This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1911. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... I But there was another phase of this place"s experience not less impressive than its escape from cholera. There was a great diminution of such diseases as diphtheria, typhoid, erysipelas, scarlet fever, measles, and other low forms of sickness, so fatal in the homes of the poor, during the period that the citizens exercised so much care in securing cleanliness. a A word fitly spoken is like apples of f gold in pictures of silver." A word fitly spoken broke the spell of centuries, and completely revolutionized human history. That word was spoken, not at the suggestion of science, nor by a The Word Fitly scientist, but, at the dictation Spoken of common sense, by a lay man who happened to be in authority. It was a plain, simple word, which was understood by the people and which appealed to their common sense. A new era now dawned upon the domestic life of the English people. Every household learned that cleanliness had not only saved a town from a visitation of cholera, but had reduced the contagious and infectious diseases always present in their homes. The Health Officer of England gave tremendous force to the revelation that had been made by officially characterizing and classifying cholera and the whole brood of domestic scourges as "filth diseases." This was iuring the score of years that the great awakening of the people of England to the value of cleanliness of the individual, the home, and the municipality, as the true remedial measure against foreign as well as domestic pestilences was in progress, extending from 1846 to 1866, the people of the United States remained profoundly Apathy in the apathetic in relation to all United States questions of improvement of the public health and the prevention of epidemics. Cholera ravaged their cities in 1849, and ...