of air contaminated with putrefying matter, is the appearance of
erysipelas among persons exposed to its influence."
Investigation by Dr. Andrews justified his theory,
as the disease was found to "cling to the river"; but
ervsipelas was not the only virulent disease, as the
doctor remarked, occasioned by the turbid and putres-
cent river. Small-pox increased, and, during this
vear of 1863, nine hundred and forty-seven cases of
small-pox were reported, and one hundred and fifteen
deaths resulted therefrom, making a percentage of
12 1-9. A peculiar fact in the mortality this year was
that the number of deaths in January and December
were almost equal to those in July and August, mani-
festing that the causes of mortality were not those ordi-
narily affecting the death-rate ; and the fact that the
number of deaths each month averaged about equally,
exhibited the presence of a steady, unintermittent crea-
tion of death.
In 1864, the variola kept increasing; and, pursuant
to the repeated representations of physicians and citi-
zens, a new pest-house was erected. But the building
of hundreds of edifices to accommodate the victims of
neglect would not cleanse a city whose sanitary condi-
tion had been gradually growing from bad to worse
since 1859 with no one to look after the civic hygiene
save a policeman, who was occasionally assisted in such
work by two more of the mayor's police, in 1863, and
permanently by the same two officials in this year. But
what precautionary measures could be expected from
un-medical officers, whose powers, additionally, were
limited to the execution of laws enacted, and were
overworked in the attempt to do this ? In 1865, the
citizens became alarmed at the constant increase of
epidemics, and at the prospective incursion of cholera ;
and a committee was appointed by the Board of Trade
to advise with the Council as to the most efficacious
method of cleansing the Chicago River, and a commit-
tee of thirty citizens were appointed for the same pur-
pose and to devise means for cleansing the city.
On July 13, an ordinance, introduced by Alderman
Shimp, was the first passed that made any provision
for the regular and systematic scavengering of the city.
For the first time the Council appear to have become
thoroughly conscious of the necessity for prompt and
decisive action, looking to the cleansing of the city and
river, and the proper drainage and sewerage of the
former. Valuable assistance was rendered the authori-
ties by the Chicago Medical Society, not alone in intel-
ligent and scientific advice, but also by some of its
members acting as a consulting board of physicians to
the municipal authorities, without recompense for their
In November, Drs. N. s. Davis, J. W. Freer,
J. I'. Ross, H. Hitchcock, Ralph X. [sham and Brock.
M< An kar, were appointed, at a public meeting of the
medical profession in the city, a committee to make
recommendations for the amelioration of the sanitary
condition of the city. This they did in a series of
valuable and feasible suggestions ; they also recom-
mended that a system of registration of deaths should
be instituted that would answer the purpose,* "the
* I»r. N. S. Darn made Hi' tame recommendation and remark, July 6,
1858, in a report to the Chicago Medical Society.
present registry of deaths, so far as the causes of death
are concerned, is a ridiculous farce." November 28,
nineteen special policemen were detailed as assistant
health officers, who were to be augmented by as many
more as were needful, and on December 18, an ordi-
nance was passed restricting slaughtering in the city to
one particular place.* The improvement that was
caused by the urgent action of the people, in the sani-
tary condition of the city, was, however, too late to ar-
rest the cholera, which appeared in July, 1866 ; the
vigilance which the police health-board manifested, the
measures for abating nuisances and exterminating long
tolerated abominations were futile. Good health can
only be a result of preventive sanitary measures, and
these were exactly what were not taken by the various
Councils.
As the cholera approached, the official energy be-
came more apparent. In January, thirty thousand nuis-
ance notices were printed and thirty-one assistant health
officers were on duty, February, thirty assistant health
officers were on duty; March, thirteen thousand more
notices were printed and thirty-two health-officers were
on duty; and so forth.
In April, Dr. John H. Rauch called the attention of
the authorities to the subject of intramural interments
and their pernicious effect, and also alluded to the at-
tempt made, in 1858, to prevent further interments in
the City Cemetery, by a petition signed by the most in-
fluential citizens! of the North Division. It was also
advocated by the petitioners, and Dr. Rauch, that the
bodies then in the City Cemetery should be exhumed as
soon as possible, and the ground converted into a park.
The southern extremity of Lincoln Park now covers
the old City Cemetery. An excerpt from Dr. Rauch's
pamphlet} will manifest how much reason there was for
alarm in the mode of interment :
" The patients who died of the small-pox have been buried in
the public part of the Chicago City Cemetery, at an average depth
of from three to four feet, owing to the fact that graves can not be
dug deeper on account of the water."
