PUBLIC HEALTH LAWS OF ILLINOIS 
AND 
SANITARY MEMORANDA. PUBLIC HEALTH LAWS 
OF 
ILLINOIS 
AND 
SANITARY MEMORANDA 
FOR THE 
INFORMATION AND USE 
OF 
Local Health Authorities and Others. 
ILLINOIS STATE BOARD OF HEALTH, 
•n 
4896. 
SPRINGFIELD, ILL. 
Ed. F. Hartman, State Printer. 
1896. 5 
The Illinois Sanitary Code. 
PUBLIC HEALTH LAWS, RULES AND REGULATIONS. 
Food Supply-Adulteration of Food, Liquor, 
Candies or Medicines-of Milk-of Butter 
and Cheese-of Vinegar-Canned Goods. 
Water Supply-Provisions for-Supply by 
Contract-Water-works-Change of Source. 
Sewerage. 
Public Buildings-Means of Egress-Fire 
Escapes. 
Burial Permits-Ordinance for. 
Cemeteries. 
Rui.es and Regulations Concerning the 
Public Health: 
Vaccination of School Children. 
Contagious and Infectious Diseases. 
Notification of Contagious Diseases. 
Transportation of Corpses. 
Public Health Authorities and Organ- 
izations: 
The State Board of Health-Ite Pow- 
ers, Authorities and Duties. 
Local Health Authorities-Classes of- 
Relations with State Board. 
Local Health Ordinance: 
Form of-Commentary upon. 
Summary- of Existing Health Legisla- 
tion: 
State Board of Health Act. 
Powers of City Councils and Village Trus- 
tees. 
Territorial Jurisdiction. 
Jurisdiction over Waters. 
Township Board of Health. 
Nuisances. 
Public Health Authorities and Organizations: 
The second section of An Act to create and establish a State 
Board of Health in the State of Illinois, approved May 28, 
1877, in force July 1, 1877, reads as follows: 
"The State Board of Health shall have the general super- 
vision of the health and life of the citizens of the State. They 
shall have charge of all matters pertaining to quarantine; 
and shall have authority to make such rules and regulations, 
and such sanitary investigations as they may, from time to 
time, deem necessary for the preservation or improvement of 
public health; and it shall be the duty of all police officers, 
sheriffs, constables and all other officers and employees of the 
State, to enforce such rules and regulations, so far as the effi- 
ciency and success of the Board may depend upon their official 
co-operation."* 
Under this section says the Attorney General, broad duties 
devolve upon the State Board of Health, and ample power 
is given to enable them to discharge their duties. They not 
only have the right, but it is their duty, to make any and all 
rules and regulations which they may deem necessary to pre- 
serve the public health. Such rules and regulations, when pro- 
mulgated, have the force and authority of law, and are to be 
enforced, if necessary, by the entire power of the State. 
♦The full text of this Act will be found at the beginning of the next section -Summary of 
Existing Legislation, Rules and Regulations Concerning the Public Health. 6 
The phrase, " all other officers and employees of the State," is 
held to mean all other public officers and employees of the State, 
and not merely State officers and employees: and under this 
interpretation the Attorney General decides that school officers 
are included, as well as all local health authorities. 
There are four classes of local health organizations existing 
in the State, to-wit: 
I. Boards of health of cities, towns and villages incorporated 
under the special act of the legislature. 
II. Boards of health of cities, towns and villages incorporated 
under the general law. 
III. Boards of health of townships in counties under town- 
ship organization. 
IV. Boards of health of counties not under township organi- 
zation. 
In cities, towns and villages incorporated under special acts, 
the charters creating them ordinarily provide who shall consti- 
tute the boards of health, or how they shall be appointed. 
In cities, towns or villages incorporated under the general 
laws, the boards of health are appointed by the city council, or 
village board, by virtue of Section 62, item 76, Chapter 24, Re- 
vised Statutes.-See Powers of City Councils and Village Trustees. 
In counties under township organization, the supervisor, as- 
sessor and town clerk constitute the board of health for their 
repective townships, by virtue of Section 127, Chapter 139, 
Revised Statutes.-See Township Board of Health. 
In townships not under township organization, the county 
commissioners constitute the board of health for their respec- 
tive counties, by virtue of their general powers to control and 
regulate the affairs and interests of the county. 
Local Health Ordinance: 
In framing a Model Sanitary Ordinance it has been attempted 
to make it simple, direct and comprehensive; and to secure in 
it substantial accord with existing legislation concerning the 
public health-a digest which will be found in the subsequent 
pages. 
Only so much of the Model Ordinance as is applicable to any 
given locality should be adopted or included in the ordinance 
of such locality; but it is recommended-in order to secure uni- 
formity and consequent greater efficiency, and facility of co- 
operation in cases of emergency or mutual concern-that exist- 
ing health ordinances be made to conform to this, so far as 
practicable. 
Township and county boards (constituted as above defined), 
should adopt such of these provisions as may be applicable to 
their respective localities, whenever conditions arise justifying 
their action as boards of health. Their powers under the stat- 
utes, to abate nuisances and otherwise to act for the protection 
of public health, will be found under the appropriate captions. 7 
With such changes as may be made necessary by the provis- 
ions of special charters or acts of incorporation, the following 
forms of ordinance will be applicable to cities, towms and vil- 
lages of the two classes first enumerated, viz: those incor- 
porated under special acts, and those incorporated under the 
general law. 
AN ORDINANCE. 
FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH. 
Be it ordained by the [ city council or president and board of 
trustees, as the case may be] of the [city or village} of 
county of , State of Illinois' 
* Article I. That there shall be appointed by the said [city 
council or president and board of trustees] a board of health in 
and for said [city or village.] The compensation of members, 
officers and employes of the board shall be fixed by the [city 
council or board of trustees] from time to time. 
tArticle II.-Health Officer and Sanitary Policeman. 
Section 1. That there shall be appointed by said board of 
health a medical health officer, who shall be a legally qualified 
physician, possessed of the requisite knowledge of sanitary 
science and of preventive medicine; and who shall be ex-officio, 
a member of said board of health, and whose duty it shall be 
to assist and advise the board in all matters relating to public 
health, and to superintend, under the direction of the board, 
the enforcement and observance of the provisions of this ordi- 
nance. 
§ 2. That there shall be appointed by the said board of health 
a sanitary policeman or policemen, who shall assist the medical 
health officer, and perform the duties and service hereinafter indi- 
cated, or which may be prescribed by the said board, from time 
to time, for the preservation or improvement of the public health. 
J Article III. -Buildings and Premises. 
Section 1. That whenever it shall come to the knowledge of 
the board of health, or of its officers or employees, that the 
*See Powers of City Councils and Village Trustees: Items seventy-sixth, seventy-eighth, 
seventy-ninth, eighty-first, eighty-third. Also Territorial Jurisdiction ; Jurisdiction over 
Waters; Water Works; Cemeteries. 
All references, where not otherwise specified, are to subjects in the following pages. 
+ While other members of a board of health may be non-medical men-citizens, selected for 
their general intelligence, public spirit, and direct interest in the welfare and prosperity oflhe 
locality, and to whom, therefore, the general direction of measures for the protection of the public 
health may be safely and properly entrusted-the Medical Health Officer, the member ex-officio, 
should be a thoroughly educated physician, practically versed in sanitary matters, and skilled in 
the diagnosis and management of contagious and infectious diseases. Upon his technical knowl- 
edge, his wisdom and discretion, and his executive abiltiy, largely depend the efficiency of the 
board and its success or failure in the prevention of disease and the promotion of health. 
He should be one who can command the fullest confidence and respect of the community, and 
upon whose counsel and advice his fellow members may implicitly rely. Health boards are neces- 
sarily endowed with large discretionary powers-the preservation of public health may be rightly 
deemed a matter of supreme importance; and courts sustain them, to the fullest extent, in the 
exercise of these powers whenever it can be shown that their action was guided by a sound discre- 
tion. and wa< deemed necessary for the public welfare. It is, therefore, incumbent upon such 
boards that they be well and intelligently advised; and for such advice it will be true economy to 
make adequate compensation. These considerations should be taken into account in appointing, 
and in fixing the rate of pay of the Medical Health Officer. 
J See Powers of City Councils and Village Trustees: Items sixty first and eighty-first to 
eighty-fourth, inclusive. Also Nuisances: Items 6, 7 and 8. Sec. 221 and 223. Also Public Build- 
ings. 8 
condition of any building or premises is injurious to the health 
or dangerous to the lives of the occupants or of the public, it 
shall be the duty of the medical health officer or sanitary police- 
man to make a thorough examination of the building or prem- 
ises, and to direct and instruct as to the remedy of such condi- 
tion: and if this be not remedied within a reasonable time, he 
shall report the facts to the board of health, who shall, there- 
upon, cause such building or premises to be put in good sani- 
tary order, at the cost of the individual responsible for, or 
causing or permitting, such unhealthful condition. 
