LAWS 
RELATING TO THE V 
PUBLIC HEALTH: 
THE 
QUARANTINE, DUTIES OF PILOTS, ETC. 
FOR THE 
PORT, HARBOR, AND STATE OF NEW YORK, 
EMBRACED IN THE 
REVISED STATUTES, 
AND IN AN 
ACT 
OF THE 
LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, 
PASSED MAY 13, 1846. 
PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE 
HEALTH COMMISSIONERS. 
New : 
PRINTED BY JARED W. BELL, 
CORNER OF ANN AND NASSAU STREETS. 
1846. REVISED STATUTES CHAP. XIV. 
OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH. 
Title 1.-Of the officers of health in the City of New York. 
Title 2.-Of quarantine, and regulations in the nature of quarantine 
at the port of New York. 
Title 3.-Internal regulations for the preservation of the public 
health in the City of New York. 
Title 4.-Of the Marine Hospital and its funds. 
Title 5.-General provisions applicable to the City of New York. 
Title 6.-Regulations for the preservation of public health in other 
ports and places of the State. 
Title 7.-General regulations concerning the practice of physic and 
surgery in this State. 
*TITLE I. *423 
OF THE OFFICERS OF HEALTH IN THE CITY OF NEW 
YORK. 
Sec. 1. Board of health continued-who president and members. 
2. Power of board to choose temporary president. 
3. Who commissioners of health. 
4. Duties of health officer. 
5. His power to appoint an assistant. 
6. Duties of resident physician. 
7. Duties of health commissioner. 
S. The same-to give bond, &c. 
9. To account monthly, and deposit moneys. 
10. Moneys, how drawn. 4 
Sec. 11. Resident physician and health commissioner to meet 
daily, &c. 
12. Salaries of each of the commissioners of health. 
13. Health officer's fees. 
14. Consulting physician, how appointed, and duties. 
15. Inspectors of vessels-fees. 
16. To report to board of health. 
Section 1. There shall continue to be a board of health 
in the city of New York, of which the mayor shall by 
right of office be president, and the members of which 
shall, from time to time, be appointed by the common coun- 
cil of the city.1 
§ 2. In case the mayor shall, from any cause, be unable 
to attend to the discharge of his duties as a health officer, 
the board of health may choose one of their own number as 
president, who shall possess all the powers and perform all 
the duties of the mayor under this chapter. 
§ 3. The health officer, resident physician, and health 
commissioner of the city, shall be the commissioners of 
health. 
§ 4. The health officer shall perform all the duties here- 
after specified in this chapter, and such other duties as the 
board or commissioners of health shall lawfully require. 
§ 5. The health officer may appoint an assistant, for 
whose conduct he shall be responsible, and who may per- 
form all the duties required of the health officer. Such 
assistant, before he shall enter on the duties of his office, 
shall take the oath prescribed in the constitution of this 
State. 
§ 6. The resident physician shall visit all sick persons 
reported to the mayor, or to the board or commissioners of 
health, and shall perform such other duties as the board of 
health shall enjoin. 
1 This chapter was compiled, with various alterations and addi- 
tions, from the following statutes ; Laws of 1823, p. 64 ; 1824, p. 18, 
§2; 1827, p. 139, §24 to 43 
Board of Health. 
Board of Health. 
Commissioners 
of health. 
Health officer. 
His assistant. 
Resident physi- 
cian. 5 
§ 7. The health commissioner, under the direction of 
the board of health, shall assist the resident physician in 
the discharge of his official duties. 
§ 8. He shall also receive all moneys appropriated to the 
use of the Marine Hospital, and shall pay all demands 
against the hospital that shall be approved by a majority 
of the commissioners of health; and before he shall enter 
on the duties of his office, he shall execute a bond in the pe- 
nal sum of five thousand dollars, conditioned for the faith- 
ful performance of his trust, and with such sureties as the 
mayor or recorder of the city shall approve. The bond 
shall be given to the people of this State, and be filed by 
the officer taking it in the office of the clerk of the city 
and county. 
*§ 9. He shall render to the board of health a monthly 
account of his receipts and disbursements on account of 
the Marine Hospital, and shall deposite the balance that 
shall appear to be in his hands in such bank in the city 
of New York as the board shall designate, to the credit 
of the commissioners of health. 
§ 10. The moneys so deposited shall not be drawn out, 
except on the check of the health commissioner, counter- 
signed by the president of the board of health. 
§ 11. In the discharge of their duties, the resident phy- 
sician and health commissioner shall meet daily at the 
office of the board of health, during such part of the year 
and at such hours of the day as the board shall designate. 
§ 12. The resident physician and health commissioner 
shall each receive an annual salary of one thousand dol- 
lars ; and the health officer, as physician of the Marine 
Hospital, a like salary of four hundred and fifty dollars; 
and such salaries shall be paid out of the moneys appro- 
priated for the use of the Marine Hospital. 
Health comm 
sioner. 
Tb. to give bond. 
*424 
To account'and 
deposite money. 
Moneys-how 
drawn. 
Meeting's of phy- 
sician and com- 
missioner. 
Their salaries. 6 
Fees of health 
officer. 
§ 13. The health officer shall be entitled to receive the 
following fees for visiting and examining vessels in the dis- 
charge of his official duties : 
1. For each vessel from a foreign port, six dollars and 
fifty cents. 
2. For each vessel from a place in the United States 
south of Cape Henlopen, if above one hundred and sixty 
tons, three dollars; if not exceeding one hundred and sixty, 
and above one hundred tons, two dollars; if below one 
hundred tons, one dollar. 
And such fees shall be paid by the respective masters of 
the vessels so visited and examined. 
§ 14. The board of health may, from time to time, ap- 
point so many consulting physicians as they may deem 
necessary, designate their duties, and fix their compen- 
sation. 
§ 15. The board of health shall appoint an inspector of 
vessels, who shall perform the duties required of him in 
this chapter, and shall be entitled to receive the following 
fees: 
For each cargo inspected by him under the direction of 
the board of health, three dollars ; 
For each vessel cleansed and purified by him under the 
like direction, five dollars; 
Which fees shall be paid by the owner or consignee of 
the cargo inspected or vessel purified. 
§ 16. It shall be the duty of such inspectors, after he 
shall have performed any service required of him, to make 
an immediate report of his proceedings and their result 
to the board of health, or the mayor and commissioners 
of health. 
Consulting phy- 
sicians. 
Inspector of 
vessels. 
His fees. 
His duty. AN ACT 
CONCERNING QUARANTINE, AND REGULATIONS IN THE 
NATURE OF QUARANTINE, AT THE PORT OF NEW 
YORK. 
Passed May 13, 1846. 
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate 
and Assembly, do enact as follows : 
§ 1. The anchorage ground for vessels at quaran- 
tine shall be near the Marine Hospital, on Staten Island, 
and be designated by buoys to be anchored under the 
direction of the health officer, and every vessel subject 
to quarantine shall, immediately on her arrival, anchor 
within them, and there remain with all persons arriving in 
her, subject to the examinations and regulations imposed 
by law. 
§ 2. Vessels arriving at the port of New York shall 
be subject to quarantine as follows: 
1. All vessels direct from any place where yellow, 
bilious, malignant, or other pestilential or infectious fe- 
ver, existed at the time of their departure, or which shall 
have arrived at any such place, and proceeded thence to 
New York, or on board of which, during the voyage, any 
case of such fever shall have occurred , arriving between 
the thirty-first day of May and the first day of October, 
shall remain at quarantine for at least thirty days after 
their arrival, and at least twenty days after their cargo 
shall have been discharged, and shall perform such further 
quarantine as the health officer shall prescribe. 
Anchorage 
ground, and hew 
designated. 
Vessels subject 
to quarantine. 8 
2. All vessels embraced in the foregoing subdivision 
arriving between the first day of April and the first day of 
November, exclusive of the time in said subdivision men- 
tioned ; all vessels from a foreign port, on board of which, 
during the voyage, or while at the port of departure, any 
person shall have been sick, or from any place in the ordi- 
nary passage from which they pass south of Cape Hen- 
lopen, arriving between the thirty-first day of May and the 
sixteenth day of October ; and all vessels from any place 
(including islands) in Asia, Africa, or the Mediterranean, 
or from any of the West India, Bahama, Bermuda, or 
Western islands, or from any place in America, in the or- 
dinary passage from which they pass south of Georgia, 
arriving between the first day of April and the first day of 
November, shall be subject to such quarantine and other 
regulations as the health officer shall prescribe. 
§ 3. It shall be the duty of the health officer to board 
every vessel subject to quarantine, or visitation by him, im- 
mediately on her arrival; to inquire as to the health of all 
persons on board, and the condition of the vessel and cargo, 
by inspection of the bill of health, manifest, log-book, or 
otherwise ; to examine, on oath, as many and such persons 
on board of vessels suspected of coming from a sickly 
port, or of having had sickness on board during the voyage, 
as he may judge expedient, and to report the facts and his 
conclusions to the mayor and commissioners of health in 
writing. 
§ 4. The health officer shall have power: 
1. To remove from the quarantine anchorage ground 
any vessel he may think unsafe to any place south of the 
quarantine buoys and inside of Sandy Hook. 
2. To cause any vessel under quarantine, when he shall 
judge it necessary for the purification of the vessel or her 
cargo, to discharge her cargo at the quarantine ground or 
some other suitable place out of the city. 
Health officer to 
visit vessels. 
His powers. 9 
3. To cause any such vessel, her cargo, bedding, and 
the clothing of persons on board, to be ventilated, cleansed, 
and purified in such manner, and during such time, as he 
shall direct; and if he shall judge it necessary to prevent 
infection or contagion, to destroy any portion of such car- 
go, bedding, or clothing, which he may deem incapable of 
purification. 
4. To prohibit and prevent all persons, arriving in ves- 
sels subject to quarantine, from leaving quarantine until 
fifteen days after the sailing of their vessel from her port 
of departure, and fifteen days after the last case of pesti- 
lential or infectious fever that shall have occurred on 
board, and ten days after her arrival at quarantine, unless 
sooner discharged by him. 
5. To permit the cargo of any vessel under quarantine, 
or any portion thereof, when he shall judge the same free 
from infection and contagion, to be conveyed to the city 
of New York, or such place as may be designated by the 
mayor and commissioners of health, after having reported 
in writing to the mayor and commissioners of health of 
said city the condition of said cargo and his intention to 
grant such permission; such permission, however, to be 
inoperative without the written approval of the mayor 
and commissioners of health. 
§ 5. The health officer, the board of health, or the 
mayor and commissioners of health, may, if in their 
opinion it will not be dangerous to the public health, per- 
mit the cargo of any vessel under quarantine, or any part 
thereof, to be shipped for exportation by sea, or transpor- 
tation up the North or East rivers, but if the vessel re- 
ceiving the same shall approach nearer than three hundred 
yards to the wharves of the city, such cargo may be 
seized and sold by the commissioners of health for the 
use of the Marine Hospital. 
When cargoes 
may be re-ship- 
ped for exporta- 
tion or transpor- 
tation. 10 
Vessels to have 
colours. 
§ 6. Every vessel during her quarantine shall be de- 
signated by colors, to be fixed in a conspicuous part of her 
main shroud. 
i § 7. No vessel or boat shall pass through the range of 
vessels lying at quarantine, or land at the quarantine 
ground, after sun set, without the permission of the health 
officer. 
§ 8. No lighters shall be employed to load or unload 
vessels at quarantine without permission of the health 
officer, and subject to such restrictions as he shall impose. 
§ 9. All passengers under quarantine, who shall be un- 
able to maintain themselves, shall be provided for by the 
master of the vessel in which they shall have arrived, and 
if the master shall omit to provide for them, they shall be 
maintained on shore at the expense of such vessel, and 
such vessel shall not be permitted to leave the quarantine 
until such expense shall have been repaid. 
