THE SANITARY INSPECTORS. Although the law does not require that all the Sanitary Inspectors shall be physicians, the Board has appointed none but thoroughly educated medical men to these responsible positions. Their peculiar duties require intelligence, a knowledge of chemistry, physiology, and hygienic laws, and a familiarity with the causes of preventable disease, and with the symptoms and treatment of typhoid fever, small-pox, and cholera. They were selected chiefly from among the active young men who had graduated at the medical schools and hospitals of the city. It was originally intended by the Board that the Inspectors and their Assistants should make a complete and thorough sanitary survey of the built-up portions of the District, in order to discover the existence of any nuisances detrimental to the public health, and maps were to be made which should show each building, the purpose for which it was occupied, the number of tenants, and its sanitary condition in detail. The advent of cholera, and the consequent necessity of immediate attention to the particular districts in which it appeared, and to the parties attacked by the disease, interfered, to some extent, with the plans of the Board; bnt nearly every house in the District, especially in the filthy and crowded portions of it, has been visited by the Inspectors during the season, and the immense amount of valuable labor which has been performed by these officers can hardly be estimated. All complaints by citizens have been referred to them for examination and report, and when such complaints were well founded the nuisances have been promptly abated. When the cholera appeared, the Inspectors, in addition to their other duties, were required to investigate every case reported to the Sanitary Superintendent in New York, or the Assistant Sanitary Superintendent in Brooklyn. Physicians and all others being compelled by law to report all cases to this Board, and the police telegraph being freely used for that purpose, the Inspectors were enabled to visit promptly the sick, and use the proper remedial measures. If the patient was already under medical treatment, the Inspector did not interfere, except to direct the use of such disinfectants as seemed necessary; but if the patient was destitute and uncared for, the Inspector caused his immediate removal to the hospital, and directed the disinfecting corps to cleanse or destroy the soiled bedding and clothing, and to disinfect the entire premises. As the cholera increased, additional Inspectors were detailed to the headquarters in New York and Brooklyn, and were on duty both night and day, to answer immediately all calls for their services. The cholera hospitals established by the Board were also under the immediate charge of the Inspectors and Assistant Inspectors. For more full details as to their services, you are respectfully referred to the report of the Sanitary Superintendent. The Sanitary Inspectors and their Assistants deserve the public gratitude. Always on duty, prompt to obey orders, exposed to many dangers, often acting both as nurses and physicians, they have doubtless saved many lives, and have been instrumental in preventing the spread of disease. It is a gratifying fact that, although some of them have been temporarily ill in consequence of their fatiguing and dangerous duties, none of their valuable lives have been lost from any cause during the epidemic. ORDERS OF THE BOARD. A report, in writing, is required of every inspection made by the Sanitary Inspectors, or by the members of the Sanitary Company of Metropolitan Police. These reports having been examined critically in the Superintendent's department, such of them as require the action of the Board are forwarded to the Attorney for an endorsement of the proper order in legal form, or if a structural remedy is needed, to the Engineer. The complaint and proof in each case having been presented to the Board, the orders are entered usually in the form recommended by the Attorney and Engineer, and having been signed by the Secretary, are forwarded to the Sanitary Police for service upon the owners, occupants, tenants or lessees of the premises upon which the nuisance exists. The first orders of the Board were issued on the 14th of March, between which date and the 1st of November, thirty-one thousand and seventy-seven orders were issued and were duly served by the sanitary police. Of these orders, five thousand three hundred and twenty-five were under the first subdivision of Section 14 of Chapter 74 of the Session Laws of 1866, by the terms of which, the party served is allowed three days in which to demand a "hearing" by the Board, of the testimony which may be presented to show that the order should be revoked and not enforced. In cases where no hearing has been asked for and the order has not been obeyed by the proper party, "final" orders, in the original or an amended form, to the number of three thousand one hundred and sixty have been issued and forwarded to the Board of Metropolitan Police for execution. All other written orders, in number twenty-two thousand five hundred and ninety-two, have been issued under the second subdivision of Section 14 of Chapter 74 of the Session Laws of 1866, and are of a peremptory character, requiring that the nuisance be abated within five days, and, if not obeyed, directing the Board of Metropolitan Police to enforce the same without further notice The following is a statement of the subjects of the orders above referred to, other than the "final" orders, and of the work performed in the execution of the same, either by the party upon whom the order was served, or by the Board of Metropolitan Police, or by the officers or agents of this Board: |