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"REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS.

The Commissioners, appointed on the third day of July last "to prepare and report, to the next General Court, a plan for a Sanitary Survey of the State, embracing a statement of such facts and suggestions as they may think proper to illustrate the subject," have considered the matters referred to them, as far as the limited time at their command, and other circumstances, since their appointment, would permit, and submit their Report.

As the object of our commission is comparatively new, and may not be clearly understood by every person, we will state what we understand to be its intention. By a Sanitary Survey of the State is meant, an examination or survey of the different parts of the Commonwealth, -- its counties, its towns, and its localities, -- to ascertain the causes which favorably or unfavorably affect the health of its inhabitants. The word sanitary means relating to health. (1) When we speak of the sanitary condition of a town, we include a description of those circumstances which relate to, or have an effect upon, the health of its inhabitants. When applied to the inhabitants of a town or district, in their social capacity, it relates to public health; when to individuals, it relates to personal or private health.

The condition of perfect public health requires such laws and regulations, as will secure to man associated in society, the same sanitary enjoyments that he would have as an isolated individual; and as will protect him from injury from any influences connected with his locality, his dwelling-house, his occupation, or those of his associates or neighbors, or from any other social causes. It is under the control of public authority, and public administration; and life and health may be saved or lost, and they are actually saved or lost, as this authority is wisely or unwisely exercised.

The condition of perfect personal health requires the perfect formation of all the organs of the body, and the perfect performance of each of their functions, in harmony with all the others. Such a condition gives to its possessor, strength, energy, power, buoyancy of spirit, happiness. Disease may be an imperfection in some organ, or a derangement or improper action in some function, or both: and it may exist, and does actually exist, in all communities, in an infinite number of degrees, from the slightest deviation from a standard of perfect health, through all the varieties of sickness, to the lowest standard of vitality, just as the body is about to perform its last respiration. Such a condition gives to its possessor, weakness, lassitude, inability, depression, pain, misery, death. And one or the other of these conditions may be chosen, and is actually chosen, to a greater or less extent, by almost every human being.

We believe that the conditions of perfect health, either public or personal, are seldom or never attained, though attainable; -- that the average length of human life may be very much extended, and its physical power greatly augmented; -- that in every year, within this Commonwealth, thousands of lives are lost which might have been saved; -- that tens of thousands of cases of sickness occur, which might have been prevented; -- that a vast amount of unnecessarily impaired health, and physical debility exists among those not actually confined by sickness; -- that these preventable evils require an enormous expenditure and loss of money, and impose upon the people unnumbered and immeasurable calamities, pecuniary, social, physical, mental, and moral, which might be avoided; -- that means exist, within our reach, for their mitigation or removal; -- and that measures for prevention will effect infinitely more, than remedies for the cure of disease.

Some of the reasons for this belief will be given in the pages of this report. If it shall appear that it is well founded, -- if, indeed, there are facts to support, and legitimate arguments to sustain it, -- what subject, it may be asked, can come up for consideration, that shall transcend it in importance? We look upon things as valuable, that are worthless without life, and that cannot be enjoyed without health. How much more valuable, then, the means to possess and to enjoy both life and health, which alone give value to other objects! When compared together, all other matters this side the grave dwindle into insignificance.

But whom does this great matter of public health concern? By whom is this subject to be surveyed, analyzed, and practically applied? And who are to be benefited by this application? Some will answer, the physician, certainly. True, but only in a degree; not mainly. It will assist him to learn the causes of disease; but it will be infinitely more valuable to the whole people, to teach them how to prevent disease, and to live without being sick. This is a blessing which cannot be measured by money value. The people are principally concerned, and on them must depend, in part, at least, the introduction and progress of sanitary measures.

An eminent physician has recently said: "Our education has made our calling exclusively a curative, and not a conservative one, and the business of our responsible lives has confined us to it. Our thoughts are devoted to, our interests are concerned in, and our employments are connected solely with, sickness, debility, or injury, -- with diminution of life in some of its forms. But with health, with fullness of unalloyed, unimpaired life, we, professionally, have nothing to do." (2) Though this may generally be true, professionally, yet the intelligent physician "can see arrows of disease, invisible to any one else; watch their havoc, and know whence they come, and how they may be stayed;" and there are many eminent medical men, who have, as individuals, nobly used the means which their superior position and knowledge have placed within their control, in the prevention of disease, and in the promotion of public health. And we wish to increase the number of such professional men. We would not, however, confine it to them. We would not make it the object of any one profession exclusively. (3) We would bespeak the attention of intelligent men of all classes and all professions, whatever their prejudices or opinions may have been, to a candid consideration of the whole subject; and if found worthy, would solicit their cooperation and assistance, in its practical application and its onward progress.