§ 10. The health officer, upon the application of the 
master of any vessel under quarantine, may confine in any 
suitable place on shore any person on board of such ves- 
sel charged with having committed an offence punishable 
by the laws of this State, or the United States, and who 
cannot be secured on board such vessel, and such confine- 
ment may continue during the quarantine of such person, 
or until he shall be proceeded against in due course of law, 
and the expense thereof shall be charged and collected, as 
in the last preceding section. 
§ 11. All vessels and persons, remaining at quarantine 
on the first day of October, shall thereafter be subject to 
such quarantine and restrictions as vessels and persons 
arriving on or after that date. 
§ 12. The board of health, or the mayor and commis- 
sioners of health, whenever in their judgement the public 
health shall require it, may order any vessel, at the wharves 
No boat or vessel 
to pass, &c. 
Lighters. 
Poor passengers 
-how provided 
for. 
Sailors when and 
how confined for 
criminal offences. 
Quarantine of 
certain vessels. 
Vessels-how re- 
moved from 
wharves. 11 
of the city, or in their vicinity, to the quarantine ground, 
or other place of safety, and may require all persons, ar- 
ticles, or things introduced into the city from such vessel, 
to be seized, returned on board, or removed to the quaran- 
tine ground. In case the master, owner, or consignee of the 
vessel cannot be found, or shall refuse or neglect to obey 
the order of removal, the board of health, or the mayor 
and commissioners of health, shall have power to cause 
such removal at the expense of such master, owner, or 
consignee ; and such vessel or person shall not return to 
the city without the written permission of the board of 
health, or the mayor and commissioners of health. 
§ 13. If any vessel arriving at the quarantine ground, 
subject to quarantine, shall be bound to some port east 
of the city of New York, the health officer, after having 
duly visited and examined her, may permit her to pass on 
her voyage through the Sound ; but no such vessel shall 
be brought to anchor off the city, nor shall any of her 
crew or passengers land in, or- hold any communication 
with the city, or any persen therefrom. 
§ 14. No vessel, found on examination by the health 
officer to be infected with the yellow fever, or to have 
been so infected after sailing from her port of departure, 
shall be permitted to approach within three hundred yards 
of the city of New York, between the first day of May 
and the first day of October in the same year. But the 
health officer, with the permission of the board of health 
of the cities of New York or Brooklyn, may permit any 
vessel arriving at the port of New York to proceed to 
some wharf designated by the board of health of either of 
the cities of New York or Brooklyn and discharge its 
cargo, provided satisfactory proof be given to the health 
officer that the port or ports from which such vessel 
sailed was free from contagious or infectious disease at 
the time of her sailing therefrom, and that no sickness of 
a contagious or infectious type has existed on board the 
vessel during her entire voyage. 
Vessels may pass 
through the 
Sound. 
Vessels not to 
approach within 
300 yards of the 
city. 
May be permit- 
ted to discharge 
their cargoes. 12 
Master to deliver 
§ 15. The master of every vessel released from quar- 
antine, and arriving at the city of New York, shall, within 
twenty-four hours after such arrival, deliver the permit 
of the health officer, at the office of the mayor and the 
commissioners of health, or to such person as they shall 
direct, but such vessel shall not approach within three 
hundred yards of the city of New York without the writ- 
ten permission of the mayor and commissioners of health. 
§ 16. Every vessel having had, during the voyage, a 
case of small pox, or infectious or contagious disease, 
and every vessel from a foreign port having passengers, 
and not hereinbefore declared subject to quarantine, shall, 
on her arrival at the quarantine ground, be subject to visi- 
tation by the health officer, but shall not be detained be- 
yond the time requisite for due examination, unless she 
shall have had on board, during the voyage, some case of 
small pox, or infectious or contagious disease, in which 
case she shall be subject to such quarantine as the health 
officer shall prescribe; and it shall be the duty of the 
health officer, whenever he thinks it is necessary for the 
preservation of the public health, to cause the persons on 
board of any vessel to be vaccinated. 
§ 17. Nothing in this act contained shall prevent any 
vessel arriving at the quarantine from again going to sea 
before breaking bulk. 
§ 18. The commissioners of health shall admit into 
the Marine Hospital any passenger who shall have paid 
hospital moneys, during any temporary sickness, within 
one year after such payment. The mayor of the city of 
New York, the resident physician, and the commissioners 
of health of said city shall constitute a board of appeal 
from any direction or regulation of the health officer, with 
power to grant such and so much relief as may appear to 
the board thus constituted, or a majority of them, expedi- 
ent and proper; the decision of the board of health, 
however, to be paramount. • 
Vesselshaving 
had cases of small 
pox, &c., &c. 
Vessels may 
again go to seu. 
Passengers ad- 
mitted into the 
Marine Hospital. 
Board of.Appeai. 13 
§ 19. Every appeal from a decision of the health of- 
ficer shall be made, by serving upon him a written notice 
of such appeal, within twelve hours after such decision, 
(Sundays excepted,) and the health officer shall make 
a return in writing, including the facts on which the deci- 
sion is founded, within twelve hours after the receipt of 
such notice, (Sundays excepted,) to the mayor, who shall 
immediately call a meeting of the board of appeal, and 
shall be president of said board, and said appeal shall be 
heard and decided within twenty-four hours thereafter, 
(Sundays excepted,) and the execution of the decision 
appealed from shall be suspended until the determination 
of the appeal. 
§ 20. Every master of a vessel subject to quarantine 
or visitation, arriving in the port of New York, who shall 
refuse or neglect either : 
1. To proceed with and anchor his vessel at the place 
assigned for quarantine, at the time of his arrival: 
2. To submit his vessel, cargo, and passengers to the 
examination of the health officer, and to furnish all ne- 
cessary information, to enable that officer to determine to 
what length of quarantine and other regulations they 
ought respectively to be subject: or, 
3. To remain with his vessel at quarantine during the 
period assigned for her quarantine ; and while at quaran- 
tine to comply with the directions and regulations pre- 
scribed by law, and with such as any of the officers of 
health, by virtue of the authority given them by law, shall 
prescribe in relation to his vessel, his cargo, himself, or 
his crew, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and be pun- 
ished by a fine not exceeding two thousand dollars, or by 
imprisonment not exceeding twelve months, or by both 
such fine and imprisonment. 
§ 21. Every master of a vessel hailed by a pilot, who 
shall either: 
Appeal from de 
cision of health 
officer. 
Penalties on mai 
ters of vessels. 
Masters hailed by 
pilots. 14 
1. Give false information to such pilot relative to the 
condition of his vessel, crew, passengers, or cargo, or the 
health of the place or places whence he came, or refuse 
to give such information as shall be lawfully required : 
2. Or land any person from his vessel, or permit any 
person, except a pilot, to come onboard his vessel, or un- 
lade or tranship any portion of his cargo, before his vessel 
shall have been visited and examined by the health offi- 
cer : 
3. Or shall approach with his vessel nearer the city of 
New York than the place of quarantine, to which she 
shall be directed: 
Shall be guilty of the like offence and be subject to the 
like punishment. 
And every person who shall land from any such vessel, 
or unlade or tranship any portion of her cargo, under like 
circumstances, shall be guilty of the like offence, and be 
subject to the like punishment. 
§ 22. Every person who shall violate any provision of 
this act, or neglect or refuse to comply with the directions 
and regulations which any of the officers of health may 
prescribe, shall be guilty of the like offence, and be sub- 
ject, for each offence, to the like punishment. 
§ 23. Every person who shall oppose or obstruct the 
health officer, in performing the duties required of him, 
shall be guilty of the like offence, and shall be punished 
by fine not exceeding five hundred dollars, or by impri- 
sonment not exceeding three months, or by both such fine 
and imprisonment. 
§ 24. Every person who, without the authority of the 
health officer, commissioners of health, or board of 
health, shall go within the enclosure of the quarantine 
ground, shall be guilty of the like offence, and be punished 
Penalties. 
Persons violating 
this act. 
Obstructing 
health officer. 
Entering Qua- 
rantine ground, 15 
by fine not exceeding one hundred dollars, or by impri- 
sonment not exceeding thirty days, or by both such fine and 
imprisonment. 
§ 25. Every person who shall go on board of, or have J 
any communication, intercourse, or dealing with any ves- 
sel at quarantine, without the permission of the health 
officer, shall be guilty of the like offence, and be subject 
to the like punishment ; and such offender shall be detain- 
ed at quarantine so long as the health officer shall direct, 
not exceeding twenty days, unless he shall be taken sick of 
some pestilential or infectious disease. 
§ 26. Every person who shall violate the provisions of ' 
the fifth article of title second, of chapter fourteenth, of : 
part first, of the Revised Statutes, by refusing or neglecting 
to obey or comply with any order, prohibition, or regula- 
tion made by the board of health in the exercise of the 
powers therein conferred, shall be guilty of a misdemea- 
nor, punishable by fine and imprisonment in the discretion 
of the court by which the offender shall be tried. 
§ 27. Articles first, third, fourth, and sixth of title . 
second, of chapter fourteenth, of part first, of the Revised i 
Statutes: an act entitled " An act to amend title second, 
chapter fourteenth, part first, of the Revised Statutes, re- 
lating to the quarantine regulations of the port of New 
York," passed May 2,1836 ; an act entitled " An act re- 
lative to the quarantine laws," passed May 7, 1839; 
an act entitled " an Act to amend the Revised Statutes, 
relating to the public health," passed April 12, 1842, and 
all other laws inconsistent with this act, are hereby 
repealed. 
State of New York, ) 
Secretary'>s Office. J 
I have compared the proceeding with the original law 
on file in this office, and do certify that the same is a cor- 
rect transcript therefrom, and of the whole of said ori- 
ginal. 
Albany, May 14, 1846. 
N. S. BENTON, 
Dep. Sec. of State. 
Intercourse with 
vessels. 
Violating Fifth 
Article Revised 
Statutes. 
Articles of Re- 
vised Statutes 
repealed. ARTICLE SECOND. 
Of the Duties qf Pilots in relation to Vessels subject to 
Quarantine. 
Sec. 14. To hail vessels. 
15. When to direct them to proceed to quarantine. 
16. Duties in conducting vessels into port. 
To hail vessels. 
§ 14. It shall be the duty of each branch and deputy 
pilot belonging to the port, to use his utmost endeavors to 
hail every vessel which he shall discover to be entering the 
port, and to demand of the master of every such vessel, 
whether any person has died or been sick on board, during 
the passage, and whether any pestilential fever existed at 
the time of her sailing, at the port whence she sailed. 
§ 15. If any of the above questions shall be answered 
in the affirmative, the pilots shall immediately give notice 
to the master of the vessel, that he, his vessel, crew, pas- 
sengers and cargo, are subject to the examination of the 
health officer ; and shall direct him to proceed *and anchor 
his vessel at the quarantine anchorage, there to await the 
further directions of the health officer. 
§ 16. It shall be the duty of every pilot, who shall con- 
duct into port a vessel subject to quarantine, 
1. To bring such vessel to anchor within the buoys 
marking the quarantine anchorage. 
Further duty. 
*428 
Ib. In bringing 
vessels into port. 17 
2. To prevent any vessel or boat from coming along- 
side the vessel under his charge, and to prevent any thing 
on board from being thrown into any other vessel or boat. 
3. To present to the master of the vessel a printed copy 
of this chapter, when such copy shall have been delivered 
to him for that purpose. 
4. To take care that no violations of this chapter be 
committed by any person on board, and to report such as 
may be committed, as soon as may be, to the health officer. 
ARTICLE FIFTH. 
Of the Regulation of Intercourse with Infected Places. 
Sec. 67. Proclamation of mayor, &c., of infected places 
68. Period for its ceasing to be fixed; may be extended. 
69. Vessels arriving after proclamation, subject to quarantine 
of at least thirty days. 