* Article IV. - Streets and Grounds. 
Section 1. That the deposit of offal, garbage, night-soil, or 
refuse of any description upon any street, alley, vacant lot, pub- 
lic grounds or premises, within the limits of the [city, town or 
village] of except by direction or written permission 
of the board of health, is declared an offence, and punishable 
as such. 
§ 2. That it shall be the duty of the sanitary policeman to 
exercise a vigilant supervision over such places, and to notify 
any person found making such deposit, or responsible for the 
same, to remove the offending matter at once, and to properly 
cleanse the place. And if such removal and cleansing be not 
effected within twenty-four (24) hours after notification, the 
offending person or persons shall be punished by a fine not 
exceeding one hundred (100) dollars, and for a second offence 
by fine not exceeding two hundred (200) dollars, or by impris- 
onment not exceeding six (6) months, or by both fine and 
imprisonment, and the necessary removal and cleansing shall 
be performed at the expense of such person or persons. 
f Article V.-Nuisances. 
Section 1. That it is a public nuisance- 
To cause or suffer the carcass of any animal or any offal, filth 
or noisome substance to be collected, deposited or to remain in 
any place, to the prejudice of others; 
To throw or deposit any offal or other offensive matter, or 
the carcass of any animal, in any water course, lake, pond, 
spring, well or common sewer, street or public highway; 
To corrupt, or render unwholesome, or impure, the water of 
any spring, river, stream, pond or lake, to the injury or pre- 
judice of others; 
To erect, continue or use any building or other place for the 
exercise of any trade, employment or manufacture, which, by 
occasioning noxious exhalations, offensive smells, or otherwise, 
is offensive or dangerous to the health of individuals, or of 
the public. 
*See Powers of City Councils and Village Trustees: Items seventh to twelfth, inclusive: 
thirteenth to sixteenth, inclusive. Also Territorial Jurisdiction. Also Nuisances: Itemeland 
5, Sec. 221 
I See Powers of City Councils and Village Trustees: Items fortieth and seventy-fifth. 
Also Nuisances. 9 
§ 2. That it is hereby made the duty of the Board of Health 
of to cause the summary abatement of any such 
nuisance at the proper expense and cost of the party or parties 
responsible for, or permitting, the nuisance. 
* Article VI.-Sewers, Privies and Cess-Pools. 
Section 1. That no privy-vault or cess-pool for sewage shall 
be permitted in any part of the [city, town or village] of 
where a sewer is provided in front of the property lines; and 
no connection from any cess-pool or privy-vault shall be made 
with any sewer or drain-pipe; nor shall any opening be made 
in the sewer-pipe of a building for the purpose of affording sur- 
face drainage for the cellar, without proper provision against 
the access of sewer-air into the building. 
§ 2. That no privy-vault, cess-pool or reservoir into which a 
privy, water-closet, stable or sink is drained, shall be establish- 
ed or permitted within fifty feet of any wTell, spring or other 
source of water used for drinking or culinary purposes, without 
written permission from the board of health, based upon the 
advice of the medical health officer. And every privy-vault and 
cess-pool shall be cleaned, and the contents thereof removed, 
at least once before the first of May in each year. 
§ 3. That all sewers or drains that pass within fifty feet of 
any source of water used for drinking or culinary purposes, 
shall be water tight. 
tArticle VII.-Food. 
Section 1. That no article of food or drink intended for hu- 
man use or consumption, nor any article of such food or drink, 
or which may be used in the composition or preparation of 
such food or drink, not being then healthy, fresh, sound, whole- 
some, fit and safe for such use; nor any animal or fish that 
died by disease or accident; and no carcass of any calf, pig or 
lamb, which, at the time of its death, was less than four weeks 
old, and no meat therefrom shall be brought within the limits 
of the [city, town or village] of and offered, or held 
for sale, as food, anywhere in said [city, town or village]. 
*See Powers of City Council and Village Trustees: Itsms twenty-seventh, twenty-ninth, 
and eighty-fourth. Also Nuisances; Sec. 222, items 1. Also Sewerage. 
tSee Powers of City Councils and Village .Trustees: Items fiftieth, fifty-Second, fifty- 
third. Also Food-Supply: Water-Supply. 10 
* Article VIII.-Schools. 
Section 1. That the board of health of shall have 
jurisdiction in all matters pertaining to the preservation of the 
health of those in attendance upon the public and private 
schools in the [city, town or village] of ; to which 
end it is hereby made the duty of the said board of health- 
To require that all persons attending said schools, either as 
teachers or puplis, shall have presented satisfactory evidence 
of proper and successful vaccination; 
To exclude from said schools any person suffering with a con- 
tagious or infectious disease, or liable to convey such disease 
to those in attendance; 
To make regular inspections of all school buildings and premi- 
ses, as to their hygienic condition, and to report the result of 
such inspections to the [city council or board of trustees], and 
to those having charge and control of such schools, with in- 
structions as to the remedy of conditions (if any such be found) 
whereby the health of those in attendance may be impaired or 
life endangered. 
§ 2. That in the event of failure or refusal of those having 
such charge and control to carry out the instructions so given, 
then the board of health shall cause such faulty conditions to 
be remedied at the proper cost and expense of those having 
charge and control of the school or schools. 
*Article IX.-Contagious Diseases. 
Section 1. That the necessary rules and regulations concern- 
ing cholera, small-pox, yellow fever, diphtheria, scarlet fever, 
typhoid fever, and other contagious and infectious diseases, 
shall be enforced by the board of health of under 
the supervision of the medical health officer; and all public offi- 
cers of the [city, town or village] of in their proper 
capacities, are hereby commanded and enjoined to assist the said 
board of health in the enforcement of said rules and regulations. 
§ 2. That no person or thing liable to propagate any of the 
contagious diseases enumerated in Section 1 of this Article, shall 
be brought within the limits of without the special 
permit and direction of the board of health, and whenever it 
shall come to the knowledge of any person that such person or 
thing has been brought within such limits, he shall immediately 
give notice thereof to a member of the said board, together 
with the location thereof. No person shall, within the built-up 
portion of , without a permit from the board of 
health, carry or remove from one building to another [or from 
any vessel to the shored] any person afflicted with such conta- 
gious disease. Nor shall any person afflicted with such conta- 
gious disease, or liable to communicate and spread the contagion 
*See Order of State Board of Health Concerni"0 Vaccination of School Children. Also 
Powers of City Councils and Village Trustees: Items seventy-seventh and seventy-eighth. 
Also Rales and Regulations of State Board of Health Concerning Contagious and Infectious 
Diseases. 
+ Applicable only to localities having' water communications. 11 
thereof, be shipped or removed from to any other 
place, except under the charge and direction of the board of 
health, and with proper precautions against the spread of the 
contagion. 
* Article X.-Notification of Contagious Diseases. 
Section 1. That every householder within the limits of the 
[city, town or village] of , in whose dwelling 
there shall occur a case of cholera, yellow fever, typhoid fever, 
scarlet fever, diphtheria, or small-pox, shall immediately notify 
a member of the board of health of the same; and until in- 
structions are received from the said board, no clothing or other 
property that may have been exposed to the infection or con- 
tagion shall be removed from the house; nor shall any occu- 
pant of such infected dwelling change his residence elsewhere, 
without the consent of the said board, during the prevalence of 
any public danger from said disease. And all physicians or 
other attendants upon any person sick with small-pox, cholera, 
typhoid or scarlet fever, diphtheria, or other disease danger- 
ous to the public health, shall forthwith report the same to 
some member of the said board of health; and said board shall 
at once notify the State Board of Health of the existence of 
such disease, and shall subsequently cause a full report to be 
made by the medical health officer to the Secretary of the 
State Board of Health, upon the blank forms furnished for 
that purpose. 
[ Article XI.-Burials 
Section 1. That no burial or interment shall be lawful in 
the of nor shall any dead body be 
removed from said , until a permit for such burial, 
interment or removal shall have first been obtained from the 
J of said 
§ 2. That such permit shall be issued by the J 
upon his receipt of the usual certificate of death, signed by (1) 
the attending physician in the case; or, if none, by (2) one of 
the parents of the deceased; or, if none, by (3) the nearest of 
kin not a minor; or, if none, by (4) the resident householder 
where the death occurred; or, if none, by (5) any reputable 
citizen cognizant of the facts and circumstances of the death; 
or, if the death be the subject of an inquest, by (6) the coroner 
or other officer holding said inquest. 
§ 3. That the [ shall enter in a suitable book 
to be kept for that purpose, a record of all burial permits issued, 
specifying the date of issue and to whom issued, together with 
all the items of information contained in the certificates upon 
which the issue of such permits is based; and he shall forward 
to the county clerk of county, at the end of each 
month, all of said certificates so received during the month. 
