Arlington
19
Number of residents dying in other places.
CONTAGIOUS DISEASES REPORTED.
Diphtheria. 1907. 1906.
Scarlet Fever. 1907. 1906.
Typhoid. 1907. 1906.
Measles. 1907. 1906.
Total. 1907. 1906.
January
2
2
13
2
. .
1 3
16
7
February.
. .
2
·
3
.
. .
3
8
March
1
6
2
. .
. .
. .
4
1
10
April
. .
3
9
1
. .
3
2
10
12
14
June.
4
3
2
. .
1
2
12
7
17
July .
. .
2
2
2
1
1
3
9
6
September
2
6
. .
.
2
11
. .
. .
4
17
October
1
1
2
2
1
. .
5
3
November
1
2
4
2
.
. .
5
5
December
2
2
8
. .
·
1
2
12
Total
17
30
45
22
8
19
5
53
75 124
.. .
·
.
.
9
10
13
May
3
1
7
. .
8
2
12
August.
4
2
5
1
1
.
37
·
1
147
BOARD OF HEALTH.
LOCATION OF CONTAGIOUS DISEASES.
Drawing a line through the Town Hall Building, and extending it north and south, the location of the above contagious diseases would be as follows :-
1907. East.
1907. West.
1906. East.
1906. West.
1907. Total.
1906. Total.
Diphtheria
9
8
12
18
17
30
Scarlet Fever
32
13
8
14
45
22
Typhoid Fever.
6
3
12
7
9
19
Measles
1
3
25
28
4
53
Total
48
27
57
67
75
124
REPORT OF INSPECTOR OF SLAUGHTERING.
To the Board of Health : -
GENTLEMEN : - I submit the following report for 1907.
Three licenses were granted May 1st to Messrs. Frank, Henry and William Borman to slaughter animals in the town of Arlington. They have put their houses in good condition and have been very particular about keeping them neat and clean and in good condition at all times.
I have made 180 visits to the houses during the year and inspected 3765 veal, five cows, thirty-five hogs.
I would recommend that they be granted a license for 1908.
Respectfully submitted,
FRANK P. WINN. Inspector.
REPORT OF INSPECTOR OF PLUMBING.
ARLINGTON, MASS., Jan. 15, 1908.
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