70. Board of Health may regulate internal intercourse with 
infected places. 
§ 67. [Sec. 64. J The mayor of the city of New-York, or 
the president, at the time, of the board of health, may is- 
sue his proclamation, declaring any place where there shall 
be reason to believe a pestilential or infectious fever actu- 
ally existed, to be an infected place within the meaning of 
the health laws of this State. 
§ 68. [Sec. 65.] Such proclamation shall fix the period 
when it shall cease to have effect; but such period, if they 
shall judge the public health to require it, may, from time to 
time, be extended by the board of health, and notice of 
such extension shall be published in one or more of the 
newspapers of the city. 
§ 69. [Sec. 66.] After such proclamation shall have 
been issued, all vessels arriving in the port of New York 
from such infected place shall be subject to a quarantine 
of at least thirty days, and, together with their officers, 
Proclamation of 
infected places. 
Ib. 
Consequence of. 18 
crews, passengers, and cargoes, to all the provisions, regula- 
tions, and penalties of this chapter, in relation to vessels 
subject to a similar quarantine. 
§ 70. [Sec. 67.] The board of health may, in their dis- 
cretion, prohibit or regulate the internal intercourse by land 
or water between the city of New York and such infected 
place ; and may direct that all persons who shall come in- 
to the city of New York contrary to their prohibitions 
or regulations shall be apprehended and conveyed to the 
vessel or place whence they last came ; or, if sick, that 
they be conveyed to the Marine Hospital, or such other 
place as the board of health shall direct. 
Powers of Board 
of Health. 
*440. 
* TITLE III. 
INTERNAL REGULATIONS FOR THE PRESERVATION OF 
THE PUBLIC HEALTH IN THE CITV OF NEW YORK. 
Art. 1.-Of certain duties and powers of the board of health, the 
mayor, and commissioners of health. 
Art. 2.-Of the duties of physicians and other persons. 
Art. 3.-Prohibitions and penalties. 
ARTICLE FIRST. 
Of certain Duties, and Powers of the Board of Healthy 
Mayor, and Commissioners of Health. 
Sec. 1. General powers of the board of health. 
2. Its duty in the prevention of disease. 
3. Any thing injurious to public health may be removed or 
destroyed. 
4. May send non-residents to Marine Hospital. 
5. Commissioners must communicate to board of health all 
reports and information. 
§ 1. The board of health shall have power, 
1. To appoint, from time to time, so many health war- 
dens and other officers to carry into effect the provisions of 
Powers of the 
Board of Health. 19 
this title, and the rules and regulations of the board, as 
they may deem necessary : 
2. To authorize such officers,at such times as the board 
shall think fit, to enter into and examine, in the day time 
all buildings, lots, and places of every description, within 
the city, and to ascertain and report to the board the condi- 
tion thereof, so far as the public health may be affected 
thereby : 
3. To give all such directions and adopt all such mea- 
sures, as in their judgement may be necessary,for cleansing 
and purifying all such buildings, lots and other places ; and 
to do or cause to be done every thing in relation thereto, 
which in their opinion maybe proper to preserve the health 
of the city : 
4. To cause any avenue, street, alley, or other passage 
whatever, to be fenced up, or otherwise enclosed, if they 
shall think the public safety to require it, and to adopt 
suitable measures for preventing all persons from going to 
any part of the city so enclosed. 
§ 2. It shall be the duty of the board of health, 
1. To adopt prompt measures to prevent the spreading 
of a contagious disease, when it shall appear to them by a 
report of the resident physician or health commissioner, or 
ot a consulting physician, that any person within the city 
is afflicted with a disease of that character : 
2. To forbid and prevent all communications with the 
house or family so infected, except by means of physicians, 
nurses, or messengers, to carry the necessary advice, medi- 
cines, and provisions to the afflicted: 
3. To adopt such measures for preventing all communi- 
cations, between any part of the city infected with a fever 
of a malignant or contagious character, and all other parts 
of the city, as shall be prompt and effectual: and, 
Its duties. 20 
*141 
*4. To exercise all such other powers, whenever a con- 
tagious disease shall appear in the city, as in their judge- 
ment the circumstances of the case and the public good 
shall require. 
§ 3. The board of health, or the mayor and commis- 
sioners of health, when they shall judge it necessay, may 
cause any cargo or part of a cargo, or any matter or thing 
within the city, that may be putrid or otherwise dangerous 
to the public health,to be destroyed or removed; such re- 
moval, when ordered, shall be to the quarantine ground, 
or such other place as the board of health shall direct. 
§ 4. The board of health, the mayor, or either of the 
commissioners of health, may send to the Marine Hospital, 
or such other place as the board of health shall direct, all 
persons in the city, not residents thereof, who shall be sick 
of any malignant or contagious fever. 
§ 5. It shall be the duty of the commissioners of health, 
from time to time, to communicate to the president of the 
board of health all reports that shall be made to them, or 
either of them, under the provisions of this chapter ; and it 
shall be the further duty of the commissioners, and of each 
of them, so to communicate all information in their power, 
that may better enable the board of health to preserve the 
health of the city. 
Putrid articles, 
&c., to be des- 
troyed. 
Persons to be 
sent to the Ma- 
rine Hospital. 
Report to Board 
of Health. 
ARTICLE SECOND. 
Of the Duties of Physicians and other Persons. 
Sec. 6. Certain duties of practising physicians; to report patients. 
7. Do. of keepers of boarding houses. 
8. Do. of masters, &c., of vessels. 
9. Do. of commissioners of health and consulting physicians. 
§ 6. It shall be the duty of each practising physician in 
the city of New York, 
1. To make a report in writing to the mayor, the board 
of health, or either of the commissioners of health, of 
Physicians. 21 
every patient he shall have labouring under yellow, bilious, 
malignant, or other pestilential or infectious fever, between 
the thirty-first day of May and the first day of November 
in any year, and within twenty-four hours after he shall 
ascertain or suspect the nature of the disease : 
2. To report, if so directed by the board of health, every 
patient he shall have between the same days labouring 
under fever of any description, and to state in his report 
the specific name and type of such fever: 
3. To report, when required by the board of health, the 
death of any of his patients who shall have died of fever 
within forty-eights hours after such death shall have occur- 
red, and to state in such report the specific name and type 
of such fever. 
§ 7. Every person keeping a boarding or lodging house 
in the city of New York, between the days mentioned in 
the preceding section, *shall report in writing to the 
mayor, the board of health, or either of the health com- 
missioners, the name of every seafaring man, boarder, or 
passenger by sea, who shall be sick in his house with fever, 
whithin twelve hours after each case of sickness shall have 
occurred. 
Keepers of 
boarding houses 
■442 
§ 8. Every master, owner, or consignee of a vessel lying 
at a wharf, or in the harbour of the city of New York, shall 
make a like report, and within the same period, of the 
name of every sick person on board such vessel; and no 
such person shall be removed therefrom without a written 
permit for that purpose from the mayor, the board, or one 
of the commissioners of health. 
Masters, &c., of 
vessels. 
§ 9. It shall be the duty of each commissioner of health, 
and of each consulting physician, to make an immediate 
report to the board of health of the name of every practi- 
sing physician by whom he shall have reason to believe 
the provisions of the sixth section of this title have been 
violated ; and if any such commissioner or consulting phy- 
Proceedings for 
neglect. 22 
sician shall neglect or refuse toperform this duty, the board 
of health shall suspend him from his office. 
ARTICLE THIRD. 
Prohibitions and Penalties. 
Sec. 10. Respecting salt provisions. 
11. Relative to pickled beef, &c. 
12. Not to apply to small dealers, &c. 
13. All salted provisions, &c., to be reported to the mayor. 
14. Board of Health may cause such articles to be removed. 
15. Expense of removal to be paid by owner. 
16. Butchers and heads of families excepted. 
17. Violations of these provisions, misdemeanor, &c. 
18. Rags, hides, and skins, not to be taken within certain 
bounds. 
19. Exception as to small quantities. 
20. Master or owner to report damaged cotton. 
21. Under penalty of five hundred dollars. 
22. Persons violating sections one and two, guilty of misde- 
meanor, &c. 
23. Practising physicians violating duties imposed, guilty of 
misdemeanor, &c. 
24. Do. as to keepers of boarding houses. 
§ 10. No salted provisions shall be packed or re-packed 
at any season of the year, in that part of the city of New 
York lying south of a line drawn from the Hudson river 
through the centre of Canal street to Sullivan street, 
through Sullivan street to Grand street, through Grand 
street to Walnut street, and through Walnut street to the 
East river. 
s. §11. From the first day of May to the first day of Oc- 
tober in any year, no salted or pickled beef, pork, or fish, 
except smoked beef and fish, shall be deposited in the city 
south of the line above described. 
§ 12. Tiie last preceding section shall not be construed 
to prevent retail grocers or other small dealers from keep- 
ing on hand, for the use of their customers, small quanti- 
ties, not exceeding five barrels of each *kind of the provi- 
Salted provi- 
sions. 
Salted provisions. 
Exceptions. 
* 443. 23 
sions therein mentioned, if the provisions so kept be sound 
and in good order. 
§ 13. All salted or pickled provisions, and all hides, 
skins, and cotton, that shall remain deposited in the city, 
south of the line described in the tenth section of this title, 
on the first day of June in any year, shall be reported by 
the owner or person having charge thereof to the mayor, 
the board, or one of the commissioners of health, that the 
same may be examined, and, if necessary, destoyed or 
removed. 
§ 14. If such articles, when ordered to be removed by 
the board of health, shall not be forthwith removed by the 
owner or person having charge thereof, the boaid of health 
shall cause them to be removed to some safe place, there 
to remain at the risk of the owner. 
§ 15. The expense of the removal, and subsequent sto- 
rage of such articles, shall be borne by the owner or person 
having charge thereof when removed, and if paid in the. 
first instance by the board of health, may be recovered by 
them in an action against such owner or bailee, or if pay- 
ment of such expenses be refused by the owner or bailee, 
the board may cause such articles to be sold, and account 
for the proceeds, deducting such expenses and the costs of 
sale. 
§ 16. Nothing contained in this article shall be con- 
strued to extend to provisions exposed for sale by butchers 
in the public markets, or kept by the heads of families for 
family use. 
§ 17. Every person who shall refuse or neglect to obey 
the directions of this article, or the board of health, pur- 
suant thereto, in relation to the provisions and other arti- 
cles above mentioned, shall be considered guilty of a misde- 
meanor, and on conviction shall be fined for each offence 
in a sum not exceeding five hundred dollars, or be impri- 
soned for a term not exceeding six months. 
To be reported. 
How removed. 
Expenses. 
Exceptions. 
Penalties. 24 
Rags, hides, and 
skins to be kept 
within certain 
bounds. 
§ 18. No rags, hides, or skins, arriving in the port of 
New York, between the thirty-first day of May and the 
first day of October in any year, shall be taken to any 
place in the city south of a line beginning at Spring 
street on the North river ; thence along that street to the 
Bowery ; thence down the Bowery to Grand street; and 
thence through Grand street to Walnut street ; and thence 
through Walnut street to the East river ; and all such ar- 
ticles brought into the city, contrary to the above provi- 
sion, may be seized and sold by the commissioners of 
health for the use of the Marine Hospital. 
§ 19. The board of health, or the mayor and commis- 
sioners of health, may however permit sound hides and 
skins to be brought into the city, south of the line last des- 
cribed, in small quantities, and for the purpose of immediate 
manufacture, but not otherwise. 
*§ 20. It shall be the duty of the master and owner of 
every vessel that shall have brought cotton in the city, 
between the first day of May and the first day of Novem- 
ber, in any year, and of the owner and consignee of such 
cotton, if, upon examination, it shall appear damaged or 
otherwise unsound, to make an immediate report thereof to 
the mayor and commissioners of health. 