(3) The medical department of the National Institute have said, in the Transactions of the American Medical Association, Vol. I, p 306, that "they had reasons to know, that the medical profession in this country, as a general rule, has many preconceived prejudices to overcome, in order lo prepare it to enter into the inquiry with that spirit of philosophical research, which can alone make its deductions practically useful." We sincerely hope, however, that this prejudice does not extensively exist.

"Ignorant men," says Dr. Simon, "may sneer at the pretensions of sanitary science; weak and timorous men may hesitate to commit themselves to its principles, so large in their application; selfish men may shrink from the labor of change, which its recognition must entail; and wicked men may turn indifferently from considering that which concerns the health and happiness of millions of their fellow-creatures; but in the great objects which it proposes to itself, in the immense amelioration which it proffers to the physical, social, and, indirectly, to the moral condition of an immense majority of our fellow-creatures, it transcends the importance of all other sciences; and, in its beneficent operation, seems to embody the spirit, and to fulfil the intentions, of practical Christianity." (4)

In a subject of such vast importance, on which so little is generally known, and so much ought to be universally known, and which is so full of interesting and useful illustrations, it is difficult to confine ourselves within the limits of a single report of reasonable length. This great matter cannot, however, be presented so as to be understood, without some detail. And though we shall restrain any inclination to go into minute illustration, yet, in our judgment, it would be unworthy of Massachusetts, under whose authority we act, and it certainly would be unsatisfactory to ourselves, if we failed to make the attempt, at least, to present the subject so that the people of the State

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8. It appeals to the State. Under our constitution and laws "each individual in society has a right to be protected in the enjoyment of his life."This may be considered in a sanitary as well as a murderous sense. And it is the duty of the State to extend over the people its guardian care, that those who cannot or will not protect themselves, may nevertheless be protected; and that those who can and desire to do it, may have the means of doing it more easily. This right and authority should be exercised by wise laws, wisely administered; and when this is neglected the State should be held answerable for the consequences of this neglect. If legislators and public officers knew the number of lives unnecessarily destroyed, and the suffering unnecessarily occasioned by a wrong movement, or by no movement at all, this great matter would be more carefully studied, and errors would not be so frequently committed.

Massachusetts has always been eminent among the American states. Her metropolis has ever been the metropolis of New England. Her example has been imitated and her influence has been felt, wherever the sons of New England are found, or the name of New England is known. Her deeds are such as to justify even her own sons for an allusion to them.

Her puritan forefathers established the first system of self-government, combining law and order with liberty and equality, and based upon pure morality, universal education and freedom in religious opinion, as the only foundation which can insure its permanency and prosperity. And in her cradle was rocked the first child that drew its first breath under its benign influence.

She has her Concord, her Lexington, and her Bunker Hill, all marked as the first battle-fields in that great struggle which severed the children from the parent, and made them free; into their soil was poured the blood of the most worthy and the most noble patriots the world has ever known; and "the bones of her sons, falling in the great struggle for independence, now lie mingled with the soil of every state from New England to Georgia, and there they will lie forever."

The thirteen united colonies furnished for the regular service of the revolutionary army, besides militia, 231,779 men, -- an average of 17,830 each. Of these, Massachusetts furnished 67,907, or 29 per cent, of the whole, 35,968 more than any other state, and 50,077 men more than, or nearly four times, her equal proportion. (5) And she poured out her treasure for the outfit and support of her sons in the regular or militia service, and for the support of their families whom they left be- hind, and for other public purposes, in nearly the same proportion, and with the same liberal hand, as she did her physical force and her blood.

She established, more than two hundred years ago, and near the beginning of her existence, free schools, open alike to all; and they have been cherished and supported, from that time to the present, by money drawn from the treasuries of towns, replenished by taxes on the inhabitants. She expended in this way, last year, for these free schools, $830,577 33, -- a sum equal to $3 87 for every child in the State between the ages of four and sixteen. The whole State has been dotted over with schoolhouses. like "sparkling diamonds in the heavens," giving intellectual light to all that come within their sphere.