* See Powers of City Councils and Village Trustees; Item seventy-eighth. Also Notifica- 
tion of Contagious Diseases: Order of State Board of Health. 
f See Circular Letter of the State Board of Health Concerning Burial Permits. Also Form 
of Burial Permit; also Rules for the transportation of Corpses by Railroads and Steamboats. 
^Designated official. 12 
§ 4. Thar the transportation or removal of bodies of persons 
who have died of small-pox, cholera, yellow fever, diphtheria, 
or other disease dangerous to the public health, is forbidden 
within the limits of except in conformity with the 
rules and regulations of the State Board of Health concern- 
ing the same. And no burial or exhumation of any body shall 
be permitted in the night-time unless for good reasons, to be 
entered in full upon the record book above provided for. 
Article XII.-Sanitary Inspections. 
Section 1. That the board of health shall cause a thorough 
sanitary inspection of the entire area within its jurisdiction to 
be made under the supervision of the medical health officer, at 
least once each year, and oftener if necessary. Such inspection 
shall include all matters affecting the public health; and a 
report of the sanitary conditions disclosed by the inspector shall 
be made to the [city council or board of trustees] of 
and to the State Board of Health, upon the blanks furnished 
for that purpose by the State Board. 
* Article XIII.--Diseased Animals. 
Section 1. That no domestic animal afflicted with a conta- 
gious or infectious disease shall be allowed to run at large, or 
be exposed in any public place, whereby the health of man or 
beast may be affected, within the limits of ; nor 
shall such diseased animals be shipped, or removed, from the 
premises of its owner, except under the supervision of the board 
of health of , or of the State Veterinarian. 
And it is hereby made the duty of the board of health to secure 
such disposition of any diseased animal, and such treatment of 
infected premises, as to prevent the communication and spread 
of the contagion or infection, except in cases where the State 
Veterinarian is empowered to act; and in all such cases the 
board of health shall co-operate with the State Veterinarian 
so far as such co-operation may be necessary to the protection 
of the health of the citizens of 
[Article XIV.-Penalties. 
Section 1. That the violation of any of the foregoing pro- 
visions or any interference with the board of health in its exe- 
cution and enforcement of this ordinance, shall be punishable 
by fine, not exceeding two hundred (200) dollars for each of- 
fense, or by imprisonment not exceeding six (6) months for 
each offense, or by both such fine and imprisonment at the dis- 
cretion of the court. 
* See Di-eases of Animals. 
tSes Powers of City Councils and Village Trustees:-City councils and village trustees 
have the power''to pass all ordinances, riile^, and make all regulations, proper or necessary to 
carry into effect the powers granted to cities and villages, with such fines or penalties as the citv 
council or board of trustees shall deem proner; Provided, no fine or penalty shall exceed $200, 
and no imprisonment shall exceed six months, for one offense ''-Revised Staiwes, Chapter 24, 
Section 62, Item ninety-Six. 13 
* Article XV,-Ordinance in Force. 
Section 1. That this ordinance shall be in force from and 
after its passage and publication. 
Commentary upon the foregoing Ordinance : 
At the request of the State Board of Health, the Attorney 
General has furnished the following commentary and opinion 
upon the validity of the provisions of the Local Health Ordin- 
ance above given: 
"In accordance with your request I have made a careful and 
detailed examination of the Health Ordinance prepared by you 
for the use of cities, towns and villages in this State, and pub- 
lished in 'Public-Health Laws of Illinois and Sanitary Memo- 
randa, ' issued by the State Board of Health, and I note the 
following views concerning the legality of the same: 
"Article I, II, HI, IV, V, VI and VII are each specifically 
authorized by the different paragraphs of Sec. 62, Chap. 24, Re- 
vised Statutes. Some question might be made as to the power 
to compel the persons causing the unhealthy condition of build- 
ings and premises to pay the cost of putting them again in a 
sanitary condition (Art. HI), but I find such power sustained 
by the courts and our best law writers. 
"In the case of Harrison v. The City of Baltimore, 1 Gill. 264, 
the Supreme Court of Maryland held the consignee of a vessel 
coming into port with small-pox on board, responsible for the 
cost not only of fumigating and purifying the vessel, but also 
for the cost of cleansing the passengers and their baggage, al- 
though it could not be said that the consignee was in any way 
responsible for the small-pox being on board; but some one 
connected with the vessel was deemed responsible, and in this 
way only could he be reached. 
"Judge Dillion. in his work on Municipal Corporations, Sec 
93, lays down the rule that every citizen holds his property 
subject to the proper exercise of the police power, which power 
Judge Scott, in the case of The Town of Lake View v. Rose 
Hill Cemetary, defined to be 'that inherent and plenary power 
in the State which enables it to prohibit all things hurtful to 
the comfort, safety and welfare of society.' It is sometimes 
called the law of 'overruling necessity.' Judge Dillion further 
says of this power: 'Of this nature is the authority to suppress 
nuisances, preserve health, prevent fires, to regulate the use 
and storing of dangerous articles, to establish and control 
markets and the like.' And again, in Sec. 303, he says: 'Our 
municipal corporations are usually invested with power to pre- 
serve the health and safety of the inhabitants. This is indeed 
one of the chief purposes of local governments.' 
*''AU ordinances of cities and villages imposing any fine, penality, imprisonment or forfeiture 
* * * shall, within one month after they are passed, be published at least once in a news- 
paper publish d in the city or village; or if no such newspaper Is published therein, by posting 
copies of the same in three public places in the city or village: and no such ordinance shall take 
effect until after it is so published.-Revised Statutes, Chapter 24, Section 64, 14 
"It would seem, then, that there can be no doubt of the power 
of the city council by ordinance to compel the person respon- 
sible for, or permitting, an unhealthy condition of any building 
or premises, to pay the costs of cleansing it. It was by his de- 
fault the expense became necessary, and it is but just that he 
should repay such expense. 
"Concerning Art. VIII, on the subject of schools, I have no 
doubt that the power to exclude from schools any and all per- 
sons-teachers as well as children-wdio have been exposed to 
infectious or contagious diseases, or who, in the judgment of 
competent authority, are liable to contract and transmit such 
diseases, is properly exercised by the city council or board of 
trustees through its agent, the local board of health. The 
highest authority in the State on this subject, to-wit: the State 
Board of Health, has decided that the vaccinal protection of 
school children and teachers is necessary for the prevention of 
the epidemic spread of small-pox, as well as for the safety of 
the schools from the danger of being interrupted and closed by 
this disease. There can be no question that the courts wTould 
sustain the validity of any municipal enactment supported by 
this authority. 
"Article VIII, therefore, I find to be sustained by the authori- 
ties and by the statutes. 
"Article IX, concerning contagious diseases, is fully authorized 
under paragraphs seventy-seven and seventy eight of Sec. 62, 
id. In the case heretofore cited of Harrison v. Baltimore, the 
Supreme Court of Maryland, in speaking of the power conferred 
in the charter of the city, 'to enact all ordinances necessary to 
preserve the health of the city, prevent and remove nuisance, 
and to prevent the introduction of contagious diseases,' said: 'To 
accomplish, within the specified territorial limits, the objects 
enumerated, the corporate authorities w'ere clothed with all the 
legislative powers which the General Assembly could have exer- 
cised. Of the degrees of necessity for such municipal legislation, 
the mayor and city council of Baltimore were the exclusive 
judges. To their sound discretion is committed the selection of 
the means and manner (contributory to the end) of exercising 
the powers which they might deem requisite to the accomplish- 
ment of the objects of which they were made the guardians. 
" Our general laws concerning towns and cities are now, under 
the constitution of 1870, the charters of all towns and cities in 
the State not still acting under special charters, and the powers 
given by such general laws are powers that each incorporated 
town and city in the State may exercise. 
" Article X, concerning the notification of the existence of con- 
tagious diseases, is one that must commend it itself to every 
one. The failure of any person to give proper notification of 
the existence of such diseases, may be the direct cause of many 
deaths, and the remote cause of wholesale loss of life, and under 
the power given to the city council to suppress disease, this is 
one of the most important acts in the exercise of that power, 15 
and a failure to comply strictly with this portion of the ordi- 
nance should be visited with the heaviest penalties. 
" The clause requiring notice to be given to the State Board 
of Health of the existence of such disease, so that measures 
may be taken to prevent the spread of contagion to other por- 
tions of the State, is fully as important. 
"Article XI, concerning burials, is sustained by incontrovertible 
authority. Dillon, in his work on Municipal Corporations, Sec. 
306, says: 'The public health, comfort and convenience are 
concerned in the proper regulation of burials; and the evils 
resulting from its neglect are especially to be apprehended in the 
crowded population of cities.' The courts also have universally 
sustained all reasonable regulations made by cities and towns 
concerning burials. Our Supreme Court, in the case of Lake v. 