§ 21. Every master, or owner, or consignee, refusing or 
neglecting to perform the duties so enjoined, shall, for each 
offence, forfeit to the commissioners of health the sum of 
five hundred dollars. 
§ 22. Every person who shall violate any order or di- 
rection of the board of health, made or given in the exercise 
of the powers vested in them by the first and second sec- 
tions of this title, shall be considered guilty of a misde- 
meanor, punishable by fine and imprisonment. 
§ 23. Every practising physician, who shall refuse or 
neglect to perform the duties enjoined on him in the sixth 
section of this title, shall be considered guilty of a misde- 
Exceptions. 
♦444. 
Damaged cotton 
to be reported. 
Penalty for neg- 
lect. 
Disobeying or- 
der of Board of 
Health. 
PenaJty on phy- 
sicians. 25 
meanor, and shall forfeit for each offence the sum of 
two hundred and fifty dollars, to be sued for and recovered 
by the board of health. 
§ 24. Every keeper of a boarding or lodging house, and 
every master, owner or consignee of a vessel, who shall re- 
fuse or neglect to obey the directions of the seventh and 
eighth sections ot this title, shall be considered guilty of a 
misdemeanor, and on conviction shall be fined, for each of- 
fence, in a sum not exceeding two hundred and fifty dol- 
lars, or be imprisoned for a term not exceeding six months. 
Penalty on keep 
ers of boarding 
houses. 
TITLE IV. 
OF THE MARINE HOSPITAL AND ITS FUNDS. 
Sec. 1. The Marine Hospital held by commissioners of health. 
2. Commissioners have the superintendence; health officer, 
physician. 
3. Commissioners to furnish boat for health officer. 
4. Care of sick persons: not to be removed without permit. 
5. Persons eloping may be apprehended. 
6. Expenses to be paid, by whom, and who not liable therefor. 
7. Sums payable as hospital money, from whom. 
S. Hospital money-how applied ; commission for health com- 
missioners. 
9. From whom masters may recover moneys. 
10. How moneys payable by masters of coasting vessels; when ; 
where; penalties. 
11. A chaplain to be appointed for hospital. 
12. Pay of chaplain. 
13. Commissioners must account to comptroller-use of surplus. 
14. Sums necessary to keep buildings in repair, part of annual 
expenses-appropriation of present balance. 
15. Eight thousand dollars of surplus to be paid to certain so- 
ciety ; residue to State. 
16. Construction of original section 12. 
17. Commissioners to account. 
18. Allowance to commissioners for collecting. 
19. Part of original section 7 repealed, as to fax on mariners. 
20. Trustees of seamen's fund to receive that tax. 
21. Its application ; commission. 26 
22. Amount to be collected from mariners ; how collected. 
23. Health officer not to grant permit, until hospital money paid 
or secured. 
24. Eight thousand dollars to continue to be paid to society ; 
deficiency from State Treasury. 
§ 1. The hospital erected on the easterly shore of Sta- 
ten Island, and the land adjoining thereto, belonging to 
the State, shall continue to be denominated " the Marine 
Hospital," and shall, together with all buildings and im- 
provements, made or to be made thereon, be held by the 
commissioners of health, in trust for the people of this 
State, for the purposes specified in this chapter. 
*§ 2. The health officer shall, by right of office, be phy- 
sician of such hospital, and the commissioners of health 
shall in all other respects have the superintendence there- 
of ; make rules and orders for its government and manage- 
ment, employ mates, nurses and attendants therefor, and 
provide bedding, clothing, fuel, provisions, medicine, and 
such other articles as shall be requisite therein. 
§ 3. The commissioners of health shall, at all times, 
furnish a convenient boat, with sufficient boatmen, for the 
use of the health officer, the expense of which shall be 
charged to the funds of the hospital. 
§ 4. Every sick person sent to the Marine Hospital shall 
be there kept, and attended to with all necessary and pro- 
per care ; and no such person shall leave the hospital un- 
til the health officer shall grant a discharge in writing. 
§ 5. The health officer may direct, in writing, any con- 
stable, or other citizen, to pursue and apprehend any per- 
son, not discharged, who shall elope from the hospital, and 
to deliver such person at the hospital, to be there de- 
tained until regularly discharged. It shall be the duty of 
the constable or citizen, so directed, to obey such direc- 
tions ; and every person who shall so elope shall be consi- 
dered guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by fine or im- 
prisonment. 
Hospital-bj' 
whom held. 
* 445. 
Control thereof. 
Boat. 
Sick persons- 
how kept, &c. 
Proceedings 
against those 
eloping. § 6. All persons sent to the Marine Hospital, or any 
other hospital provided by the board of health, other than 
those who shall have paid hospital money, and such poor 
persons as the board of health shall exempt, shall pay a 
reasonable sum for their board, medicine and attendance ; 
and for the recovery of such sums the commissioners of 
health may sue in their name of office. 
6 7. The health commissioner shall demand and be enti- i 
J 1 
tied to receive, and in case of neglect or refusal to pay shall 
sue for and recover in his name of office, the following 
sums, from the master of every vessel that shall arrive in 
the port of New York, namely: 
1. From the master of every vessel from a foreign port, 
for himself and each cabin passenger, one dollar and fifty 
cents ; for each steerage passenger, mate, sailor, or marine, 
one dollar.1 
2. From the master of each coasting vessel, for each 
person on board twenty-five cents ; but no coasting vessel 
from the States of New Jersey, Connecticut, and Rhode 
Island shall pay for more than one voyage in each month, 
computing from the first voyage in each year.1 
i 
§ 8. The moneys so received shall be denominated 
"hospital moneys," and shall be appropriated to the use of 
the Marine Hospital, deducting a commission of two and 
one-half per cent, for collection. 
*§ 9. Each master paying hospital moneys shall be en- 
titled to demand and recover, from each person for whom 
they shall be paid, the sum paid on his account. 
§ 10. Every master of a coasting vessel shall pay to the 
health commissioner, at his office, in the city of New York, 
(I) By the provisions of chap. 234, Laws of 1831, the amount to 
be collected from masters, mates, mariners, and^seamen, arriving at 
the city and port of New York, is to be received by the " Trustees 
of the Seamen's Fund." See post., sec. 21. 
Expenses-by 
whom to be paid 
Hospital money: 
who to pay. 
How applied. 
* 116. 
How recovered 
by masters. 
Coasting vessels 
when to pay. 28 
within twenty-four hours after the arrival of his vessel in 
the port, such hospital moneys as shall then be demandable 
from him, under the provisions of this title; and every 
master, for each omission of such duty, shall forfeit the 
sum of one hundred dollars. 
§ 11. [Orig. sec. 1.] It shall and may be lawful for the 
health commissioners to employ a fit and proper person or 
persons to officiate as chaplain or chaplains at the Marine 
Hospital on Staten Island, as often as the sick of said hos- 
pital shall require the same, and that it shall be lawful for 
the said commissioners to pay for such services out of the 
hospital fund, not exceeding two hundred dollars per 
annum.1 
§ 12. [Orig. sec. 25.] There shall be paid to the chap- 
lain of the Marine Hospital the sum of one hundred dol- 
lars, annually, in addition to the sum now allowed by law, 
to be paid out of the Marine Hospital fund.2 
§ 13. [Sec. 11.] The commissioners of health shall ac- 
count annually to the comptroller for all moneys received 
by them, or either of them, for the use of the Marine Hos- 
pital ; and if such moneys shall, in any one year, exceed 
the sum necessary to defray the expenses of their trust, in- 
cluding their own salaries, and exclusive of such expenses 
as are to be borne and paid as a part of the contingent 
charges of the city of New York,they shall pay over such 
surplus to the treasurer of the Society for the Reforma- 
tion of Juvenile Delinquents in the city of New York, 
for the use of that society. 
§ 14. [Sec. 12.] The sums necessary to keep the build- 
ings and improvements of the Marine Hospital in good re- 
pair, shall be charged as a part of its annual expenses ; 
and the balance of hospital moneys now or hereafter in the 
hands of the commissioners of health, whether invested in 
Chaplains to be 
appointed, &c. 
Pay. 
Ib. 
Accounts; sur- 
plus. 
Charges on fund; 
balances on hand. 
(1) Laws of 1834, chap. 137,2d vol, 1st ed. Rev. Stat., p. 234. 
(2) Laws of 1829, chap. 377, sec. 25. 29 
stock, or otherwise, shall remain appropriated to supply any 
deficiency that may occur, of the annual funds, to meet 
the annual expenses of the hospital, and to defray the 
expenses of erecting such other hospitals or buildings as 
the governor shall, from time to time, direct; and no sale 
of stock shall be made by the commissioners, except by 
the order of the governor. 
§ 15. [Orig. Sec. 1.] The commissioners of health men- 
tioned in the eleventh and twelfth sections of title fourth, 
of chapter fourteenth, of the first part of the Revised Sta- 
tutes, shall pay out of the moneys received by them for the 
use of the Marine Hospital eight thousand dollars, annual- 
ly, in quarterly payments of two thousand dollars each, 
commencing on the first day of May next, to the treasurer 
of the society for the reformation of juvenile delinquents in 
the city of New York, for the use of said society; which 
sum of eight thousand dollars shall be part of the surplus, 
and not in addition thereto, directed to be paid said trea- 
surer by the above mentioned eleventh section; and the 
said commissioners of health shall pay over annually to the 
comptroller of the State, on or before the first of April, the 
balance that may remain of the said surplus fund, after 
paying the eight thousand dollars as aforesaid ; and the bal- 
ance of the said surplus so paid to the comptroller shall be 
invested by him in some secure manner at interest, and the 
said fund shall be kept distinct and separate, and shall be 
denominated the " Mariners' Fund."1 
Appropriation of 
$8,000 annually. 
§16. [Orig. sec. 2.] So much of the said twelfth section 
of title fourth, of chapter fourteenth, of the first part of 
the Revised Statutes, as applies to the balance of hospital 
moneys in the hands of the commissioners of health, is de- 
clared to apply only to such balances as were in their hands 
at the time said chapter took effect as a law; and any part 
of said section inconsistent with this declared construction 
is hereby repealed.1 
Construction of 
sec. 12. 
(1) Laws of 1829, chap. 302, sec. 1 and 2. 30 
Account to be 
rendered. 
§ 17. [Orig. Sec. 6.] The said commissioners of health 
shall render to the comptroller, annually, a minute and de- 
tailed account of all moneys denominated "hospital monies" 
which shall be received ; and also of all such moneys dis- 
bursed by them or either of them for the Marine Hospital; 
for the expenses of their trust, so far as the same are pay- 
able out of this fund ; for their own salaries, and the com- 
mission allowed by law to the health commissioner for col- 
lection ; and also of the surplus, if any, of such moneys paid 
over to the treasurer of the society for the reformation of 
juvenile delinquents in the city of New York.1 
§ 18. [Orig. sec. 7.] The comptroller is hereby autho- 
rized to allow to the health commissioner, for the collection 
of hospital moneys from coasting vessels, a commission at 
his discretion, of not less than two and a half nor exceed- 
ing ten per cent.: which allowance he is authorized to make 
as well upon the collections made from such vessels during 
the past year as upon those hereafter to be made.1 
§ 19. [Orig. sec. 9.] So much of section seven, of title 
four, of chapter fourteen, of the first part of the Revised 
Statutes, as authorizes the commissioner of health of the 
Marine Hospital to receive and collect hospital money from 
masters, mariners, or seamen, of all vessels arriving in the 
port of New York, is hereby repealed ; but nothing con- 
tained in this act shall prevent said health commissioners 
from collecting from the master of every vessel such sums 
as may be due from such master for any steerage or cabin 
passenger, as provided in the seventh section of title four 
above mentioned."2 
§ 20. [Orig. sec. 1.] From and after the passage of this 
act, the respective sums of money now levied and collected 
by law upon masters, mates, mariners, and seamen, arriv- 
ing at the city and port of New York, shall be collected and 
(1) lb. sec. 6 and 7. 