She established in the United States the first system for the public registration of births, marriages and deaths, by which the personal history and identity, and the sanitary condition of the inhabitants, may be ascertained. She founded the first Blind Asylum; the first State Reform School; and aided in founding the first Deaf and Dumb Asylum; and her money, public and private, has flowed freely in the support of all the noble charities and religious enterprises of the age.

One of her sons first introduced into the United States the remedy of vaccination for the prevention of small-pox, which has deprived that terrific disease of its power, whenever used, and rendered its approach generally harmless. Another of her sons has the honor of making the great discovery of etherization, by means of whose wonderful capabilities the surgeon's instrument is deprived of its sting, and labor of its sorrow; the operator is permitted to pursue his work undisturbed, while the patient remains passive, unconscious, and unmoved by the horrors which, without it, might be inflicted. The blessings of this great prevention of human suffering are already acknowledged and felt the world over.

For these and very many other useful and honorable deeds, which might be specified, she has been named, by distinguished men of other states and countries, "the forefather's land," "the moral state," "the enlightened state," "the patriotic state," "the philanthropic state," "the leading state," "the pattern state," "the noble state," "the glorious old Bay state." And many an ejaculation has gone up in all sincerity, "God bless her;" "God save the Commonwealth of Massachusetts!"

"There she stands;" a bright morning star in the system of the Union. On the pages of her history are recorded the noble deeds which have given her a good name and rendered her glorious. But her people demand at her hands a more full enjoyment of life, and a more abundant diffusion of its blessings; and no more noble and honorable and glorious page can anywhere be found, than that which shall record the adoption of some simple but efficient and comprehensive plan of Sanitary Reform; by which the greatest possible amount of physical power may be produced, the greatest possible amount of physical suffering may be prevented, and the greatest possible amount of physical, social and moral enjoyment, may be attained. "This is the true glory which outlives all other, and shines with undying lustre, from generation to generation, imparting to its works something of its own immortality."

All which is respectfully submitted.

LEMUEL SHATTUCK,
N. P. BANKS, Jr.,
JEHIEL ABBOTT,
Commissioners.
Boston, April 25, 1850.

BILL DRAWN BY THE COMMISSION, AND RECOM- MENDED TO THE LEGISLATURE FOR ENACTMENT.

(See this Report, pp. 48-55, 109-119, 138, 242, and 284.)

An Act for the Promotion of Public and Personal Health.

BE it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

Sect. 1. His Excellency the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Council, shall appoint seven persons, who, together with the Governor, and the Secretary of the Board of Education, ex officiis, shall constitute and be denominated the General Board of Health; and the persons so appointed shall hold their offices for the term of seven years: provided, that the person first named in said Board shall go out of office at the end of one year, the person next named shall go out of office at the end of two years, and so of the remaining members, one retiring each year, and in the order in which they are named, until the whole Board be changed. And the Governor, with the advice and consent of the council as aforesaid, shall fill all vacancies in said Board, which may occur from death, resignation or otherwise. Any member who resigns, or whose term of office has expired, may, if duly qualified, be reappointed.

Sect. 2. The said Board shall meet in January, April, July, and October, in each year, and at such other times as they may deem necessary or expedient.

Sect. 3. They shall appoint a competent person to be the Secretary of the Board, and shall also appoint such other persons, or employ such temporary assistance, as may be necessary to carry into execution the sanitary laws of the State, under their superintendence; and every such person so appointed or employed shall hold his office during the pleasure of the Board. The Board shall fix the compensation of all persons so appointed or employed: provided, that the members of said Board shall receive no compensation for their own services. The salary of the Secretary shall be hundred dollars per annum, which, together with his incidental expenses and those of the Board, while in the discharge of their official duties, shall be paid by the State, on certificates signed by the chairman and Secretary.

Sect. 4. The said Board shall perform the following duties: --

1. They shall have the general superintendence of the execution of the sanitary laws of the State.

2. They shall direct the Secretary of the Board in the discharge of his duties.

3. They shall consider and decide upon sanitary questions, submitted to them by the State, by cities, by towns, and by the Local Boards of Health.

4. They shall advise the State as to the location and erection of public buildings, and as to the sanitary regulations of public institutions.

5. They shall, at least once in each year, visit and ascertain the sanitary condition of the several public charitable institutions of the State.

6. They shall prepare and furnish, at the expense of the State, to the several Local Boards of Health, all necessary blanks for the purposes of this act.