Rose Hill, above cited, says: ' There is nothing in nature but 
may be the instrument of mischief, and the burial of the dead 
may be so done as to be most injurious in its consequences to 
the people in the vicinage ' 
" The general argument for such an enactment is well set forth 
in the Circular Letter of the State Board, to which reference 
is made to the foot note to this article, and which is summarized 
in the following: 
"First.-It will be of value in securing fuller, more accurate 
and more readily available knowledge of the causes of death- 
a knowledge which is absolutely necessary to the profitable 
application of efforts for the preservation of health, the limita- 
tion of diseases and the prolongation of human life. 
' ' Second-It will be of value in the protection of life against 
criminal violence, by facilitating the detection of such violence 
through preventing the burial of victims of homicide, abortion, 
poisoning, etc., without proper investigation. 
' ' Third.-It will be of value in the protection of property inter- 
ests, by making the facts pertaining to a death and burial 
matters of record, which may be useful in probating wills, set- 
tling estates, determining heirship, perfecting letters, adjusting 
life insurance, and kindred matters. 
"Article XII, on Sanitary inspection, is also sustained by 
authority, and is so proper and reasonable in itself that no 
question of its validity can be maintained. 
"The Article XIII, on Diseased Animals, is in harmony with 
the State lawTs upon that subject, and the power is given to the 
town or city under paragraphs seven and eight of Sec. 62, before 
mentioned. 
" Finally, I have no doubt of the validity and sufficiency of 
the ordinance under discussion. Its provisions are in accord 
with the statutes, or are based upon well-settled principles of 
common lawT. It is comprehensive, without being cumbersome 
in detail. Its machinery is simple, and wisely secures a defined 
responsibility in a single official - the medical health officer, 
whose qualifications, duly prescribed, should be sufficient 16 
guaranty for the timely, intelligent and judicious enforcement 
of the precautions and observance necessary for the protiction 
of the life and health of the citizen. 
" As to its efficiency, it is to be observed that there is no more 
liberal law or charter in existence than is given to the councils 
of cities, and the trustees of towns and villages, by Sec. 62, 
Chap. 24, of the revised Statutes, for the almost absolute and 
unrestrained control of the agencies affecting the public health. 
And it is upon this authority that the ordinance in question is 
based. Concerning the force and effect of such an ordinance, the 
Supreme Court of Illinois, in the case of Mason et al. v. The 
City of Shawneetown, (77 Ill. 533) says: 'When an incorpor- 
ated town or city has been invested with power to pass an 
ordinance, by the legislature, for the government or the welfare 
of the municipality, an ordinance enacted by the legislative 
branch of the corporation has the same force and effect of a law 
passed by the legislature, and cannot be regarded otherwise 
than as a law of and within the corporation. An ordinance is 
the law of the inhabitants of the municipality. 
"With this endorsement of their power, with the knowledge 
that every enlightened person has of the protection afforded by 
the use of reasonable care, and with the positive assurance that 
life will be the sacrifice if care is not exercised, how can any city 
or town councilman justify himself, here or hereafter, if for the 
want of attention to his duties in th© passage of laws protect- 
ing the health of the citizen even a single life should be lost? 17 
SUMMARY OF EXISTING LEGISLATION CONCERNING 
THE BOARD OF HEALTH. 
State Board, of Health Act: 
An Act to Create and Establish a State Board of Health 
in the State of Illinois. Approved May 25, 1877; in force 
July 1, 1877. 
Appointment of members; term of office; vacancies: Sec- 
tion 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, 
represented in the General Assembly, That the Governor, with 
the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint seven per- 
sons, who shall constitute the Board of Health The per- 
sons so appointed shall hold their offices for seven years: Pro- 
vided, that the terms of office of the seven first appointed shall 
be so arranged that the term of each one shall expire on the 
thirtieth day of December of each year, and the vacancies so 
created, as well as all vacancies occurring otherwise, shall be 
filled by the Governor, with the advice and consent of the 
Senate: And provided, also, that appointments made when the 
Senate is not in session may be confirmed at its next ensuing 
session. 
Powers and authority of the board: § 2. The State 
Board of Health shall have the general supervision of the 
interests of the health and life of the citizens of the State. 
They shall have charge of all matters pertaining to quarantine; 
and shall have authority to make such rules and regulations, 
and such sanitary investigations, as they may from time to 
time deem necessary, for the preservation or improvement of 
public health; and it shall be the duty of all police officers, 
sheriffs, constables, and all other officers and employes of the 
State, to enforce such rules and regulations, so far as the effici- 
ency and success of the Board may depend upon their official 
co-operation. 
Registration of births and deaths: § 3. The Board of 
Health shall have supervision of the State system of registra- 
tion of births and deaths, as hereinafter provided; they shall 
make up such forms and recommend such legislation as shall 
be deemed necessary for the thorough registration of vital and 
mortuary statistics throughout the State. The Secretary of the 
Board shall be the superintendent of such registration. The 
clerical duties and the safe keeping of the bureau of vital sta- 
tistics thus created, shall be provided by the Secretary of State. 
Physicians and accoucheurs to rbgister and report: § 4. 
It shall be the duty of all physicians and accoucheurs in this 
State to register their names and postoffice address with the 
county clerk of the county where they reside; and said physi- 18 
cians and accoucheurs shall be required, under penalty of ten 
dollars, to be recovered in any court of competent jurisdiction 
in the State, at suit of the county clerk, to report to the county 
clerk, within thirty days from date of their occurrence, all births 
and deaths which may come under their supervisions, with a 
certificate of the cause of death, and such correlative facts as 
the Board may require, in the blank forms furnished as herein- 
after provided. 
Report of birth or death in absence of physician or ac- 
coucheur: § 5. Where any birth or death shall take place, no 
physician or accoucheur being in attendance, the same shall be 
reported to the county clerk within thirty days from date of 
[its] occurrence, with the supposed cause of death, by the pa- 
rent, or if none, by the nearest of kin, not a minor, or if none, 
by the resident householder where the death shall occur, under 
penalty as provided in the preceding section of this act.- 
Coroner to report deaths: § 6. The coroners of the sev- 
eral counties shall be required to report to the county clerk all 
cases of death which may come under their supervision, with 
the cause and mode of death, etc., as per forms furnished, 
under penalty as provided in section four (4) of this act. 
Disposition of penalties: § 7. All amounts recovered un- 
der the penalties herein provided shall be appropriated to a 
special fund for the carrying out of the object of this law. 
County clerks to keep registers and records: § 8. The 
county clerks of the several counties in the State shall be re- 
quired to keep separate books for the registration of the names 
and postoffice address of physicians and accoucheurs, for births, 
for marriages, and for deaths; said books shall always be open 
to inspection without fee; and said county clerks shall be re- 
quired to render a full and complete report of all births, mar 
riages and deaths to the Secretary of the Board of Health, 
annually, and at such other times as the Board may direct. 
Board to prepare forms for reports: § 9. It shall be the 
duty of the Board of Health to prepare such forms for the 
record of births, marriages and deaths as they may deem 
proper; the said forms to be furnished by the Secretary of said 
Board to the county clerks of the several counties, whose duty it 
shall be to furnish them to such persons as are herein required 
to make reports. 
Meetings of the Board: § 10. The first meeting of the 
Board shall be within fifteen days after their appointment, and 
thereafter in January and June of each year, and at such other 
times as the Board shall deem expedient. The meeting in Jan- 
uary of each year shall be in Springfield. A majority shall 
constitute a quorum. They shall choose one of their number to 
be President, and they may adopt rules and by-laws for their 
government, subject to the provisions of this act. 
Officers and compensation: § 11. They shall elect a Sec- 
retary, who shall perform the duties prescribed by the Board, 
and by this act he shall receive a salary which shall be fixed 19 
by the Board; he shall also receive his traveling and other ex- 
penses incurred in the performance of his official duties. The 
other members of the Board shall receive no compensation for 
their services, but their traveling and other expenses, while 
■employed on business of the Board, shall be paid. The Pres- 
ident of the Board shall quarterly certify the amount due the 
Secretary, and on presentation of his certificate, the Auditor 
of State shall draw his wTarrant on the Treasurer for the amount. 
Annual report: § 12. It shall be the duty of the Board 
of Health to make an annual report, through their Secretary 
or otherwise, in writing, to the Governor of this State, on or 
before the first day of January of each year, and such report 
.shall include so much of the proceedings of the Board, and 
.such information concerning vital statistics, such knowledge 
respecting diseases, and such instruction on the subject of 
hygiene, as may be thought useful by the Board for dissem- 
ination among the people, with such suggestions as to legis- 
lative action as they may deem necessary. 