(2) Laws of 1831, chap. 234, "An act to provide for sick and 
disabled seamen," passed April 22. 
Allowance for 
collecting hospi- 
tal moneys. 
Repeal of part of 
sec. 7. 
Money collected; 
where to be paid. 31 
paid over to the trustees by this act constituted, to be de- 
nominated " The Trustees of the Seamen's Fund and 
Retreat in the city of New York," which trustees shall 
consist of the following persons, belonging to the city and 
county of New York, to wit: The mayor of said city, the 
collector of the customs, the president of the seamen's 
savings bank, the president of the shipmasters' society 
and nautical institution, the president of the marine so- 
ciety, the health officer of the city of New York, together 
with five shipmasters of the city and port of New York, 
to be annually chosen by the first above named persons 
on the second Monday in May.1 
§ 21. [Orig. sec. 5.] The said trustees shall devise and . 
direct such mode or modes of collecting and receiving said { 
tax, as by them shall be deemed most expedient, with the 
right of deducting for the expenses of collecting and re- 
ceiving the same a commission not exceedingtwo and ahalf 
per cent.; and the said trustees shall, without unnecessary 
delay, appropriate the money so collected to the erection of, 
or otherwise providing, a suitable hospital or other buildings 
as aforesaid, for the accommodation of sick and disabled 
seamen ; and the said trustees shall, after deducting all 
necessary expenses of said retreat, annually invest any bal- 
ance remaining in their hands in such manner as the said 
trustees may deem for the. best interests of those from whom 
said money has been collected.1 
§ 22. [Orig. sec. 11.] The president of said trustees 
shall demand and be entitled to receive, and in case of neg- 
lect or refusal to pay, shall sue for and recover in the 
name of the people of this State, the following sums from 
the master of every vessel that shall arrive at the port of 
New York, namely: First-from the master of every ves- 
sel from a foreign port, for himself one dollar and fifty 
cents; for each mate, sailor, or mariner, one dollar. Se- 
cond-from the master of each coasting vessel, for each 
(1) Laws of 1831, chap. 234, " An act to provide for sick and 
disabled seamen," passed April 22. 
Taxtobecoi- 
CertaB1 
, 
Amount to be 
collected, 32 
person on board,composing the crew of such vessel, twen- 
ty-five cents ; but no coasting vessel from the States of 
New Jersey, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, shall pay for 
more than one voyage in each month, computing from the 
first voyage in each year; and the said president may sue 
for the penalties imposed by law on masters of coasting 
vessels for not paying any hospital money.1 
§ 23. [Orig. sec. 12.] The health officer shall not grant 
a permit to any vessel subject to quarantine to approach the 
city of New York beyond the place assigned for quarantine, 
until satisfactory evidence shall be adduced that all hospi- 
tal money demandable from the master of such vessel has 
been duly paid, or until satisfactory security be given that 
the same will be paid.1 
§ 24. [Orig. sec. 13.] The eight thousand dollars appro- 
priated by the act entitled " An act to create a fund in aid 
of the society for the reformation of juvenile delinquents in 
the city of New York, and for the other purposes," passed 
April 29th, 1829, shall continue to be paid to said society, 
in the manner and at the time therein specified, out of the 
moneys collected from passengers by the provisions of title 
four, chapter fourteenth, part first, of the Revised Statutes ; 
but if the amount collected from passengers should be in- 
sufficient, (after paying all the expenses of the quarantine 
establishment at Staten Island, to meet the eight thousand 
dollars now appropriated from the " hospital funds," for 
the support of the society for the reformation of juvenile 
delinquents in the city of New York,) then the balance to 
make up said eight thousand dollars shall be appropriated 
annually from the State treasury.1 
vessels not to rc- 
ceive permit until 
money paid, &c. 
Juvenile deiin- 
quents. S.OOO 
dollars. 
(1) Laws of 1831, chap. 234, " An act to provide for sick and dis- 
abledseamen," passed April 22. 33 
TITLE V. 
GENERAL PROVISIONS APPLICABLE TO THE CITY OF 
NEW YORK. 
Sec. 1. Limited provisions may be extended by proclamation. 
2. Proclamation may be revoked. 
3. To whom fines, &c., payable, and how to be applied. 
4, Commissioners to give information to district attorney, of 
offences. 
5. Suits not to abate on death of officers. 
6. Provisions of chapter, how far to extend; not to interfere 
with common law. 
7. Board of health to cause parts of this chapter to be printed 
and distributed. 
8. Magistrates to aid board of health. 
§ 1. Whenever it shall appear to the board of health 
that any provisions of this chapter, limited in their opera- 
tions to a certain period of the year, ought to be extended, 
the mayor of the city shall issue his proclamation, extend- 
ing such provisions to such time as shall be mentioned in 
the proclamation ; and such provisions shall thereupon *be 
extended accordingly, and with the like effect, as if the 
periods mentioned in the proclamation had been enacted 
in this chapter. 
§ 2. If it shall appear to the board of health, whilst 
such proclamation is still in force, that the necessity of ex- 
tending the period therein named has ceased, the mayor, 
by a new proclamation declaring that fact, shall revoke the 
proclamation first issued, which from that time shall cease 
to have effect. 
§ 3. All fines, forfeitures and penalties, imposed in this 
chapter, or under the powers delegated therein, shall be 
paid to the commissioners of health, as a part of the funds 
Certain provi- 
sions-how ex- 
tended. 
*447 
How revoked. 
Penalties-how 
collected ; to 
whom to be pai 34 
[Qualified by § 
20, 21, &c., Title 
4, ante. 
of the Marine Hospital; and such as are recoverable by 
suit, including the penalties of bonds taken from persons 
under quarantine, and excepting such as are, or shall be, 
imposed on physicians, shall be sued for by the commis- 
sioners of health, in their name of office. 
§ 4. It shall be the duty of the commissioners of health, 
and of each of them, to give information to the district at- 
torney of the city and county of New York, of all offences 
against the provisions of this chapter that shall come to 
their knowledge, that he may prosecute the offenders with- 
out delay, in the court of sessions of the city. 
§ 5. No suit that shall be brought by the board or com- 
missioners of health, or the health officer, in their respec- 
tive names of office, in pursuance of the authority given 
in this chapter, shall abate on account of the death of the 
officer, or officers, by whom the same shall be commenced. 
§ 6. The provisions of the previous titles of the chap- 
ter shall extend to all diseases which, in the opinion of the 
board of health, shall be deemed dangerous to the public 
health : and nothing in this chapter contained shall be 
construed to interfere with the remedies against nuisances 
provided by the common law. 
§ 7. The board of health shall, from time to time, cause 
such parts as they shall deem necessary of this chapter 
to be printed, and shall deliver the same to the respective 
pilots of the port, for distribution to the masters of vessels 
subject to quarantine ; the expenses of such printing shall 
be defrayed out of the moneys appropriated for the use of 
the Marine Hospital. 
§ 8. It shall be the special duty of all magistrates and 
civil officers, and of all citizens of the State, to aid to the 
utmost of their power the board of health, and all the 
health officers, mentioned in this chapter, in the perform- 
ance of their respective duties. 
Imformatioa. 
Suits not to 
abate. 
Extract of this 
Chapter. 
Parts of this 
Chapter to be 
Printed and dis- 
tributed. 
All officers, &c., 
to aid. 35 
* TITLE VI. 
♦ 448 
REGULATIONS FOR THE PRESERVATION OF PUBLIC 
HEALTH IN OTHER PORTS AND PLACES OF THE 
STATE [IN WHICH ARE INSERTED "AN ACT FOR THE 
PRESERVATION OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH," PASSED 
JUNE 22, 1832, AND THE ACTS AMENDING THE SAME.]- 
Sec. 1. How vessels to perform quarantine in Albany, Troy, and 
Hudson. 
2. Persons violating provisions, guilty of misdemeanor. 
3. Powers of persons authorized to execute this title. 
4. Health officer in Albany and Hudson : duties, fees. 
5. Board of health in Brooklyn : who president and clerk. 
6. May appoint a health physician. 
7. Duty of health physician. 
8. How vessels subject to quarantine at New York, permitted 
to enter Brooklyn. 
9. Master to deliver permit; to whom. 
10. Master violating preceding provisions, guilty of misde- 
meanor. 
11. Board may order vessels to be removed. 
12. Order to be in writing; by whom signed ; how served. 
13. Penalty on persons violating order. 
14. Practising physicians to report patients. 
15. Penalty for not reporting. 
16. Duties of keepers of boarding houses, at certain period. 
17. In same period, sick persons not to enter village. 
18. Violation of two last sections, misdemeanor. 
19. Certain powers of board of health. 
20. Persons violating order of board, guilty of misdemeanor. 
21. Fines; to whom paid; how applied. 
22. Two justices of any town may remove sick strangers. 
(1) Although this act is apparently of a temporary character, yet 
from its having been so often renewed, it seems probable it will be 
retained as a permanent law. As its provisions extend over the 
whole State, it does not fall precisely within this title, but no other 
place occurred where it could be so conveniently inserted. 36 
[The following are the sections of the "Act for the preser- 
vation of the public healthy'' and the acts continuing and 
amending the same.] 
Sec. 23 & 24. Certain vessels subject to quarantine; proclamation 
of Governor. 
25 & 26. Boards of health in certain cities, and villages, and in 
certain towns. 
27 & 2S. Their powers ; penalty for violating their regulations. 
29. When other villages and towns may organize boards of 
health, their powers. 
30 & 31. Governor to procure and publish information ; ex- 
penses, how paid. 
32 & 33. Continuance of act; duty of Secretary of State. 
34 & 35. Removal of poor from county poor houses; provi- 
visions respecting county prisons. 
36 to 40. Renewals of act; provisions for expenses ; health offi- 
cers in Albany and Hudson. 
§ 1. No vessel having on board any person infected with 
any pestilential or infectious disease, or coming from a 
place so infected, shall enter any other of the ports or har_ 
hours of this State, until such quarantine, as the persons 
hereinafter mentioned shall direct, shall have been per- 
formed, viz: for the cities of Albany, Troy, and Hudson, 
and upon the Hudson river opposite to those cities, and 
within one mile above and below the same, the mayor, or, 
in his absence, the recorder of those cities, respectively. 
§ 2. Every person so subject to quarantine, who shall 
violate any of the regulations to be prescribed respecting 
the same, shall be considered guilty of a misdemeanor, 
and shall be fined in a sum not exceeding five hundred dol- 
lars. 
§ 3. The persons authorized to execute this title in the 
cities of Albany, Troy, and Hudson, shall respectively 
have power, 
1. To take such measures as they shall deem effectual 
to prevent the spreading of any infectious disease : 
Quarantine at 
Albany, Troy and 
Hudson. 
Penal ties. 
Powers of cer- 
tain officers. 37 
2. To stop, detain,and examine, for that purpose, every 
person coming from any place infected, or believed to be 
infected, with such a disease : 
3. To cause every such person, whom they shall suspect 
of being infected with such disease, and who shall not be 
an inhabitant of this State, to be sent out of the State, or 
to be kept therein in such manner as not to endanger the 
public health: and, 
4. To appoint such and so many persons to aid them in 
the execution of their powers as they shall deem proper. 
*§ 4. The health officer in each of the cities of Albany 
and Hudson shall assist in carrying into effect the provi- 
sions of this title ; and from the master of each vessel from 
a foreign port, that he shall visit and examine, shall be en- 
titled to receive the sum of seven dollars and fifty cents. 