7. They shall, from time to time, issue instructions to the several Local Boards, as to their powers and duties, and shall suggest and recommend local sanitary rules and regulations.

8. They shall superintend each enumeration of the inhabitants of the State, and the preparation of the abstracts of the same, authorized by the constitution and laws.

9. They shall lay before the Legislature, annually, in a printed form, a report, containing an abstract of their proceedings, and of their receipts and expenditures, together with the Report of the Secretary of said Board; and shall accompany the same with such remarks, as their observation, experience, and reflection may suggest, as to the sanitary condition of the State, its institutions, and its inhabitants; and recommend the adoption of such useful sanitary measures, as in their judgment may lead to improvement.

Sect. 5. They may expend fifty dollars, annually, in the purchase of books and works, relating to public health and to the causes and prevention of disease; which books and works, together with such other books, works, and documents, as may be obtained in exchange or by donation, shall be kept in the office of the Secretary of the Board, and be the property of the State.

Sect. 6. The Secretary, under the general direction of the Board, shall perform the following duties: --

1. He shall keep full and accurate accounts of the receipts and expenditures of the Board.

2. He shall, when directed by the Board, make a sanitary survey of a particular town, or part of the State; and collect information as to its sanitary condition.

3. He shall have all the authority by law given to, and perform all the duties imposed upon, the Secretary of State, relating to the registration and return of births, marriages, and deaths.

4. He shall superintend each enumeration of the inhabitants of the State, and the preparation of the abstracts of the same, authorized by the constitution and laws.

5. He shall arrange the official written and printed reports and documents, obtained from Local Boards of Health and other public associations, and from private individuals; and cause them to be bound and indexed for convenient reference. And he is authorized to exchange the printed documents of the Board for other sanitary works, printed in this and in foreign countries.

6. He shall perform such other duties appertaining to his office, as may be required by the Board.

7. He shall prepare and lay before the Board, annually, in a printed form, a report containing an abstract of the information obtained.

8. He shall diffuse, as far as practicable, throughout the Commonwealth, information relating to the sanitary condition of the State and its inhabitants; to the end that the laws of health and life may be better understood, the causes of disease ascertained and removed, the length of human life extended, the vital force and productive power increased, and the greatest amount of physical improvement and happiness attained and enjoyed.

Sect. 7. The said Secretary is authorized and may, with the approval of the Board, employ such assistance as shall be necessary to enable him to discharge the duties of his office.

Sect. 8. The mayor and aldermen of each city, and the selectmen of each town, shall appoint three, five, or seven persons, resident citizens thereof, who shall constitute and be denominated the Board of Health of the Town, or the Local Board of Health. The mayor of the city, the chairman of the selectmen of the town, and the registrar of births, marriages and deaths, or the town clerk where no such registrar exists, shall be, ex officiis, members of said Board. And the persons so appointed shall take an oath faithfully to perform the duties of their office; and they shall hold their said offices for three years, if the said Board is fixed at and consists of three members, as aforesaid; or for five years, if it is fixed at and consists of five members; or for seven years, if it is fixed at and consists of seven members: provided, that the person first named in said Board shall go out of office at the end of one year, the person next named shall go out of office at the end of two years, and so of the remaining members, one retiring each year and in the order in which they are named, until the whole Board be changed. And the mayor and aldermen, or the selectmen as aforesaid, shall fill all vacancies in said Board, which may occur from death, resignation or otherwise. Any member who resigns, or whose term of office has expired, may, if duly qualified, be reappointed.

Sect. 9. The said Local Boards shall carry into execution, within their respective jurisdictions, the sanitary laws of the State, and the orders of the General Board of Health; and may, if need be, in the discharge of their duty, examine persons under oath, which oath they are authorized to administer. They shall endeavor, as far as practicable, to prevent disease and save life, by removing the causes of disease and mortality; and promote health and prolong life, by adopting and carrying into execution useful sanitary measures, rules and regulations.

Sect. 10. The said Local Boards shall meet in January, April, July, and October, in each year, and at such other times as they may deem necessary or expedient.

Sect. 11. The Board of Health of any town of more than ten thousand inhabitants, may expend forty dollars annually, and of any town of less than ten thousand inhabitants, twenty dollars, annually, in the purchase of books or works relating to public health, and to the causes and prevention of disease; which books and works, together with such other books, works, and documents as may be obtained in exchange or by donation, shall be kept in the office of the Secretary of the Board, and be the property of the town; provided, that in estimating the number of inhabitants for the purposes of this act, the last census, national or state, shall be the basis of computation.

