Address by J.G. Thomas, M.D., Savannah, Georgia, in defense of the National Board of Health, against attacks in Congress, and on the importance of Sapelo quarantine station as a place of refuge for dangerous and infected vessels for the South-Atlantic states : read before the Savannah Citizens' Sanitary Association in September, 1882, and before the Georgia Historical Society in December, 1882.

  • Thomas, J.G.
Date:
1883
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Address by J.G. Thomas, M.D., Savannah, Georgia, in defense of the National Board of Health, against attacks in Congress, and on the importance of Sapelo quarantine station as a place of refuge for dangerous and infected vessels for the South-Atlantic states : read before the Savannah Citizens' Sanitary Association in September, 1882, and before the Georgia Historical Society in December, 1882. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    The great transportation companies of the South, both river and rail, are unanimous in their approval of the action and methods of the National Board in dealing with such cases, because experience has shown that they give the neces- sary security against the spread of disease without stopping, or retarding to any considerable extent, commercial inter- course. They have learned from their own experience that the cer- tificate of the National Board of Health as to the sanitary condition of any city, or place, is accepted by other cities and States as testimony coming from a strictly impartial and well-informed authority, independent of all local inter- ests or influences, commercial or otherwise. The action and methods of the National Board have been approved by the State and local boards of health throughout the country, almost without exception, by the American Medical Association, the American Public Health Associa- tion, the National Academy of Sciences, the transportation companies of the South and Southwest, boards of trade, cotton exchanges, and other associations of business men throughout the country. In the opinion of the committee, it has accomplished much, and is capable of accomplishing highly important results of great benefit to the country—re- sults which can be accomplished by no other agency. For the greater security of the lives of that portion of our people who chance to be afloat upon our waters, given by our light-house system and life-saving service, we annually expend about $3,200,000. This expenditure, necessary and proper, as the committee believes, is for the benefit of a very small proportion of our people, perhaps not more than one in a thousand, while the exertions and operations of the Na- tional Board of Health are intended to protect the lives and health, and certainly do benefit, the whole people of the country. If it be admitted that the action and operations of the hoard even tend to the preservation of life and health to any, however small the extent, such fact makes it eminently