§ 5. The board of trustees of the village of Brooklyn 
shall continue to be a board of health for that village. The 
president, or the president for the time, of the village, shall 
be the president of the board of health ; and the clerk of 
the board of trustees shall be the clerk of the board of 
health, and, as such, shall keep regular minutes of all their 
proceedings. 
§ 6. The board of health shall annually appoint, by 
warrant, under the common seal of the village, a physi- 
cian, then being an inhabitant of the village, to be the 
health physician in and for the village of Brooklyn. 
§ 7. It shall be the duty of such health physician, 
1. To visit all sick persons who shall be reported to the 
board of health of the village, and to report, without delay, 
his opinion of the sickness of such persons to the president 
of that board: 
2. To visit and inspect all vessels coming to the wharves, 
* 449 
Powers and fees.' 
Board of Health 
in Brooklyn. 
Physician. 
His duty. 38 
landing places, or shores, in the village of Brooklyn, and 
suspected to have on board any pestilential disease, and all 
stores, or warehouses, suspected to contain putrid or un- 
sound provisions, damaged hides,cotton, or other articles; 
and to make report of the condition of such vessels, provi- 
sions, or articles, without delay, to the president of the 
board of health : and, 
3. To meet daily, from the first day of June to the first 
day of October, in each year, at the office of the board of 
health in the village, with one or more members of the 
board for the transaction of business. 
§ 8. No vessel subject to quarantine in the port of New 
York shall proceed beyond the place of quarantine, on 
Staten Island, to the village of Brooklyn, without a permit 
from the health officer of the city of New York. 
§ 9. The master of every such vessel arriving in the 
village of Brooklyn shall, within six hours after such arri- 
val, deliver the permit of the health officer to the president 
of the board of health of the village, or to such person as 
he shall direct. 
§ 10. Every master, who shall violate the provisions of 
either of the two last preceding sections, shall be deemed 
guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by fine or imprison- 
ment, or both, in the discretion of the court by which he 
shall be tried ; the fine for each offence not to exceed two 
hundred and fifty dollars, nor the imprisonment six months. 
§11. The board of health of the village, whenever in 
their judgement the public health shall require it, may or- 
der any vessel at any wharf, landing place, or shore of the 
village, to be removed at least five hundred yards from the 
shores of the village, within six hours from the service of 
such order. 
§ 12. Every such order shall be in writing, and be 
signed by the president of the board of health of the vil- 
Certain vessels 
not to enter vil- 
lage. 
Duty of masters. 
Penalties. 
Vessels when to 
be removed. 
Order: how sign- 
ed and observed. 39 
lage, or, in his absence, by a majority of the members of 
the board ; and may be served by a delivery thereof to the 
person having at the time the care or command of the ves- 
sel to be removed, or to the master, owner, or consignee 
thereof. 
§ 13. Every person upon whom such order shall have 
been duly served, who shall omit to comply with its requi- 
sitions, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, punish- 
able by fine or imprisonment, or both, in the discretion of 
the court by which he shall be tried ; the imprisonment not 
to exceed six months, nor the fine, for each day the vessel 
to be removed shall have remained at or near the shores of 
the village, in violation of the terms of the order, two hun- 
dred and fifty dollars. 
§ 14. Every practising physician in the village of Brook- 
lyn shall forthwith make a report in writing, signed by him- 
self, to some one of the board of health of the village, of 
every patient he shall have labouring under malignant or 
yellow fever, or any other pestilential or infectious disease. 
§ 15. Every physician who shall omit to make such re- 
port shall forfeit the sum of fifty dollars, and be considered 
guilty of a misdemeanor. 
§ 16. Every keeper of a boarding or lodging house in 
the village of Brooklyn, between the first day of June and 
the fifteenth day of November in each year, shall report in 
writing, to some one of the board of health of the village, 
the name of every seafaring man or traveller who shall be 
sick in his house, within six hours after each case of sick- 
ness shall have occurred. 
§ 17. No sick person, between the days mentioned in 
the last preceding section, shall be removed from any ves- 
sel lying at or near the shores of the village of Brooklyn, 
or from any other place, into the village, until the name of 
such person shall have been reported in writing to some 
Penalties for dis- 
obeying. 
Sick to be re 
ported. 
Penalty. 
Keepers of 
boarding houses 
to report. 
Sick not to eaur 
village. 40 
one of the board of health of the village, and a written 
permit for such removal have been granted by the board. 
§ 18. Every person who shall violate the provisions of 
either of the two last preceding sections shall be deemed 
guilty of a *misdemeanor, punishable by fine or imprison- 
ment ; the fine for each offence not to exceed one hundred 
dollars, nor the imprisonment six months. 
§ 19. The board of health of the village of Brooklyn 
shall have power, 
1. To issue their proclamation, prohibiting or regulating 
the internal intercourse, by land or water, between that vil- 
lage and any other place where they shall have reason to 
believe that a pestilential or infectious disease then pre- 
vails : 
2. In case of the prevalence of any such disease in any 
part of the village, to enclose and shut up such infected 
part, so as to prevent all intercourse therewith : 
3. To remove to the public hospital of the village, or 
such other place as they may deem fit, all persons within 
the village, not being residents thereof, who shall be sick 
of any pestilential or infectious disease, and all articles and 
things infected by or tainted with pestilential disease : and, 
I 
4. To cause any bedding or clothing, or any unsound or 
putrid articles, found within the village, to be destroyed, 
whenever in their judgement such destruction shall be ne- 
cessary to prevent infection. 
§ 20. Every person who shall violate any order, rule, or 
regulation of the board of health of the village, made in 
pursuance of the powers granted in the last preceding sec- 
tion, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable 
by fine or imprisonment, or both, in the discretion of the 
court by whom the offender shall be tried. 
Penalties. 
* 451 
Powers of Board 
of Health. 
Penalty for vio- 
lating orders. 41 
§ 21. All fines and forfeitures imposed in any of the pre- 
ceding sections of this title, from the fifth section inclu- 
sive, shall, when collected, be paid to the board of health 
of the village of Brooklyn, to be applied by them to the 
purchase, building or hire, support, and maintenance, of a 
public hospital for the village ; and such forfeitures as are 
recoverable by civil suit shall be sued for by the president 
of the board of health, in his name of office.1 
Fjnes-how col- 
lected and paid. 
§ 22. Any two justices of the peace, in any town of this 
State, may cause all persons who shall be sick of any infec- 
tious or pestilential disease, and not being residents of such 
town, by an order in writing, to be removed to such place 
of safety within the town as they shall deem necessary 
for the preservation of the public health. 
§ 23. [Orig. sec. 1.] All vessels, boats, rafts, and other 
craft, and all persons, hereafter arriving in any port or place 
within this State, from any part of Upper or Lower Canada, 
or from any other place out of this State, in which the 
Asiatic or malignant cholera, or any other malignant dis- 
ease, shall be known to exist, shall be subject to quaran- 
tine in the manner hereinafter provided.2 
§ 24. [Orig. sec. 2.] It shall be the duty of the gover- 
nor, forthwith, by proclamation, to make known that such 
quarantine exists ; and to call upon all the magistrates 
and citizens of this State to aid in enforcing the same ; 
and more especially to enjoin on the officers of the cities, 
villages, and towns hereinafter mentioned, the prompt 
and faithful discharge of the duties prescribed by this 
act.2 
§ 25. [Orig. sec. 3.J It shall be the duty of the common 
council of every city, and the trustees of every incorporated 
(1) For further provisions respecting public health in the city of 
Brooklyn, sec. 61, 62, 64, and 72, of the "Act to incorporate the 
city of Brooklyn," chap. 92, laws of 1834. 
(2) Laws of 1832, chap. 333, p. 581, "An act for the preserva- 
tion of the public health," passed June 23. 
Powers of jus- 
tices in towns. 
Vessels, &c., sub 
ject to quaran- 
tine. 
Proclamation to 
be made. 
Boards of health 
in certain cities 
and villages. 42 
village, in the several counties of this State, bounded by 
lakes Erie, Ontario, and Champlain, or on the rivers St. 
Lawrence, or Hudson, or bounded on or intersected by any 
of the canals of this State, in which city or village there is 
not now a board of health and health officer, duly orga- 
nized or appointed, forthwith to appoint a board of health, 
to consist of not less than three nor more than seven per- 
sons, for such village, and a conpetent physician to be the 
health officer thereof.1 
§ 26 [Orig. sec. 4.] The supervisors, overseers of the 
poor, and justices of the peace, or the major part of them, 
of each town in the aforesaid counties, shall be a board of 
health for such town, and they shall forthwith appoint some 
competent physician to be the health officer for such town. 
§ 27. [Orig. sec. 5.] The several boards of health now 
organized in any city or village in this State, and the seve- 
ral boards of health to be constituted under this act, shall 
have power, and it shall be their duty, 
1. Forthwith to meet in their respective cities, villages, 
and towns, and to fix and determine the period of quaran- 
tine to which vessels or persons arriving in such city, vil- 
lage, or town, from places as mentioned in the first section 
of this act, shall be subject-which period shall in no case 
be less than fifteen days: but the said board shall have 
power, after an examination of any vessel or person sub- 
jected to quarantine, to reduce the period of the quarantine 
of such vessel or person, if they shall deem it safe to do so: 
2. To meet from time to time, and as often as they shall 
think expedient, for the performance of their duties under 
this act: 
3. To prescribe the duties and powers of the health of- 
ficer ; to direct him from time to time in the performance 
thereof, and to fix the compensation he shall receive : 
(1) Laws of 1832, chap. 333, p. 581-" An act for the preserva- 
tion of the public health, passed June 22. 
In towns. 
Their powers 
and duties. 43 
4. To make regulations, in their discretion, concerning 
the place and mode of quarantine; the examination and 
purification of vessels, boats and other craft not under quar- 
antine ; the treatment of vessels, articles and persons under 
quarantine; the discharge of such vessels, article or per- 
sons thereof; the regulation of intercourse with infected 
places; the apprehension, separation, and treatment of emi- 
grants and other persons who shall have no fixed and per- 
manent residence in this State ; the suppression and remo- 
val of nuisances; and all such other regulations as they 
shall think necessary and proper for the preservation of the 
public health : 
5. Toprocure suitable places for the reception of persons 
under quarantine, and persons sick of the Asiatic or malig- 
nant cholera, or any other malignant disease : and, in all 
cases where sick persons can not otherwise be provided for, 
to procure for them proper medical and other attendance 
and provision: 
6. To publish from time to time all such regulations as 
they shall have made, in such manner as to secure early 
and full publicity thereto : 
7. To issue warrants to any constable of their respective 
cities, villages, or towns, to apprehend and to remove such 
persons as cannot otherwise be subjected to the regula- 
tions by them adopted; and whenever it shall be necessary 
so to do, to issue their warrant to the sheriff of their respec- 
tive counties to bring to their aid the power of the county: 
all which warrants shall be forthwith executed by the of- 
ficers to whom they shall be directed, who shall possess 
the like powers and be subject to the like duties in the exe- 
cution thereof, as if the same had been duly issued out of 
any court of record in this State : 
8. To employ all such persons as shall be necessary to 
enable them to carry into effect the regulations they shall 44 
have adopted and published, and the powers vested in them 
by this act.1 
§ 28. [Orig. sec. 6.] Every person, who shall wilfully 
violate any regulations so to be made and published by 
any such board of health, shall be deemed guilty of a 
misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shall be subject 
to fine and imprisonment, or both, at the discretion of the 
court; such fine not to exceed one thousand dollars, nor 
such imprisonment two years.1 
§ 29. [Orig. sec. 7.] Whenever the trustees of any incor- 
porated village, or the supervisors, overseers of the poor, 
and justices of the peace, or the major part of them, of any 
town within this State, not situated within any of the 
counties above mentioned, shall determine that it is expe- 
dient to constitute a board of health, and to appoint a 
health officer, under the provisions of this act, they shall 
have power to do so; and from and after the publication 
of such their determination, and the appointment of such 
board of health and health officer, all the provisions of this 
act shall extend to such village or town.1 
§ 30. [Orig. sec. 8.] The governor shall have power to 
employ suitable agents to proceed to any part of this State, 
or to Upper or Lower Canada, for the purpose of procuring 
information in relation to the progress of the said disease, 
and the prevention or treatment thereof, or for any other 
purpose he may deem conducive to the public health; and 
it shall be his duty to communicate, by proclamation, any 
information so to be obtained, or which shall otherwise 
come to his knowledge, and which he shall deem useful; 
and in general to take all necessary measures for the pur- 
pose of causing this act to be faithfully executed.1 
§ 31. [Orig. sec. 9.] All expenses now incurred or to be 
incurred by the several boards of health, in the execution 
of this act, shall be a charge on their respective counties, 
Penalty. 