Sect. 12. The said Board shall, from time to time, appoint one of their number to be Secretary; and also shall, if need be, appoint another competent member to be Medical Health Officer; and another to be Surveyor. And they shall appoint such other officers, not of the Board, and employ such other persons, as may be necessary to carry into execution the sanitary laws of the State, and the sanitary ordinances and regulations of the town. They shall fix the compensation of each person so appointed and employed, subject to the approval of the mayor and aldermen of the city, or the selectmen of the town: provided, that said compensation shall not exceed the amount usually paid for similar services in the town. And every such officer and person so appointed and employed shall hold his office during the pleasure of the Board.

Sect. 13. It shall be the duty of the Secretary to keep a record of the proceedings of the Board, and an accurate account of their receipts and expenditures, and to perform such other services as usually pertain to the office; and to preserve and transmit to his successor in office, all records, written and printed documents, papers and books, belonging to the office or to the Board.

Sect. 14. It shall be the duty of the Medical Health Officer to ascertain the existence and prevalence of sickness and diseases of different kinds, and particularly of zymotic, or epidemic, endemic and contagious diseases; to observe their prevalence and mortality in each year, and each season of the year, as compared with other years and seasons; in each district of the town, as compared with other districts or with other places; and in each class of persons, as compared with other classes; and to endeavor to ascertain any atmospheric, local, or personal causes of the temporary increase or decrease of disease and mortality. He shall point out local nuisances or personal causes likely to produce disease, or otherwise to injure the health of the inhabitants; suggest remedies; perform such other services, of a like nature, as the Board may require; and make reports on all these matters to the said Board.

Sect. 15. It shall be the duty of the Surveyor to prepare, under the direction and for the use of the Board, and for public inspection, a map of the town, or any section of the town, on which shall be marked, as far as practicable, the location, level, and grade, of roads, streets, lanes, and courts; plans for drainage and sewerage; the natural and artificial mill and other ponds; and any localities in which unfavorable sanitary influences are known to exist; and perform such other services of a similar nature, as may be required by the Board; and he shall report to the said Board on all these matters.

Sect. 16. The said Local Boards of Health are authorized to make, and whenever in their judgment the public health and safety or the public good will be promoted thereby, they shall make rules and regulations, not inconsistent with the constitution and laws of the State, for either or any of the following purposes:

1. For ascertaining the cause or causes of the death of every person who dies in the town.

2. For ascertaining, from time to time, the prevailing diseases of the town; and their atmospheric, local, and personal causes.

3. For ascertaining the prevalence and amount of sickness, among persons of different classes and occupations, and among scholars attending the public schools.

4. For preventing or mitigating diseases, especially zymotic, or epidemic, endemic, and contagious diseases.

5. For affording medical relief to persons afflicted or threatened with disease, and especially with epidemic, endemic or contagious diseases.

6. For the periodical or special vaccination of the inhabitants.

7. For removing, destroying, and preventing nuisances, dangerous to the public health.

8. For restraining and removing persons and articles, infected with the small-pox or other contagious disease.

9. For the establishment, location, and management of hospitals, for the accommodation of persons sick with contagious or malignant diseases.

10. For the construction and management of sinks, ash-pits, privies, cesspools, drains, and common sewers; and for the removal of house-dirt, offal, night-soil, street-dirt, and other filth.

11. For cleansing and purifying any vessel, building, lot, or other place; or any article in a condition endangering the public health.

12. For the location, and for preventing the location, of pigsties, slaughter-houses, chemical works, and any trade or employment, offensive to the inhabitants or dangerous to the public health.

13. For the warming and ventilation of schoolhouses and other public buildings; and for preventing the sanitary evils which arise from over-crowded boarding or lodging-houses, and from cellar dwellings.

14. For preventing the sale of any article of food or drink, unwholesome or dangerous to the public health.

15. For preventing or mitigating the sanitary evils, arising from the sale of intoxicating liquors; and from haunts of dissipation.