Appropriation: § 13. The sum of five thousand dollars 
($5,000), or so much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby 
appropriated to pay the salary of the Secretary, meet the con- 
tingent expenses of the office of the Secretary, and the expenses 
of the Board, and all costs for printing, which, together, shall 
not exceed the sum hereby appropriated; said expenses shall be 
certified and paid in the same manner as the salary of the 
Secretary. 
Office room: § 14. The Secretary of State shall provide 
rooms suitable for the meetings of the Board, and office room 
for the Secretary. 
Powers of City Councils and. Village Trustees: 
City Councils in cities and presidents of boards of trustees 
in villages, incorporated under the general law, have the fol- 
lowing powers by Chapter 24 of the Revised Statutes, Section 26: 
Seventh-To lay out, to establish, open, alter, widen, extend, 
grade, pave, or otherwise improve streets, alleys, avenues, side- 
walks, wharves, parks and public grounds, and to vacate the 
same. 
Eighth-To plant trees upon the same. 
Ninth-To regulate the use of the same. 
Tenth-To prevent and remove encroachments or obstruc- 
tions upon the same. 
Eleventh-To provide for the lighting of the same. 
Twelfth-To provide for the cleansing of the same. 
Thirteenth-To regulate the opening therein for the laying of 
gas or water mains and pipes, and the building and repairing 
of sewers, tunnels and drains, and erecting gas lights: Provided, 
however, that any company organized under the general laws 
of this State; or any association of persons organized, or which 20 
may be hereafter organized, for the purpose of manufacturing 
illuminating gas to supply cities or villages, or the inhabitants 
thereof with the same, shall have the right, by consent of the 
common council (subject to existing rights), to erect gas fac- 
tories, and lay down pipes in the streets or alleys or any city 
or village in this State, subject to such regulations as any such 
city or village may by ordinance impose. 
Fourteenth-To regulate the use of sidewalks and all struct- 
ures thereunder; and to require the owner or occupant of any 
premises to keep the sidewalks in front, of or along the same 
free from snow and other obstructions. 
Fifteenth-To regulate and prevent the throwing or deposit- 
ing of ashes, offal, dirt, garbage or any offensive matter in, 
and to prevent injury to, any street, avenue, alley or public 
ground. 
Sixteenth-To provide for and regulate crosswalks, curbs and 
gutters. 
Twenty-first-To regulate the speed of horses and other ani- 
mals, vehicles, cars and locomotives within the limits of the 
corporation. 
Twenty-seventh-To require railroad companies to keep flag- 
men at railroad crossings of streets, and provide protection 
against injury to persons and property in the use of such rail- 
roads. To compel such railroad to raise or lower their railroad 
tracks to conform to any grade which may, at any time, be 
established by such city; and where such tracks run lengthwise 
of any such street, alley or highway, to keep their railroad 
tracks on a level with the street surface, and so that such 
track may be crossed at any place on such street, alley or 
highway. To compel and require railroad companies to make 
and keep open, and to keep in repair ditches, drains, sewers 
and culverts along and under their railroad tracks, so that 
filthy or stagnant pools of water cannot stand on their grounds 
or right of way, and so that the natural drainage of adjacent 
property shall not be impeded. 
Twenty-ninth- To construct and keep in repair culverts, drains, 
sewers and cesspools, and to regulate the use thereof. 
Thirtieth - To deepen, widen, dock, cover, wall, alter or 
change the channel of water-courses. 
Fortieth-To provide for the cleansing and purification of 
waters, water-courses and canals, and the drainage or filling of 
ponds on private property, whenever necessary to prevent or 
abate nuisances.* 
Forty ninth - To establish markets and market-houses, and 
provide for the regulation and use thereof. 
Fiftieth-To regulate the sale of meats, poultry, fish, butter, 
cheese, lard, vegetables, and all other provisions, and to pro- 
vide for place and manner of selling the same. 
* See, also, section relating to' Watek-''uppt.y 21 
Fifty second-To regulate the sale of bread in the city or vil- 
lage; prescribe the weight and quality of the bread in the loaf. 
Fifty-third-To provide for and regulate the inspection of 
meats, poultry, fish, butter, cheese, lard, vegetable, cotton, 
tobacco, flour, meal and other provisions. 
Fifty seventh -To regulate the construction, repairs and use 
of vaults, cisterns, areas, hydrants, pumps, sewers and gutters. 
Sixty-first-To prescribe the thickness, strength and manner 
of constructing stone, brick and other buildings, and construc- 
tion of fire-escapes therein. 
Seventy-fifth-To declare what shall be a nuisance and abate 
the same: and to impose fines upon parties who may create, 
continue or suffer nuisances to exist. 
Seventy-sixth-To appoint a board of health and prescribe its 
powers and duties. 
Seventy seventh-To erect and establish hospitals and medical 
dispensaries, and control and regulate the same. 
Seventy eighth-To do all acts, make all regulations which 
may be necessary or expedient for the promotion of health or 
the suppression of disease. 
Seventy-ninty-To establish and regulate cemeteries within or 
without the corporation, and acquire lands therefor by purchas 
or otherwise, and cause cemeteries to be removed, and prohibit 
their establishment within one mile of the corporation. 
Eighty-first-To direct the location and regulate the manage- 
ment and construction of packing-houses, renderies, tallow 
chandleries, bone factories, soap factories and tanneries, within 
the limits of the city or village, and within the distance of one 
mile without the city or village limits. 
Eighth-second-To direct the location and regulate the use 
and construction of breweries, distilleries, livery stables, black- 
smith shops and foundries within the limits of the city or village. 
Eighty-third-To prohibit any offensive or unwholesome busi- 
ness or establishment within, or within one mile of, the limits 
of the corporation. 
Eighty fourth-To compel the owner of any grocery, cellar, 
soap or tallow chandlery, tannery, stable, pig sty, privy, sewer 
or other unwholesome or nauseous house or place, to cleanse, 
abate or remove the same, and to regulate the location thereof. 
Ninety sixth-To pass all ordinances, rules, and make all regu- 
lations, proper or necessary, to carry into effect the powers 
granted to cities or villages, with such fines or penalties as the 
■city council or board of trustees shall deem proper: Provided, 
no fine or penalty shall exceed $200, and no imprisonment shall 
■exceed six months, for one offense. 
Territorial Jurisdiction: The city council and board of trustees 
■shall also have jurisdiction in and over all places within one-half 
mile of the city or village limits, for the purpose of enforcing 
health and quaranteen ordinances and regulations thereof. -Ee- 
vised Statutes, Chap. 24, Sec. 44. 22 
Jurisdiction over Waters: An act to define the jurisdiction of 
the cities and incorporated towns bordering on the Ohio river. 
[Approved March 26, 1872. In force July 1, 1872.] 
Section 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, 
represented in the General Assembly, That each of the several 
cities and incorporated towns of this State, lying on the Ohio, 
river, and bounded thereby, are hereby invested with jurisdiction 
over their river fronts, and shall have jurisdiction over the 
waters of the said river in all cases occurring on said river, and 
opposite to each of said cities or incorporated towns, co-exten- 
sive with the jurisdiction of the several counties in this State 
in which said cities or incorporated towns may lie: Provided, 
nothing herein contained shall be construed so as to extend the 
jurisdiction of said cities or incorporated towns over any island 
in said river included within the corporate limits of any county 
of the State of Kentucky. 
Township Board of Health: 
Chapter 139, Article XIV, of the Revised Statutes, provides 
that- 
1. The supervisor, assessor and town clerk of every town 
shall constitute a board of health, and on the breaking out of 
any contagious disease in their town or immediate vicinity, they 
shall have power to make and enforce any rules and regulations 
tending to check the spread of such disease within the limits of 
such town, as they may think proper; and for this purpose 
they shall have power to shut up any house or place where any 
infected persons may be, and cause notices of warning to be put. 
thereon, or remove such persons to any pest house within the 
limits of said town, at the expense of the party so moved, if he 
be of sufficient ability to pay, or otherwise at the expense of 
said town: Provided, that nothing in this section shall applv to 
any town, or part thereof, lying within the corporate limits of 
any incorporated city or village.-[L. 1865, p. 75, § 1.] 
2. The town clerk shall keep a full record of all the doings of 
said board, and report the same to the annual meeting of such 
town.-[L. 1865, p. 76, § 2.] 
3. The members of said board shall be allowed for their timer 
spent in the performance of their said duties the sum of $1.50 
per day, which, together with all bills by them contracted, and 
all sums of money by them expended, shall be audited by the 
board of auditors of such town, and be paid in the same manner 
as other town expenses.-[L. 1865, p. 76, § 2.] 
Nuisances: 
Section 221, Chapter 38, of the Criminal Code, declares that 
it is a public nuisance - 
1. To cause or suffer the carcass of any animal or any offal, 
filth or noisome substance to be collected, deposited or to re- 
main in any place, to the prejudice of others. 