Subsequently the same author wrote:
"On an examination of the register, kept at the City Cemetery
since June 24, 1861, it appears that 9,541 bodies were buried in it
from that time to March 1, 1S66, and, as near as can be ascertained,
about i.Soo were buried from January, 1S60, to the time from which
the register dates. How many have been buried in the Catholic
Cemetery the writer could not learn with any accuracy, but is satis-
fied that the number buried in both cemeteries from January, 1S60,
to the present time (1866) amounts to about twelve thousand. This
number was swelled by the burial of three thousand eight hundred
and seventy-one prisoners of war in the Citv Cemetery, which com-
menced in the latter part of 1862, and continued until July, 1S65.
These were brought from Camp Douglas, a distance of nearly six
miles, and carried through the very heart of the city, and deposited in
a soil already overcharged with decaying animal matter, and, as has
been already shown, totally unfit, by its character and locality, for
such a purpose. The writer is at a loss how to account for such an
extraordinary procedure and the indifference manifested in regard
to it. Why it was permitted is beyond his comprehension. It may
well be challenged whether such an instance of flagrant violation of
the laws of health has been anywhere perpetrated, within so recent
a date, in any civilized community. Where was the Health officer?
If his reports were regularly and properly made, the municipal
authorities must have been cognizant of these facts, and should be,
with him, equally responsible for any deleterious results that have,
or may, follow to the community. After careful investigation, we
be
•This ordinance was, in 1808, decided
ground that a monopoly was thereby created, by
tThc sinners wii .-. I n v,
Newberry, William Marry. K.lwanl Hal. Mall,,.,-
liam S./ohust Jr..S I H. Kerfbot, Edwa,
[ohn II. Muhlke, 'I'll. .mas M Hibbard, W. .V
Ephraim Ward, Ogden, Fleetwood <S Co., Benja
I bl 111 « ■IV. I., l.m.lou S. Hubbard. I..I111 II. I
H. Rees. E. lohrmon, |r., S. P. Putnam.
{Intramural Interments in Populous Cities, and their Inflii
Health and Epidemics": a papi 1 read before the Hist..:
John H. Rauch, M.D., published in 1866.
litulional, on the
Court Of Illinois.
111 F. Rumsey, Walter L.
ler, Samuel fohnston. Wil-
I ni'khuni. lb-ore.,' W. hole,
iirabee, Charles V. Dyer,
K. ( 'arv.-r, |ohn Forsythe,
- Ezra 1 McC igg .1
MEDICAL HISTORY.
55'
learn that the putrefaction process occupies, in the Chicago City
Cemetery and ill the old Catholic Cemetery, from five to fifteen
years, depending upon the character of the ground, the season of
the year, the age, sex, disease, the tightness of the coffin, and the
character of the clothing in which the dead are enveloped. At this
rate, from the records of interment for the last fifteen years in these
cemeteries, there must be at least from eighteen thousand to twenty
thousand bodies undergoing decomposition at this time, the same
conditions having existed, and in nearly the same proportion for
some time."
With this mass of putrid matter polluting the air,
assisted by the foul river, the undrained streets and the
imperfect sewerage, it is no marvel that the epidemics,
small-pox, erysipelas, cholera infantum, diphtheria and
typhoid fever were virulent, and that the cholera hasten-
ed to an arena where all things were so favorable for
it to wreak devastation and death. During the month of
April, arrangements were made whereby all dead animals
and animal matter from slaughter-houses were removed
from the city, and special instructions were issued rela-
tive to the disposition of fcecal matter and garbage.
Mayor Rice urgently recommended the employment of
one thousand men, with teams, to clean the city, and
the Council, on May 1, passed an ordinance author-
izing the employment of one thousand more men, and
directing the expenditure of $6,000 under the direction
of the health officers ; and a resolution was also passed
asking the comptrollor for $25,000, in addition to the
estimates already sent by the board, for the use of the
health department, in promoting the health of the city,
employing help, building hospitals, and for the purchase
of disinfectants. A preceding Council had, on March
27, i860, abolished the Health Department, on account
of " financial depression," when the members of the
board of health served without pay. Chloride of lime
and sulphate of zinc were freely used, and all inter-
ments were, on May 28, prohibited within the limits of
the city.