16. For preventing the sale of adulterated medicines, drugs and liquors, dangerous to the public health.

17. For the sanitary management of cemeteries, and other burial-places; and for the interment of the dead.

18. For the public registration of births, marriages and deaths in the town, required by the laws of the State.

19. For executing any sanitary order of the General Board of Health relating to the town or its inhabitants.

Sect. 17. The Board of Health of any seaport town may establish the quarantine to be performed by any vessel arriving within the harbor of the town; and may make such quarantine regulations, relating to any vessel, and to the passengers or articles on board of the same, as they shall judge necessary for the health and safety of the inhabitants; -- or two or more towns may, at their joint expense, and for the common benefit, make and establish such regulations. And any Board of Health may examine, under oath, the master or any seaman or person on board any vessel, suspected of coming from a sickly port, or of having sickness on board during the voyage, or of having goods or articles on board which may occasion sickness. And all expenses incurred on account of any person, vessel, or goods, under any quarantine regulations, shall be paid by such person, or the owner of such vessel or goods, respectively.

Sect. 18. When any householder shall know that any person within his family and when any physician shall know that any person whom he visits, is sick with the small-pox, or any other contagious or malignant disease, dangerous to the public, health, such householder and such physician shall immediately give notice thereof to the Board of Health of the town, in such manner as they shall prescribe.

Sect. 19. Notice shall be given by the Local Boards of Health of all regulations made by them, by publishing the same in some newspaper of the town, or where there is no such newspaper, by posting them up in some public place or places of the town; and such notice of such regulations shall be deemed legal notice to all persons.

Sect. 20. It shall be the duty of every magistrate and other civil officer, and of every inhabitant of the State, to observe and assist in carrying into execution the orders, rules and regulations of the General and Local Boards of Health, and to aid the said Boards and their authorized agents, in the performance of their respective duties.

Sect. 21. The said Boards of Health, if it shall appear to them necessary or expedient, are authorized to require the sheriff of the county or his deputy, the marshal of the city, or any constable of the town, to perform any of the following duties:

1. To remove or destroy any article, decayed, putrid, or otherwise dangerous to the public health; or any other nuisance or cause of disease.

2. To remove any person or article infected with contagious or malignant disease, from one place to another.

3. To break open and enter in the day time any house, shop, or other building, or place, containing a person or article infected with small-pox or other contagious disease; or containing any nuisance dangerous to the public health.

4. To impress and take up convenient houses, lodging, nurses, attendants and other necessaries for the accommodation, safety, and relief of the sick.

Sect. 22. The charges for removing and cleansing any articles, and of securing the same, and of cleansing any house or other place, shall be paid by the owners thereof, at such rates and prices as shall be fixed by the Board of Health, under whose direction the same was done.

Sect. 23. Whenever the sheriff .of the county or his deputy, the marshal of the city, any constable of the town, or other officer, shall impress any men, or shall use any house, store or other place, or any property, for the accommodation or benefit of the sick, or for the storage of infected articles, as provided for in this act, the several parties interested shall be entitled to a just compensation therefor, to be paid by the town for which such persons have been employed, or for which such property has been used.

Sect. 24. All necessary expenditures incurred by any Local Board of Health, in the discharge of their official duties, shall be paid by their town or city, after being audited by the Secretary of the Board, and certified to be correct by a majority of the other members: provided, that in making any such expenditure of more than fifty dollars, in towns of less than two thousand inhabitants; and of more than one hundred dollars, in towns of more than two thousand and less than five thousand inhabitants; and of more than five hundred dollars, in towns of more than five thousand inhabitants, the said Board shall first obtain the approval of the selectmen of the town, or the mayor and aldermen of the city.

Sect. 25. Whenever any malignant or contagious disease shall prevail as an epidemic in any town, the Local Board of Health shall notify the General Board of Health of the same; and the said General Board of Health shall adopt, recommend, or carry into execution, such measures of prevention or mitigation, as they shall deem necessary or expedient.

Sect. 26. Any person who shall violate any order or regulation, prescribed in the sixteenth and eighteenth sections of this act, or who shall obstruct any member of any Local Board of Health, or any person acting under their authority, in the discharge of his duty, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding one hundred dollars for each offence; and any person, who shall violate any of the provisions of the seventeenth and twenty-first sections, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding five hundred dollars for each offence.

Sect. 27. Each of the said Local Boards of Health shall, in the month of January, annually, prepare and submit to the town, or to the city council, at the next meeting thereafter, a written report, containing an abstract of the proceedings and of the receipts and expenditures of the Board, during the next preceding year ending December thirty-first; and shall accompany the same with a statement of such facts and observations, as will exhibit the sanitary condition of the town and its inhabitants; and shall recommend such measures of improvement, as they may deem necessary or expedient; and they shall transmit a copy of their report, in a written or printed form, to the General Board of Health. And all reports printed by order of towns shall be in octavo form, on paper and page of uniform size, similar to the public documents of the State, and convenient for binding; and all written reports shall be on letter paper of common size and convenient for binding.