Boards of health 
in other places. 
Governor may 
employ agents. 
Expenses'pro- 
vided for. 
(1) Laws of 1832, chap. 333. 45 
and shall be levied, collected and paid, under the direction 
of the board of supervisors of the respective counties, in the 
same manner as other county charges are levied, collected 
and paid.1 All expenses to be incurred in the execution of 
the powers hereby vested in the governor shall be paid out 
of the treasury of the State, on the warrant of the comp- 
troller, after being first audited by him.2 
§ 32. ]Orig. sec. 10.] This act shall take effect imme- 
diately on the passage thereof, and shall continue in force 
until the first day of February, one thousand eight hundred 
and thirty-three, unless the governor shall sooner declare, 
by proclamation, that there exists no sufficient reason for 
the continuance thereof; in which case all the provisions 
of this act, except the ninth section, shall, from the time of 
the receipt of such proclamation, cease and expire in the 
respective villages and towns in which the same shall have 
been in force.2 • 
§ 33. [Orig. sec. 11.] The Secretary of State shall cause 
copies of this act to be printed, and transmitted, in such 
manner as he shall think expedient, to the mayor of every 
city and the trustees of every incorporated village, and to 
the supervisors of every town in this State. The expense 
incurred under this section shall be audited by the comp- 
troller, and on his warrant shall be paid out of the treasury 
of this State. 
§ 34. [Orig. sec. 12.] Whenever any pestilence or con- 
tagious disease shall break out in any county poor house, in 
this State, or in the vicinity of any such county poor house, 
and the physician to such county poor house shall certify 
that such pestilence or disease is likely to endanger the 
health of the persons supported at such poor house, the su- 
perintendents of such county poor house shall have power 
to cause the persons supported at such poor house, or any 
of them, to be removed to some other suitable place in the 
Act: when to take 
effect' 
Duty of secretary 
of Stat0, 
Poor houses. 
(1) Amended by chap. 221, laws of 1833, sec. 2 See sec. 37 post. 
(2) Laws of 1832, chap. 333. 46 
same county, there to be maintained and provided for at 
the expense of the county, with ail necessary medical care 
and attendance, until they can be safely returned to the 
county poor house from which they were taken, or other- 
wise discharged.1 
§ 35. [Orig. sec. 13.] It shall be the duty of the inspec- 
tors of the county prisons to meet from time to time, as 
they shall think proper, at the prisons and poor houses in 
their respective counties, during the continuance of this 
act, to establish such rules and regulations as they may 
deem proper for the ventilation and purification of the pri- 
sons and poor houses, in their respective counties, and the 
preservation of the health of the persons kept in said pri- 
sons and poor houses, and to cause such rules and regula- 
tions to be put in force.1 
§ 36. The act entitled 11 An act for the preservation of 
the public health," passed the twenty-second day of June, 
one thousand eight hundred and thirty-two, is hereby re- 
newed and continued in force for one year; but nothing 
herein contained shall be considered as imperative upon 
the officers mentioned in the fourth section of said act to 
organize a board of health, unless the public health shall 
require the same.2 
§ 37. All expenses incurred under the said act, in the sup- 
pression or removal of nuisances which are strictly local, 
and which are at all times under the orders or control of 
the police of the several cities, incorporated villages, and 
towns, shall be borne exclusively by such cities, villagesand 
towns, but no allowance shall be made to the board of 
health, or any other person or persons in towns or incor- 
porated villages, for the erection or rent of any building, 
except such as shall be erected or occupied for temporary 
purposes.2 
County prisons. 
Act continued. 
Expenses. 
(1) Laws of 1832, chap. 333. 
(2) lb. 1833, chap. 221-" An act to renew the act for the preser- 
vation of the public health," passed April 25, sec. 1, 2, and 3. 47 
§ 38. Nothing contained in the said act shall be con- 
strued as a repeal of the Revised Statutes relating to the 
health officers of the cities of Albany and Hudson.1 
§ 39. The act entitled "An act to renew the act for the 
preservation of the public health," passed April 25 j 1833, 
is hereby renewed and declared to be in full force for one 
year.2 
§ 40. All expenses incurred under this act, or the act 
hereby renewed, shall be borne and paid by the several 
towns, cities or villages, in which the same are incurred.2 
Saving claim,. 
Act continued. 
Expenses. 
TITLE VIL 
GENERAL REGULATIONS CONCERNING THE PRACTICE 
OF PHYSIC AND SURGERY IN THIS STATE. 
Sec. 1. Medical societies to require physicians and surgeons to ap- 
ply for admission. 
2. If persons notified do not apply, license to be forfeited. 
3. Charges may be preferred to society against members for 
mis-conduct, &c. 
* 4. When charges to be delivered to district attorney. 
5. District attorney to serve copy on accused, and give notice 
of hearing. 
6. He shall conduct prosecution, and issue subpoenas for both 
parties. 
7. County judges to hear and determine charges ; their judge- 
ment. 
8 & 9. Qualifications for admission to examination; term of 
study, &c. 
10. Certificates of commencing of studies to be filed with presi- 
dent of society. 
11. Order of president specifying period of study, to be annexed 
to certificate. 
12. When regents, to grant degrees of doctor of medicine. 
13. In what counties students to be examined. 
14. Candidates rejected in one county, not to be examined in 
another; may appeal. 
* 45SS 
(1) Laws of 1833, chap. 221-"An act to renew the act for the 
preservation of the public health," passed April 25, see. 1, 2, and 3 
(2) lb. 1835, chap. 103. 48 
15. Persons rejected by State censors, not to be examined by 
county censors. 
16. No person to practise without license, &c., from this or 
some other State. 
17. Persons coming from another State, &c., to file copy of di- 
ploma with county clerk. 
18. Certain diplomas not to confer right of practising in this 
State. 
19. Persons licensed, to deposite copy of license in county 
clerk's office. 
20. Persons under 21 not entitled to practise. 
21. Certain degrees not to be licensed; restriction as to facul- 
ties of medicine. 
22. Last section not to apply to Geneva College; effect of its 
diplomas. 
23. Penalty for practising without authority. 
§ 1. The president of every county medical society shall 
give notice in writing to every physician and surgeon, 
not already admitted into such society within the county 
in which the society of which he is president is situated, 
requiring such physician or surgeon, within sixty days af- 
ter the service of such notice, to apply for and receive a 
certificate of admission as a member of such society.1 
§ 2. The service of every such notice shall be made, 
personally, on the physician or surgeon to whom it shall be 
directed : and if such physician or surgeon shall not, with- 
in the time specified in the notice, or within such further 
time as may be allowed by the president, under the regu- 
lations of the society, apply for a certificate of member- 
ship in such society, his license shall be deemed forfeited, 
and he shall be subject thereafter to all the provisions 
and penalties of the laws of this State in relation to unli- 
censed physicians,until, upon a special application,he shall 
be admitted a member of the medical society in the county 
in which he shall reside. 
§ 3. If there shall be preferred to any county medical 
(l) This title was compiled, with some variations and additions, 
from the following statutes: 2 R.. L. 220, sec. 12, 20, 21: laws of 
1818, p. 192 ; 1819, p. 308; 1827, p. 178. 
Notice to be 
given to every 
physician and 
surgeon. 
3 Wend. 426. 
How served; 
persons notified 
to forfeit their 
licenses, if they 
do not apply. 
Charges for mis 
conduct. 49 
society, specific charges against any member thereof, of 
gross ignorance or misconduct in his profession, or of im- 
moral conduct or habits, a special meeting of the society to 
consider the charges shall be called, of which at least ten 
days previous notice shall be given, in one or more of the 
newspapers printed in the county. 
§ 4. If two-thirds of the members present at such meet- 
ing shall be of opinion that the charges perferred are well 
founded, the president of the society shall, without delay, 
deliver a certified copy of the charges, and of the vote of the 
society thereon, to the district attorney of the county, and 
shall give notice of such delivery to the member accused, 
who from that time shall be suspended from the practice 
of physic and surgery, until the determination of such 
charges, in the manner hereinafter provided. 
*§ 5. The district attorney, to whom the charges shall 
be delivered, shall serve a copy thereof, without delay, on 
the member accused, and at the same time shall give him 
notice of the time and place at which the judges of the 
court of common pleas of the county will meet, for the pur- 
pose of hearing and determining the same : such notice 
shall be served at least fourteen days before the time of 
hearing appointed. 
§ 6. The district attorney shall conduct the prosecution 
of the charges, and shall issue process to compel the atten- 
dance of such witnesses, as the president of the society and 
the member accused shall severally require. 
§ 7. The judges of the county court, at the time and 
place of hearing appointed, or at such other time and place 
as they shall fix, shall proceed to hear and determine the 
charges, and shall examine, on oath, the witnesses pro- 
duced : if they, or a majority of them, shall be satisfied, 
from the evidence, that the charges are true, they shall 
make an order, which shall be valid in law, expelling the 
member accused from the society, and declaring him for- 
ever thereafter incapable of practising physic and surgery 
i0 wend. 449. 
Proceedings 
*453 
Char?es 'o be 
of hearing- 
District attorncy 
t0 prosecute, 
judges to deter' 
mine. 
exptK 50 
within this State; or suspending him from such practice, 
for a limited period: if they shall be of opinion that the 
charges are not established, the suspension of the member 
accused shall cease, and he shall be restored to all his 
rights and privileges as a practising physician and surgeon. 
§ 8. No student shall be admitted to an examination by 
any medical society, until he shall have completed, with 
some physician and surgeon, duly authorized by law to 
practise his profession, the term of medical study prescribed 
in the following sections of this title. 
§ 9. The regular term of the study of medical science 
shall be four years, but a deduction from such term, in no 
case to exceed one year, shall be made in either of the fol- 
lowing cases: 
1. If the student, after the age of sixteen, shall have 
pursued any of the studies usual in the colleges of this State, 
the period, during which he shall have pursued such stu- 
dies, shall be deducted. 
2. If the student, after the age of sixteen, shall have at- 
tended a complete course of all the lectures delivered in an 
incorporated medical college in this State, or elsewhere, one 
year shall be deducted. 
§ 10. The physician and surgeon, with whom a student 
shall commence his studies, shall file a certificate with the 
president of the county medical society to which he belongs, 
certifying that such person has so commenced his studies ; 
and the term of study shall be considered as commencing 
from the day on which such certificate is filed. 
§11. If the term of study shall be intended to be for less 
than four years, upon either of the grounds mentioned in the 
ninth section of *this title, the president with whom the 
certificate shall be filed, upon this satisfactory proof that a 
deduction ought to be allowed, shall annex to such certifi- 
Or suspend. 
Or acquit. 
Qualification of 
students. 
Term of study. 
Certificate. 
Order for term of 
study. 
♦454 51 
cate an order specifying the period, not exceeding one year, 
which, according to the proof exhibited to him, ought to be 
deducted from the term of four years, and directing that 
the term of study of the student shall be for the period that 
shall remain. 