2. To throw or deposit any offal or other offensive matter, 
or the carcass of any dead animal, in any water course, lake. 23 
pond, spring, well or common sewer, street, bridge or public 
highway. 
3. To corrupt or render unwholesome or impure the water 
of any spring, river, pond or lake, to the injury or prejudice 
of others. 
4. To obstruct or impede, without legal authority, the pass- 
age of any navigable river or waters. 
5. To obstruct or encroach upon public highways, private 
ways, streets, alleys, commons, landing places, and wTays to 
burying places. 
6. To carry on the business of manufacturing gunpowder, 
nitro-glycerine, or other highly explosive substances, or mixing 
or grinding the materials therefor, in any building within twenty 
rods of any valuable building erected at the time such business 
may be commenced. 
7. To establish powder magazines near incorporated towns, 
at a point different from that appointed according to law by 
the corporate authorities of the town, or within fifty rods of 
any occupied dwelling house. 
8. To erect, continue or use any building or other place for 
the exercise of any trade, employment or manufacture which, 
by occasioning noxious exhalations, offensive smells, or other- 
wise, is offensive or dangerous to the health of individuals, or 
of the public. 
9. To advertise wares or occupation by painting notices of 
the same on, or affixing them to, fences or other private prop- 
erty, or on rocks or other natural objects, without the consent 
of the owner; or, if in the highway or other public place, with- 
out permission of the proper authorities: Provided, that nothing 
in this section shall be construed to prevent the municipal 
authorities of any incorporated city, town or village from de- 
claring what shall be nuisances, and abating the same within 
their limits. 
Sec. 222. Whoever causes, erects or continues any such 
nuisance shall, for the first offense, be fined not exceeding $100, 
and for a subsequent offense shall be fined in a like amount, 
and confined in the county jail not exceeding three months. 
Every such nuisance, when a conviction therefor is had in a 
court of record may, by order of the court before which the 
conviction is had, be abated by the sheriff or other proper 
officer, at the expense of the defendant, and it shall be no 
defense to any proceeding under this section, that the nuisance 
is erected or continued by virtue or permission of any law of 
this State.* 
While there can be no question as to the right and duty of 
a board of health to cause the summary abatement of a nuis- 
ance arising from any one of the first three causes specified 
in the form for an ordinance, it should be remembered, that 
*See, also. Powers of City Councils and Village Trustees: Items fifteenth, fortieth, 
seventy-fifth, eighty-first, to eighty-fourth, inclusive. 24 
these are patent and obvious nuisances, concerning the nature 
of which there can be no difference of opinion, and that this 
may or may not be the case in the remaining items (4 to 8, 
inclusive) of the section above quoted from the Criminal Code. 
What is not nuisance in itself cannot be abated by a board of 
health, until it is adjudged to be so employed as to be inimical 
to public health or safety. Any classification of nuisances will 
be necessarily imperfect; yet for the purposes of this subject it 
may be said that public health nuisances are of two kinds: 
1. Those which are such from their very nature; which can not 
exist in the vicinity of habitations without causing offense to 
the senses and injury to the health; such, for instance, as ex- 
posed and decayed carcasses of dead animals, or accumulations 
of offal or of fecal matter in exposed places. 2. Those which 
become nuisances by reason of misuse or negligent care exer- 
cised of an otherwise harmless and perfectly lawful object, 
business, occupation; as, for example, slaughter-houses, render- 
ing establishments, mill-ponds or burying-grounds. 
The methods of procedure to be adopted for the removal of 
any nuisance will vary according as the nuisance to be abated 
comes within one or the other of these classifications. If the 
danger to the public health is imminent, and safety requires the 
immediate suppression of the nuisance, the board of health, 
and any individual affected thereby, would be protected if they 
should proceed at once to suppress it, for the safety of the 
people is the highest law. If any unhealthy nuisance is found 
in a public place, it would be the duty of the board to see to 
its removal. On the other hand, a mill-pond, a slaughter-house 
or a burial-ground are not necessarily offensive or unhealthy, 
and their use is perfectly legal. It is only their misuse that 
makes them a nuisance. A mill-pond may be maintained in the 
midst of a thickly populated community without being in the 
slightest degree detrimental to the public health. A slaughter- 
house may be conducted with such perfect cleanliness as to be 
no more offensive in a sanitary sense than a planing-mill. 
Whether a business or a thing not in itself a nuisance is so 
managed or suffered to exist to be a nuisance, is a fact which 
must be determined by the courts upon evidence. A board of 
health cannot decide that to be a nuisance which is not so in 
itself. Only upon the judgment of a court of competent juris- 
diction can a board of health legally ascertain whether a busi- 
ness is a nuisance, so as to authorize them to abate it. Of 
course, any collection of offal or filth about a slaughter-house 
may be removed by a board of health under the authority 
conferred on it by the statutes; but the suppression of the 
business itself can only follow a judicial determination that it 
is so conducted as to be injurious to the public health. 
It would be well for the members of every board of health 
to acquaint themselves as fully as possible with all the facts 
relating to any existing nuisance or thing which may become 
a nuisance within their jurisdiction, and apply to these facts 25 
the existing law, and thus ascertain in what way they shall 
proceed to prevent or remove the same. Misdirected zeal is 
sometimes as harmful as lack of zeal. Therefore, in cases in- 
volving doubt it is always advisable to take legal counsel be- 
fore proceeding to extreme measures. 
Food Supply.* 
Adulteration of food, liquor, candies or medicine.- 
Chapter 38, Division 1, of the Criminal Code, provides that- 
§ 7. Whoever fraudulently adulterates, for the purpose of 
sale, bread or any other substance intended for food, or any 
candy or confection, with any substance which is poisonous or 
injurious to health, and whoever sells or offers or keeps for sale 
any adulterated bread or other substance intended for food, or 
candy or confection, knowing the same to be so adulterated, or 
shall sell or offer to sell or keep for sale any flesh of any 
diseased animal, or other corrupt or unwholesome provision, 
shall be confined in the county jail not exceeding one year, or 
be fined not exceeding $1,000, or both, in the discretion of the 
court. 
§ 8. Whoever adulterates, for the purpose of sale, any liquor 
used or intended for drink, with cocculus indicus, vitriol, grains 
of paradise, opium, alum, copperas, laurel-water, logwood, 
Brazil wood, cochineal, sugar of lead, or any other substance 
which is poisonous or injurious to health, and whoever sells or 
offers or keeps for sale any such liquor so adulterated, shall 
be confined in the county jail not exceeding one year, or fined 
not exceeding $1,000, or both. 
§ 10. Whoever fraudulently adulterates, for the purpose of 
sale, any drug or medicine, or sells or offers or keeps for sale 
any fraudulently adulterated drug or medicine, knowing the 
same to be adulterated, shall be confined in the county jail not 
exceeding one year, or fined not exceeding $1,000, and such 
adulterated drugs and medicine shall be forfeited and destroyed 
§ 62. Every druggist or other person who shall sell and 
deliver any arsenic, strychnine, corrosive sublimate, prussic 
acid, or other substance or liquid usually denominated as poi- 
sonous, without having the word "poison" writted or printed 
upon a label attached to the phial or parcel in which such 
drug is contained, or shall sell and deliver any drug or medi- 
cine other than upon the prescription of a physician, without 
having the name of such drug or medicine printed or written 
upon a label attached to the phial or parcel containing the 
same, shall be fined not exceeding $25. 
§ 63. If any druggist or other person sells or gives away 
any arsenic, strychnine, corrosive sublimate or prussic acid 
without the written prescription of a physician, and fail to keep 
a record of the date of such sale or gift, the article and amount 
* See, also, Powers of City Councils and Village Trustees: Items forty-n'nth to fifty- 
third , inclusive. 26 
thereof sold or given away, and the person to whofn delivered, 
he shall be fined not exceeding $50 for each neglect. Whoever 
purchases any such poison and gives a false or fictitious name, 
shall be punished in the same manner. 
Adulterations of articles of food, drink or medicine. 
-An act to prevent and punish the adulteration of articles of 
food, drink and medicine, and the sale thereof when adulterated. 
Section 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illi- 
nois, represented in the General Assembly, That no person shall 
mix, color, stain or powder, or order or permit any other per- 
son in his or her employ to mix, color, stain or powder, any 
article of food with any ingredient or material, so as to render 
the article injurious to health, or depreciate the value thereof, 
with intent that the same shall be sold; and no person shall 
sell or offer for sale any such article so mixed, colored, stained 
or powdered. x 
§ 2. No person shall, except for the purpose of compound- 
ing in the necessary preparation of medicine, mix, color, stain 
or powder, or order or permit any other person to mix, color, 
stain or powder, any drug or medicine with any ingredient or 
material, so as to affect injuriously the quality or potency of 
such drug or medicine, with intent to sell the same, or shall 
sell or offer for sale any such drug or medicine so mixed, col- 
ored, stained or powdered. 