The Cholera. — On July 21, 1866, the first case of
cholera was reported, that of Mrs. Corbett, No. 282
West Chicago Avenue, but the cases that occurred im-
mediately afterward were designated cholera morbus,
in a vain attempt to calm the public mind. On August
6, an emigrant was attacked, and carried to the County
Hospital, where he communicated the contagion to
others, and the epidemic was thoroughly engrafted. A
temporary cholera hospital was erected at the corner of
Thirty-third Street and Wentworth Avenue, of which
Dr. Webber was given charge ; physicians were detailed
to board trains coming from infected localities, at a dis-
tance not less than ten miles from Chicago, and see if
any cases of cholera were on the train, and assistant
health officers were required to be at the depots, to
take charge of any cases of cholera reported by the
railroad quarantine physicians In November, Dr.
Webber submitted a report of the cholera hospital, as
follows :
Report of Cases Admitted, Recovered and Died During
the Season.
I to 5 years -
5 to 10 years .
10 to 20 years
20 to 30 years .
30 to 40 years .
40 to 50 years
50 to 60 years .
60 to 70 years .
Total ...
4
5
12
41
24
9
6
5
106
Nativity.
Number.
Recovered.
Died.
13
3
3
I
3"
2
3
iS
3
I
3
1
1
13
14
I
8
2
1
England
2
I
Ireland
Germany
Holland
Poland
Norway
7
8
10
Total
1 oO
54
52
July 21, the day the first cholera case was reported,
was also the day when the phenomenal rain-fall that
prevailed throughout the cholera season commenced,
and this fall amounted to twenty and one-half inches in
the succeeding four months, more than four times the
amount that usually falls during that period. The fol-
lowing table gives the amount of rainfall, the mean of
thermometer, the mortality per diem, the mortality by
cholera, and the number of cases reported during the
cholera season :
JULY.
.205
.112
1.825
.6S5
•-
ir'2
s
J
27
17
24
29
1
23
17
16
21
iS
1
17
13
-
.190
.685
.112
1.225
2.015
.060
.965
34
19
28
.-
21
34
2
30
I
30
24
-
23
30
I
22
2',
I
43
6
29
4
3S
7
33
S
3S
10
35
12
45
10
36
9
36
E2
3°
6
33
[0
24
4
44
13
55 2
HISTORY OF CHICAGO.
AUGUST—
CONTINIKD.
-
Rain.
f
'14
cj u «;
71
6S
6S
70
74
• 273
•390
41
26
27
2S
16
9
9
6
17
10
â– 9
15
7
11
7i
8.I78
940
154
213
NI.IVEMBKR.
SEPTEMBER.
6
7
8
9
[O
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
is
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
->
3"
27S
-
393
105
385
I
54o
no
130
I
260
010
330
365
050
735
175
64 5.S66
3-
4
5-
6
7
».
9
10
n
12
'3
>4
'-'
16
'-
18
'â– )
2-,
.'!
22
23
24
25
26
27
2-
«9
3 r '
3'
•435
â– '95
.015
.388
•215
• 515
.210
.050
• 335
095
.198
.098
23
15
29
1 1
21
5
30
'4
29
M
3S
15
25
14
47
24
b 7
56
98
82
71
5S
82
50
69
53
61
46
1"
44
S 2
30
42
26
4"
31
42
20
3°
12
30
6
19
T2
25
1 1
18
5
tg
8
'9
3
17
4
'5
6
16
4
'7
D
'4
t
"75
088
14
23
16
16
44
72
174
96
77
82
61
S3
57
59
3i
I-
3-
4
5-
6.
7-
S.
9-
= 10.
n.
n
12.
13-
14 14-
15 IS -
7 l6 "
« 3:
8 20 "
10 \\-
5 23]
4 J
18 2 4-
7 25 "
l 26.
n
.29S
.015
.114
.078
.108
Another table gives the following as the statistics of
this epidemic :
August
September
October __.
November
216
268
1,012
65
139
166
673
1,561 990
It is a notable fact that only the extremest measures
or the direst calamities will awaken an administration
upon which the deathly lethargy has fallen. Small-pox
did startle the various civic administrations now and
then, but the cholera was needed to make it take
decisive measures and remedy the foolish action of the
Council of i860, abolishing the Health Department.
But, as has been customary in ali cases requiring
prompt and decisive action, the initiative was taken by
a private citizen, who visited Philadelphia, New York
and Boston, and investigated their various sanitary sys-
tems, becoming convinced from his investigations that
the plan obtaining at that time in New York, in the
establishment of the Metropolitan Board of Health, was
the best. A meeting of citizens of Chicago was called,
and a committee appointed to draft a bill embodying the
prominent features of the metropolitan health bill of
New York, for presentat-on to the State Legislature at
the ensuing session. This committee was Elliott
Anthony, Dr. John H. Rauch, Dr. James Van Zandt
Blaney and A. C. Coventry. A copy of the bill as
drafted by this committee was sent to the Common
Council with a request that they co-operate to secure its
passage. They, however, opposed it; but Uie Press, the
Mercantile Association, the Board of Trade and the
Police Board heartily indorsed it; and, after a contest
before the Legislature between the champions of the bill
and the Common Council, the act was passed on March
9, 1867, re-creating the Board of Health.