§ 12. No person shall receive from the regents of the 
university a diploma, conferring the degree of doctor of 
medicine, unless he shall have pursued the study of medi- 
cal science for at least three years, after the age of sixteen, 
with some physician and surgeon, duly authorized by law 
to practise his profession, and shall also, after the same 
age, have attended two complete courses of all the lectures 
delivered in an incorporated medical college, and have at- 
tended the last of such courses in the college by which he 
shall be recommended for his degree. 
§ 13. No student shall be admitted to an examination 
by any county medical society, except of the county in 
which he shall have pursued his medical studies for four 
months immediately preceding his examination ; but if 
the student, during that period, shall have attended the 
lectures in either of the incorporated medical colleges of 
this State,he may be examined and licensed, either by the 
medical society of the county in which such college is 
situated, or by that of the county in which he shall have 
resided previous to such attendance. 
§ 14. No person who shall have been examined by the 
censors of any county medical society, as a candidate for 
the practice of physic and surgery, or either of them, and 
shall have been rejected on such examination, shall be 
admitted to an examination before the censors of any other 
county medical society; but such person may appeal from 
the decision of the censors, by whom he shall have been 
examined, to the medical society of the State. 
§ 15. No person who, either upon an original examina- 
tion, or upon an appeal, shall have been rejected by the cen- 
sors of the State medical society, shall thereafter be admit- 
Requisites for 
diplomas from 
regents. 
In what counties 
students to be 
examined. 
If rejected, to 
appeal. 
Persons rejected 
by State Society. 52 
ted to an examination before the censors of any county 
medical society. 
§ 16. No person shall practise physic or surgery, unless 
he shall have received a license or diploma, for that pur- 
pose, from one of the incorporated medical societies in this 
State, or the degree of doctor of medicine from the regents 
of the university; or shall have been duly authorized to 
practise by the laws of some other State or country, and 
have a diploma from some incorporated college of medi- 
cine, or legally incorporated medical society, in such State 
or country. ' 
*§ 17. No person coming from another state or country 
shall practise physic or surgery in this State, until he shall 
have fded a copy of his diploma with the clerk of the 
county where he resides, and until he shall have exhibited 
to the medical society of that county satisfactory evidence 
that he has regularly studied physic and surgery, accord- 
ing to the requisitions of the ninth section of this title. 
§ 18. No diploma, granted by any authority out of this 
State, to an individual who shall have pursued his studies in 
any medical school within this State,not incorporated and 
organized under its laws, shall confer on such individual 
the right of practising physic or surgery within this State. 
§ 19. Every person licensed to practise physic or sur- 
gery, or both, shall deposite a copy of such license with the 
clerk of the county where he resides, who shall file the 
same in his office ; and until such license is so deposited, 
such person shall be liable to all the penalties provided by 
law, in the same manner as if he had no license. 
§ 20. No person under the age of twenty-one years 
shall be entitled to practise physic or surgery in this State. 
§ 21. The degree of doctor of medicine, conferred by 
any college in this State, shall not be a license to practise 
Who to practise 
physic. 
* 455 
Persons from an- 
other State or 
country. 
Diplomas to stu- 
dents in certain 
schools, not 
valid. 
License in ail 
cases to be filed. 
Persons under 21. 
Degrees confer- 
red by colleges, 
&c. 53 
physic or surgery ; nor shall any college have or institute a 
a medical faculty to teach the science of medicine in any 
other place than where the charter locates the college. 
§ 22. The provisions of the twenty-first section of title 
seven, chapter fourteen, and first part, of the Revised Sta- 
tutes, shall not be deemed to apply to the diplomas, confer- 
ring the degree of doctor of medicine granted by the trus- 
tees of Geneva college upon the recommendation of the 
medical faculty of the said college, established at the place 
where the charter locates the college, and upon the re- 
commendation of at least three curators of the medical pro- 
fession appointed by the said trustees ; but no person shall 
receive any such diploma, unless he shall have pursued the 
study of medical science for at least three years, after the 
age of sixteen, with some physician and surgeon duly au- 
thorized by law to practise his profession, and shall also, 
after that age, have attended two complete courses of all 
the lectures delivered in some incorporated medical col- 
lege ; the last of which course shall have been delivered 
by the medical faculty of Geneva college : and all the pro- 
visions of said title seven, which require an attendance 
upon the lectures delivered at an incoporated medical col- 
lege, shall be deemed to apply to and include the lectures 
delivered by the medical faculty of Geneva college : and 
the diplomas granted pursuant to this act shall have the 
same force and effect as licenses to practise physic and sur- 
gery, as are given by law to the licenses granted by an in- 
corporated medical society in this State.1 
§ 23. The legislature may at any time modify, alter, and 
repeal this act.1 
§ 24. [Sec. 22.] Every person, not authorized by law, i 
who, for any fee or reward,shall practise physic or surgery 1 
within this State, shall be incapable of recovering, by suit, 
any debt arising from such practice. 1 
Geneva college; 
diplomas by. 
Effect of as li- 
censes to prac- 
tise. 
Persons practis- 
ing without au- 
thority not to sue. 
14 John. 369. 
(1) Laws of 1835, chap. 45. 54 
1 Wend. 526. 
Penalty for prac- 
tising without 
authority. 
§ 25. Every person not authorized by law, who shall 
practise physic or surgery within this State, shall, for each 
offence of which he may be duly convicted, forfeit and pay 
a sum not exceeding twenty-five dollars, to be recovered, 
with costs of suit, before any justice of the peace of the 
county where such penalty shall be incurred, by any per- 
son who will prosecute for the same ; and the justice be- 
fore whom such conviction shall be had shall pay the same 
to the overseers of the poor of the town where such con- 
viction shall be had, for the use of the poor of such town, 
or of the county poor where the distinction between town 
and county poor shall have been abolished. But the pro- 
visions of this section shall not be deemed and taken to ex- 
tend or to debar any person from using or applying, for the 
benefit of any sick person, any roots, barks, or herbs, the 
growth or produce in the United States.1 
(1) Laws of 1830, chap. 126, sec. 2. By sec. 1 a part of original 
sec. 22 was repealed, and is omitted. The act of 1830, chap. 126, 
was restored by laws of 1835, chap. 297, which repealed the act of 
1834, chap. 68. 
Exemption as to 
roots, barks and 
herbs. APPENDIX. 
The following act is appended, which amends title 
first, part first, chapter fourteenth, section twelfth; and 
part first, section seventh, title fourth, chapter four- 
teenth, Revised Statutes, &c., &c. 
Also, is appended, sections fifteenth, sixteenth, seven- 
teenth, and eighteenth, title fifth, chapter fifth, Revised 
Statutes. 
And, also, resolutions passed by the common council of 
the city of New York. 
AN ACT 
To amend an Act entitled "An Act to amend the Re- 
vised Statutes, in relation to the Marine Hospital and 
its Funds," passed April 18, 1843. 
Passed May 7, 1844. 
The people of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- 
bly, do enact as follows: 
§ 1. The first section of the act entitled " an act to amend the Revised 
Statutes, in relation to the Marine Hospital and its funds," passed April 
18, 1843, is hereby amended so as to read as follows: From the master 
of every vessel from a foreign port, for himself one dollar and fifty cents ; 56 
APPENDIX. 
and for every cabin passenger two dollars; for each steerage passenger 
fifty cents ; and for each mate and sailor fifty cents. 
§ 2. Whenever the health commissioner shall collect and receive any 
money under protest, and notice on the part of the payer of an intention 
to contest the right of the State to such moneys, it shall be his duty to 
pay the moneys so received into the treasury of this State, making at the 
same time and delivering to the treasurer a written statement of the cir- 
cumstances under which the same was received, and the objections made 
by the payer. 
§ 3. It shall be the duty of the comptroller, whenever it is ascertained 
and established by the judgement and decree of a competent court that 
the moneys so received into the treasury, under protest, have been ille- 
gally collected and do not belong to the State, to draw his warrant on the 
treasurer for such moneys in favor of the party entitled thereto. 
§ 4. The health commissioner who shall pay into the treasury of this 
State public moneys collected by him, under protest, shall be saved 
harmless against the consequences of any action brought against him for 
the recovery of moneys so received and paid: provided, that such health 
commissioner shall, within five days, give notice to the comptroller and 
attorney general of the commencement of any suit against him for the re- 
covery of moneys paid under protest, and shall submit the management 
of the suit to the attorney general, and all costs and charges connected 
with the defence of said suit shall be paid from the treasury in the same 
manner as if the suit was against the people of the State. 
§ 5. The moneys collected by the late commissioner, under protest, 
shall be paid into the treasury; and the two preceding sections shall 
apply to him, and the moneys thus paid into the treasury. 
§ 6. Title one, of part one, of chapter fourteen, section twelve, of the 
Revised Statutes, is hereby amended so as to read as follows : The resi- 
dent physician shall receive an annual salary of twelve hundred and fifty 
dollars, to be paid out of the moneys appropriated to the use of the Ma- 
rine Hospital. 
§ 7. The health officer shall annually, on or before the first of January, 
report to the comptroller, under oath, the receipts and expenditures of APPENDIX. 
57 
the Marine Hospital, together with all the receipts and perquisites of his 
office, and the items connected therewith. 
State of New York, ) 
Secretary's Office. ) 
I have compared the preceding with an original act of the legislature of 
this State, on file in this office, and do certify that the same is a correct 
transcript therefrom and of the whole of said original. 
ARCH'D CAMPBELL, 
Dep. Sec. of State. 
Albany, May 9, 1844. 
CHAP. V. 
Of the Public Officers of this State, their Election, Appointment, fyc. 
TITLE V. 
§ 15. The health officer, resident physician, and health commissioner, 
of the city of New York, are mentioned in this section. 
§ 16. The officers above enumerated shall hold their respective offices 
for two years. 
§ 17. No person but a licensed physician shall be appointed to the 
office of resident physician, health commissioner, or health officer, of the 
city of New York. Either of them may be removed by the governor 
during the recess of the senate. 
§ 18. The board of health may supply any vacancy that may occur in 
the office of either of the commissioners of health of the city of New 
York, whether arising from the temporary inability of the officer to dis- 
charge his duties, or otherwise ; but the person so appointed shall hold his 
office only until such inability be removed, or the sense of the governor, 
or the governor and senate, be declared. 58 
APPENDIX. 
RESOLUTIONS 
OF THE 
COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 
Febrruary 7th, 1838. 
Resolved, That the regular meetings of the board of health be on the 
first Wednesday of each month, at 12 o'clock, noon, in the Common 
Council chamber, afterwards amended by making the meeting 4 o'clock, 
P. M. 
March 7th, 1838. 
Resolved, That the health commissioner deposite all balances of re- 
ceipts on account of the Marine Hospital in the bank of the State of New 
York, pursuant to the 9th sec. of chap, xiv., title 1, Revised Statutes. 
May 2d, 1838. 
The deputy health wardens shall report weekly to the city inspector, 
in such manner as the city inspector shall direct. 
August 1st, 1838. 
Resolved, That the city inspector furnish, on the requisition of the 
aiderman and assistant of each ward, such quantity of lime as they may 
deem necessary to be spread in the streets under their direction. APPENDIX. 
59 
COMMISSIONERS OF HEALTH. 
HENRY VAN HOEVENBERGH, M. D., 
Health Officer. 
Office-Marine Hospital, Staten Island. 
Residence-Tompkinsville, Staten Island. 
ALEXANDER F. VACHE, M. D., 
Resident Physician. 
Office-Mayor's Office, City Hall. 
Residence-86 Duane Street, New York. 
STEPHEN R. HARRIS, M. D., 
Health Commissioner, 
Office-Mayor's Office, City Hall. 
Residence-7 Greenwich Street, New York. 
Office Hours from 10, A. M., until 2, P. M.