Sect. 28. Any town, which shall neglect to appoint a Board of Health annually, as required by this act, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding one hundred dollars for each neglect; and the Board of Health of any town which shall neglect to make and transmit the report required by the twenty-seventh section hereof, shall be liable to a like penalty.

Sect. 29. All petitions and complaints concerning sanitary matters, shall be made and presented, in a written or printed form, to the Local Board of Health, or their authorized agent; and the object of all such petitions shall be immediately considered and acted upon; and it shall be the duty of every person who knows of the existence of any cause of disease, or of any matter which may properly come under the cognizance of the Board, to make it known.

Sect. 30. Whenever any nuisance, filth, or cause of disease shall be found on private property, the Board of Health shall order the owner, or occupant thereof, to remove the same at his own expense, within twenty-four hours, or such other time as they shall deem reasonable, after notice served, as provided in the succeeding section; and if the owner or occupant shall neglect so to do, he shall forfeit a sum not exceeding twenty dollars, for every day during which he shall knowingly permit such nuisance or cause of disease to remain after the time prescribed, as aforesaid, for the removal thereof.

Sect. 31. The order mentioned in the preceding section shall be communicated by a written notice, served personally upon the owner or occupant, or his or her authorized agent, by any person competent to serve a notice in a civil suit; or such notice may be left at the owner's, occupant's, or agent's last and usual place of abode, if the same be known, and is within the State; and if the owner's, or agent's residence is unknown, or without the State, the premises being unoccupied, then such notice may be served by posting up the same on the premises, or by publishing the same in such manner, and for such length of time, as the Local Board of Health shall deem expedient.

Sect. 32. If the owner or occupant shall not comply with the order above mentioned, the Board of Health may cause the said nuisance, filth, or cause of disease, to be removed or destroyed, and all expenses incurred there, by shall be paid by the said owner or occupant, or by such other person as shall have caused or permitted the same, if such owner or occupant, or such other person shall have had actual notice from the Board of Health, of the existence of said nuisance, filth, or cause of disease.

Sect. 33. All expenses incurred by any town or city in the removal of nuisances, or for the preservation of the public health, and which are recoverable of any private person or corporation, by virtue of any provisions of law, may be sued for and recovered in an action of debt, before any court having jurisdiction.

Sect. 34. Any fines and forfeitures recovered under the twenty-eighth section of this act, shall enure to the use of the State; and all other fines and forfeitures incurred under the general laws, or the special laws applicable to any town or city, or the ordinances, by-laws, and regulations of any town, or of the Board of Health of any town, relating to health, shall enure to the use of such town; and all such fines may be recovered by complaint in the name of the treasurer, before any justice of the peace of the county, or police court of the town or city, in which the offence may have been committed.

Sect. 35. Any person injured, either in his comfort or the enjoyment of his estate, by any nuisance, may have an action on the case, for the damage sustained thereby; in which action the defendant may plead the general issue and give any special matter in evidence.

Sect. 36. The court of common pleas, or any one of the justices thereof, in term time or vacation, may, in all cases, either before or pending a prosecution, for a common nuisance, affecting the public health, issue an injunction to stay or prevent the same, until the matter shall be decided by a jury or otherwise; and may issue all such other writs and processes, and make all such orders and decrees according to the course of proceedings in chancery, as may be necessary or proper to enforce such injunction; and may dissolve the same when the court or any one of the said justices shall think it proper.

Sect. 37. Persons may be complained of, and indicted by the grand jury having jurisdiction, for a common nuisance, injurious to the public health; and when any person shall be convicted on such indictment, the court may, in their discretion, order the nuisance to be removed, or destroyed, at the expense of the defendant, under the direction of the Board of Health of the town where the nuisance is found; and the form of the warrant to the sheriff, or other officer, may be varied accordingly.

Sect. 38. The Local Boards of Health shall have all the authority, and may perform all the duties imposed by law upon justices of the peace, by "an act in addition to an act to provide for the confinement of idiots and insane persons," passed April sixth, eighteen hundred and thirty-eight.

Sect. 39. The word "town," in this act, may be construed to include all cities except in cases in which such construction would be repugnant to any provision herein contained.

Sect. 40. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this act, are hereby repealed.