§ 3. No person shall mix, color, stain or powder any article 
of food, drink or medicine, or any article which enters into the 
composition of food, drink or medicine, or any article which 
enters into the composition of food, drink or medicine, with 
any other ingredient or material, whether injurious to health 
or not, for the purpose of gain or profit, or sell or offer the 
same for sale, or order or permit any person to sell or offer for 
sale any article so mixed, colored, stained or powdered, unless 
the same be so manufactured, used or sold, or offered for sale 
under its true and appropriate name, and notice that the same 
is mixed or impure is marked, printed or stamped upon each 
package, roll, parcel or vessel containing the same, so as to be 
and remain at all times readily visible, or unless the person 
purchasing the same is fully informed by the seller of the true 
name and ingredients (if other than such as are known by the 
common name thereof) of such articles of food, drink or medi- 
cine, at the time of making sale thereof or offering to sell the 
same. 
§ 4. No person shall mix oleomargarine, suine, butterine, 
beef-fat, lard or any other foreign substance, with any butter 
or cheese intended for human food, without distinctly marking, 
stamping or labeling the article, or the package containing the 
same, with the true and appropriate name of such article, and. 
the percentage in which such oleomargarine or suine enters into 
its composition; nor shall any person sell or offer for sale, or 
order or permit to be sold or offered for sale, any such article 
of food into the composition of which oleomargarine has en- 27 
tered, without at the same time informing the buyer of the fact 
and the proportions in which such oleomargarine, suine or but- 
terine. beef-fat, lard, or any other foreign substance, has entered 
into its composition: Provided, that nothing in this act shall 
be construed as to prevent the use of harmless coloring-matter 
in butter and cheese, or other articles of food. 
§ 5. Any person convicted of violating any provision of any 
of the foregoing sections of this act shall, for the first offense, 
be fined not less than twenty-five dollars ($25). nor more than 
two hundred dollars ($200); for the second offense he shall be 
fined not less than one hundred dollars ($100), nor more than 
tw'o hundred dollars ($200), or be confined in the county jail 
not less than one month nor more than six months, or both, at 
the discretion of the court; and for a third and all subsequent 
offenses he shall be fined not less than five hundred dollars 
($500), nor more than two thousand dollars ($2,000) and im- 
prisoned in the penitentiary not less than one year nor more 
than five years. 
§ 6. No person shall be convicted under any of the foregoing 
sections of this act if he shows to the satisfaction of the court 
or jury that he did not know that he was violating any of the 
provisions of this act, and that he could not, with reasonable 
diligence, have obtained the knowledge. 
§ 7. The State's attorneys of this State are charged with the 
enforcement of this act, and it is hereby made their duty to ap- 
pear for the people and to attend to the prosecution of all com- 
plaints under this act, and their respective counties, in all courts. 
§ 8. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent with the provis- 
ions of this act are hereby repealed. 
Milk.-An act to regulate the sale of milk, and to provide 
penalties for the adulteration thereof. Approved May 28, 1879. 
In force July 1, 1879. 
Section 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illi- 
nois, represented in the General Assembly, That whoever shall, 
for the purpose of sale for human food, adulterate milk wTith 
water or any foreigh substance, or whoever shall knowingly 
sell for human food, milk from which cream has been taken, 
without the purchaser thereof being informed or knowing the 
fact, or whoever shall knowingly sell, for human food, milk 
from which what is commonly called "stripping" has been 
withheld, without the purchaser thereof being informed or know- 
ing the fact, or whoever shall knowingly sell for human food, 
milk drawn from a diseased cow, knowing her to be so diseased 
as to render her milk unwholesale, or whoever shall knowingly 
sell for human food, milk so tainted or corrupt as to be un- 
wholesome, or whoever shall knowingly supply, or bring to be 
manufactured into any substance for human food, to any cheese 
or butter factory or creamery, without all interested therein 
knowing or being informed of the fact, milk which is adulterated 
with water or any foreigh substance, or milk from which cream 
has been taken, or milk from which what is commonly called 28 
" strippings " has been withheld, or milk drawn from a diseased 
cow, knowing her to be so diseased as to injure her milk, or 
milk so tainted or corrupt as to be unwholesome, or whoever 
shall knowingly, with intent to defraud, take from milk after 
it has been delivered to a cheese-factory, or butter-factory, or 
creamery, to be manufactured into any substance for human 
food, for or on account of the person supplying the milk or 
cream, or shall, with like intent, knowingly add any foreign sub- 
stance to the milk or cream, whereby it or the products thereof 
shall become unwholesome for human food, shall be guilty of a 
misdemeanor, and for each and every such misdemeanor shall be 
fined not less than twenty-five ($25) nor more than one hundred 
dollars ($100), or confined in the county jail not exceeding six 
(6) months, or both, in the discretion of the court. 
§ 2. Any person who shall adulterate milk, with the view of 
offering the same for sale or exchange, or shall keep cows for 
the production of milk Jor market, or for sale or exchange, in an 
unhealthy condition, or knowingly feed the same on food that 
produces impure, diseased or unwholesome milk, shall be deemed 
guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on conviction shall be punished 
by a fine of not less than fifty dollars ($50) nor more than two 
hundred dollars ($200), for each and every offense. 
§ 3. Any person or persons who shall, in any of the cities of 
this State, engage in or carry on a retail business in the sale, 
exchange of, or any retail traffic in milk, shall have each and 
every can in which the milk is carried or exposed for sale or 
exchange, and the carriage or vehicle from which the same is 
vended, conspicuously marked with his, her, or their name or 
names, also indicating by said mark the locality from which 
said milk is obtained or produced; and for every neglect of such 
marking, the person or persons so neglecting shall be subject 
to the penalties expressed in section two of this act, but for 
every violation of this act by so making said cans, carriage or 
vehicle so as to convey the idea that said milk is produced or 
procured from a different locality than it really' is, the person 
or persons so offending shall be subject to a fine of one hun- 
dred dollars ($100). 
§ 4. Any person who shall, in any of the cities in this State, 
offer for sale any milk from which the cream or any part thereof 
has been taken, shall offer for sale and sell the same as skimmed 
milk, and not otherwise, and shall have each can or vessel in 
which such milk is carried, or exposed for sale, plainly and con- 
spicuously marked with the words, "Skimmed Milk." Any per- 
son violating this section shall be subject to a fine not exceed- 
ing fifty dollars ($50) for each and every violation. 
§ 5. Upon the rendition of judgment imposing a fine as pro- 
vided in the foregoing sections, it shall be the duty of the jus- 
tice of the peace or other court rendering such judgment, also 
to render a judgment for the costs, and forthwith to issue a 
capias or warrant of commitment against the body of the de- 
fendant, commanding that unless the said fines and costs be forth- 29 
with paid, the defendant shall be committed to the jail of the 
county, and the constable or other officer to whose hands said 
capias or warrant shall come, shall, in default of such payment, 
arrest the defendant and commit him to the jail of the county, 
there to remain, as provided by section 308 of "An act to revise 
the law in regard to criminal jurisprudence," in force July 1, 
1874, unless such fine and costs shall sooner be paid. 
§ 6. The addition of water or any foreign substance to milk 
or cream intended for sale or exchange, is hereby declared an 
adulteration. Any milk that is obtained from cows fed on dis- 
tillery waste, usually called "swill," or upon any substance in 
a state of putrefaction, is hereby declared to be impure and 
unwholesome. Nothing in this act shall be construed to pre- 
vent the addition of sugar in the manufacture of condensed or 
preserved milk. 
§ 7. Section nine (9) of division one (1) of an act entitled 
"An act to revise the law in relation to criminal jurisprudence" 
(approved, March 27, 1874), and all other acts and parts of acts 
inconsistent herewith, are hereby repealed. 
Butter and Cheese. -An act to prevent frauds in the manu- 
facture and sale of butter and cheese. Approved May 31, 1879. 
In force July 1, 1879. 
Section 1. Be it enacted by the People oj the State of Illi- 
nois, represented in the General Assembly, That whoever manu- 
factures, sells, or offers for sale, or causes the same to be done, 
any substance purporting to be butter or cheese, or having the 
semblance of butter or cheese, which substance is not made 
wholly from pure cream or pure milk, unless the same be manu- 
factured under its true and appropriate name, and unless each 
package, roll or parcel of substance, and each vessel containing 
one or more packages of substance, have distinctly and durably 
painted, stamped or marked thereon the true and appropriate 
name of such substance, in ordinary bold-faced capital letters 
not less than five-lines pica, shall be punished as provided in 
section three of this act. 
§ 2. Whoever shall sell any such substance as is mentioned 
in section one of this act, to consumers, or cause the same to 
be done, without delivering with each package or parcel so 
sold, a label on which is plainly printed, in Roman letters, the 
true and appropriate name of such substance, shall be punished 
as is provided in section three of this act. 