Pursuant to the provisions of said act, the Judges of
the Superior Court appointed the following Board of
Health: Dr. Hosmer A. Johnson (4 years', Dr. John
II. Rauch (6 years;, Dr. William Wagner (2 years;,
SAMUEL J. JONES.
MEDICAL HISTORY.
553
Samuel Hoard (6 years), A. B. Reynolds 14 years \
William Giles (2 years), ami J. B. Rice, ex officio. On
March 31, the board assembled and drew lots for the
terms of office resulting as above : Mayor Rice was
elected president. A sanitary inspection of the city was
decided upon. Dr. John H. Rauch was appointed sani-
tary superintendent, and the following physicians
sanitary inspectors :
West Division : H. W. Jones, H. M. Lyman, R. M.
Lackey, T. P. Seeley and W. R. Marsh. South Division:
Walter Hay, William C. Lyman and Edwin Powell.
North Division: W. D. Winer, D. B. Trimble, George
Schloetzer and Edward L. Holmes. Additional sanitary
inspectors were subsequently nominated as follows:
Drs. Brock. McVickar, J. M. Woodworth, E. O. F.
Roler, M. Mannheimer, F. W. Reilley, John Macalis-
ter, Philip Adolphus, George Kellogg, T. W. Miller and
John Reid.
There were a few cases of cholera, and the attention
Health, and particularly by Dr. John H. Rauch, to
whose energy, skill and science Chicago is indebted for
a large proportion of her drainage and sewerage.
Drainage and Sewerage. — In 1856, when the
first sewers were constructed, the influence they benefi-
cially exerted was most marked. Hut sporadic activity
only scintillated for a brief time amid the normal in-
activity of the Council, and, in 1861, the construction
of sewers almost ceased.* In the succeeding year their
construction was re-commenced and urged forward.
As a result of the drainage and sewerage systems may
be cited the prevalence of cholera prior to the institu-
tion of the system in 1856, and its absence since that
time and prior to 1872, save in one year, and then the
districts where sewerage and drainage was the rule were
not so afflicted with the disease as were those without
adequate drainage and sewerage. The following tables
will clearly exhibit the prophylactic influence sewers and
drainatre exert:
TABLE SHOWING PROPORTION OF SEWERAGE TO STATED AREA AND THE RATIO OF CHOLERA AN'I>
DEATHS IN VARIOUS YEARS, BY WARDS, OF THE CITY.
No. of
square yards
I
2
3
4
5-
6
7
8.
9
10.
n
12
13
14
'5
16
Density of
population.
No. of
square yard;
ch person
35.12
20.6o
3S.II
251.85
1,713-11
IO7.67
3H-44
2,738-SS
151.97
23.28
32.49
3.S25.55
1,510.31
228. S5
51-34
2S.31
130.07
70.46
114.05
7I5-9I
1,509.03
1S1.56
145-13
1,275-29
39t-67
122. gS
103. 6S
S39.54
652.41
205.81
169.89
118.02
114.9
165.6
160.0
247.6
120.2
100.3
182.9
398.3
152.2
105.0
116. 9
129.4
78.7
129.9
112. 9
1S67.
foot of
sewerage
25
20
37
â– 58
1,010
74
in
1,229
107
21
30
1,669
902
113
45
28
133 92
70.22
116.50
543-29
1,116.26
162.37
123.03
1,013.64
32S.55
115.36
97-56
706.29
552. oS
184.96
145.13
113.88
* 3 6
122
149
M7
168
204
352
197
167
90
197
235
140
204
248
162
No.
37
142
837
62
S 9
1,106
93
S42
S8
Density
popula-
13S.OO
69.98
119.06
437-85
S85.67
1.46.33
106.77
S44 10
282.94
108.62
93-44
609.55
47S.48
167.93
126.67
113. SS
91
216
280
306
351
356
675
374
306
208
336
459
322
381
513
287
1S69.
Densitv
of
popula-
125 57
65.2I
IO9.61
3S3-9I
778. So
134-49
9S.29
722.37
252.93
101.55
88.50
533-29
390.95
148. S7
114.70
106. S9
4-2
4.6
4-1
6.2
1.8
5-2
3.8
51
10.03
41
5-7
3.76
4-
3.12
2.96
2.3
Last si:
nths
of the board was given to its checking and suppression.
They were successful, but, d,t interim, on account of the
neglect of the authorities to have vaccination performed
since 1864, the small-pox had spread and become an
epidemic. To check this, the systematic efforts of the
board were manifested, and about thirty thousand per-
sons were vaccinated. On July 1, 1867, regulations for
the registry of births and death were made, and, upon
the same day, the first case of cholera was reported.
Sixty-seven cases occurred during the year, of which
ten were fatal.
During the early part of 1868, small-pox was very
prevalent, but was extinguished by the rigid enforce-
ment of the vaccination laws, and the disinfection and
isolation of cases, by the Board of Health. Subsequent-
ly, however, it was introduced by emigrants; forty-
eight cases of small-pox being taken out of that class,
from railroad depots to the pest-house. Early in April,
1868, the sanitary survey was completed, with the result
of demonstrating the urgent necessity there was for
remedying deficient drainage and establishing new
drains. Defective sewerage was also found to be
omnipresent in the city. The existing defects were per-
sistently presented to the Council by the Board of
Cleansing the River. — An important factor in
the health of Chicago has been the condition of the
river. It was apparently innoxious until i860, when, in
July, the sewerage commissioners, through General
Webster called E. S. Chesbrough's attention to the
" possibility and probability of an enlargement and
deepening of the canal to such an extent as to create a
constant current from the lake to the Illinois River,
only making a new channel through Mud Lake to the
Desplaines River." Mr. Chesbrough reported adversely
to the project, because he did not deem it advisable at
that time. In the spring of 18O1, however, the river
became very offensive, and, on June 17, a committee of
three aldermen was appointed to confer with the super-
intendent of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, and
" Ascertain what arrangements could be made for pumping
water from the river a'. Bridgeport into the canal, so as to create a
current from the lake, which should supply the n'yer with Irish
water and relieve it of the offensive sewerage matter." But " it so
happened that, before any arrangement was made, it became nec-
essary to pump to supply the wants of the canal itself, and noth-
ing more was done by the city. During the whole summer and the
early part of autumn, the river, though receiving its full amount of
* For statistics of drainage and sewerage see Corporate History. It may
be remarked that the Board ->t S< weragc t . mmissioners was incorporated by the
Legislature on February 14, 1855.
554
HISTORY OF CHICAGO.
sewerage, did not become so offensive at any time as to be a cause
of complaint. Very soon, however, after the packing season com-
menced, a most disagreeable odor was observed near the Old
(Eighteenth) Street Bridge, on the South Branch, which is above
the outlet of the existing sewer. This peculiar odor could be
traced afterward, as it moved down stream, till it reached the
mouth of the river. As an additional proof that the sewers do not
cause all the bad smell, it may here be mentioned that, in i860, the
discharge from piggeries and cow stables, high up on the North
Branch made that stream exceedingly offensive to its mouth. It is
also verv offensive this winter (1S61), and yet there is not a single
sewer emptving into it at ordinary times, and only two, those on
West Kinzie and Fulton streets, that do in times of heavy rain."
From this extract from Mr. Chesbrough's report, it
will be perceived that he estimated the main cause of
the river's turgid filth was not sewerage. On March
10, 1862, the Council appropriated $10,000 to pay for
pumping at Bridgeport, in order to cleanse Chicago
River, which continued offensive during the year, not-
withstanding the cleansing it derived by the spring
freshet of 1862, which thoroughly polluted the water
supply of the city, which was drawn from the lake.
In December, 1862, the Mayor received authority to
make arrangements for drawing off the water of the
canal through the Chicago River, so as to flush it, and
thereby cleanse it from its impurities ; and, in fact,
throughout the whole year the authorities were agita-
ting projects to remove the tainted and impure matter
in the river, which Professor F. Mahla had analyzed
and described, on September 22, to the Council. In
1863, the river " smelt to high heaven " again, and the
epidemic of erysipelas that prevailed this year was
ascribed to its foetid exhalations. And this despite the
pumping that was maintained at intervals. In 1864,
Aldermen Talcott, Sheridan, and Armstrong and City
Engineer E. S. Chesbrough were appointed a committee
to report upon the feasibility of cleansing the river. In
1865, two new and special members were added to the
Board of Public Works by the amended charter — the
members thus added being Roswell Bishop Mason and
William Gooding. During the discussions which were
held in the winter of 1864, and pursuant to the recom-
mendation of a joint committee of the Common Council