§ 3. Whoever knowingly violates section one or section two 
of this act, shall be fined in any sum not less than ten nor more 
than three hundred dollars, or imprisoned in the county jail 
not less than ten nor more than ninety days, or both, in the 
discretion of the court: Provided, that nothing contained in 
this act shall be construed to prevent the use of skimmed milk, 
salt rennet or harmless coloring matter in the manufacture of 
butter or cheese. 30 
Butter and Cheese.-An act to prevent the adulteration of 
butter and cheese, or the manufacture or sale of any article as 
a substitute for butter or cheese, or any article to be used as 
butter or cheese. Approved June 1, 1881. 
Section 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illi- 
nois, represented in the General Assembly, That whoever manu- 
factures, out of any oleaginous substances, or any compound of 
the same other than that produced from unadulterated milk, or 
cream from the same, any article designed to take the place 
of butter or cheese produced from pure, unadulterated milk, or 
cream of the same, and shall sell or offer for sale the same as 
butter or cheese, or give to any person the same as an article 
of food, as butter or cheese, shall, on conviction thereof, be 
fined not less than twenty-five dollars ($25) nor more than two 
hundred dollars ($200). 
§ 2. All acts or parts of acts inconsistent with this act are 
hereby repealed. 
Vinegar.-An act to prevent the adulteration of vinegar, and 
to prevent fraud and imposition in the manufacture and sale of 
vinegar, and to protect the purchasers thereof. Approved June 
14, 1883. 
Section 1. Be it enacted by the People of the Slate of J Illi- 
nois, represented in the General Assembly, That every person 
who shall manufacture for sale, or shall offer or expose for sale, 
as cider vinegar, any vinegar not the legitimate product of pure 
apple juice, known as apple cider, and not made exclusively of 
said apple cider, shall, for each such offense, be punished by 
a fine of not less than twenty-five dollars ($25) nor more than 
fifty dollars ($50). 
§ 2. Every person who shall manufacture for sale, or who 
shall offer or expose for sale, any vinegar found upon test to 
contain any preparation of lead, copper, sulphuric acid or other 
ingredients injurious to health, shall, for each such offense, be 
punished by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars ($100). 
Canned or preserved food.-An act to protect the public 
from imposition in relation to canned or preserved food. 
Section 1. Be it enacted by the People ot the State of Illi- 
nois, represented in the General Assembly, That it shall here- 
after be unlawful in this State for any packer or dealer in 
preserved or canned fruits and vegetables or other articles of 
food to offer such canned articles for sale after January 1, 1886, 
with the exception of goods brought from foreign countries, or 
packed prior to the passage of this act, unless such articles 
bear a mark to indicate the grade or quality, together with 
the name and address of such firm, person or corporation that 
pack the same, or dealer who sells the same. The firm, per- 
son or corporation labeling such goods shall be considered the 
packer or packers. 
§ 2. That all soaked goods put up from products dried be- 
fore canning, shall be plainly branded on the face of the label, 31 
in letters not less than one-half inch high and three-eights inch 
wide, of solid and legible type, the word "soaked." 
§ 3. Any person, firm or corporation who shall falsely stamp 
or label such cans or jars containing preserved fruit or food 
of any kind, or knowingly permit such false stamping or labeling, 
and any person, firm or corporation who shall violate any of 
the provisions of this act, shall be deemed guilty of a misde- 
meanor, and punished with a fine of not less than fifty dollars 
($50) in the case of vendors, and in the case of manufacturers 
and those falsely or fraudulently stamping or labeling such 
cans or jars, a fine of not less than five hundred dollars ($500) 
nor more than one thousand dollars ($1,000); and it shall be the 
duty of any board of health in this State cognizant of any 
violation of this act, to prosecute any person, firm or corpora- 
tion which it has reason to believe has violated any of the pro- 
visions of this act, and after deducting the costs of trial and 
conviction, to retain for the use of such board the balance of 
the fine or fines recovered.-Approved June 27, 1885. 
Water Supply: 
Section 1. The city council or board of trustees shall have 
the power to provide for a supply of water by the boring and 
sinking of artesian wells, or by the construction and regulation 
of pumps, wells, cisterns, reservoirs or water-works, and to 
borrow money therefor, and to authorize any person or private 
corporation to contract and maintain the same at such rates 
as may be fixed by ordinance, and for a period not exceeding 
thirty years; also to prevent the unnecessary waste of water; 
to prevent the pollution of the water, and injuries to such 
wells, pumps cisterns, reservoirs or water-works. 
§ 2. For the purpose of establishing or supplying water 
works, any city or village may go beyond its territorial limits, 
and may take, hold and acquire property by purchase or other- 
wise; and shall have power to take and condemn all necssary 
lands or property therefor, in the manner provided for the 
taking or injuring private property for public uses; and the 
jurisdiction of the city or village to prevent or punish any 
pollution or injury to the stream or source of water, or to such 
water-works, shall extend five miles beyond its corporate lim- 
its, or so far as such water-works may extend. -[Revised, Stat- 
utes, Chapter 24, Article 10.] 
Supply by contract.*-An act to enable cities [incorporated 
towns] and villages to contract for a supply of water for pub- 
lic use. Approved April 9, 1872. 
Section 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illi- 
nois, represented in the General Assembly, That in all cities [in- 
corporated towns] and villages where water-works may here- 
after be constructed by an incorporated company, the city 
[town] or village authorities in such cities [incorporated towns] 
* Th« word# enclosed in [brackets] are made parts of this act by an amendatory act, approved 
June 26, 1885. 32 
and villages may contract with such incorporated company for 
a supply or water for public use. for a period not exceeding 
thirty years. 
§ 2. Any such city or village so contracting, may levy and 
collect a tax on all taxable property within such city or village, 
to pay for the water so supplied. 
Water-works.-An act to amend section one (1) of an act 
entitled "An act authorizing cities, incorporated towns and vil- 
lages to construct and maintain water works," approved and 
in force April 15, 1873. Approved and in force May 15, 1879. 
Section 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illi- 
nois, represented in the General Assembly, that section one (1) 
of an act entitled "An act authorizing cities, incorporated towns 
and villages to construct and maintain water works," approved 
and in force April 15, 1873, be and is hereby amended so as to 
read as follows: 
§ 1. That all cities, incorporated towns and villages in this 
State be and are hereby authorized and shall have power to 
provide for a supply of water for the purpose of fire protection, 
and for the use of the inhabitants of such cities, incorporated 
'towns or villages, by the erection, construction and maintaining 
of a system of water-works, or by uniting with any adjacent 
city, incorporated town or village in the erection, construction 
and maintaining of a system of water-works for the joint use 
of such cities, incorporated towns or villages, or by procuring 
such supply of water from any adjacent city, incorporated 
town or village already having water-works: Provided, that all 
contracts for the erection or construction of such works, or 
any part thereof, shall be let to the lowest responsible bidder 
therefor, upon not less than three (3) weeks' public notice of 
the terms and conditions upon which the contract is to be let 
having been given by publication in a newspaper published in 
such city, town or village, or, if no newspaper is published 
therein, then in some newspaper published in the county: And 
provided, further, that no member of the city council, or board 
of trustees or mayor, shall be directly or indirectly interested 
in any such contract, and in all cases the council or board of 
trustees, as the case may be, shall have the right to reject any 
and all bids that may not be satisfactory to them. 
Source of supply may be changed. - An act to aid cities 
owning or operating water-works to secure an additional or 
better supply of pure water. Approved May 27, 1881. 
Section 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illi- 
nois, represented in the General Assembly, That all cities own- 
ing or operating water-works under any charter granted by act 
of any General Assembly of this State, or under the general 
incorporation laws of this State, whether by boards of water 
commissioners or officers appointed for that purpose, are 
hereby granted the following powers and privileges, for the 
purpose of increasing or bettering the source of supply from 
which such water is obtained, 33 
§ 2. Whenever, in the judgment of a majority of any board 
of water commissioners, or if there be no such board, then in 
the judgment of a majority of the city council of any city 
owning or operating such water-works, it shall be necessary for 
the public health, or for any other cause, to increase the source 
of water-supply, or to substitute for it such better source as, 
in their judgment, the interests of such city may demand, such 
board of water commissioners or city council may, in addition 
to the powers already conferred upon them by act of any Gen- 
eral Assembly of this State, construct wells, either by boring 
or excavation, and protect and equip the same after construc- 
tion, or may lease wTater-privileges from private parties or cor- 
porations owning wells already or hereafter to be constructed, 
and may pay for such construction or lease, and for the expenses 
maintained in operating the same, out of any earnings of such 
water-works under their control which may be in their hands 
at the time of the taking effect of this act, or which may accrue 
to them hereafter: Provided, that no money shall be expended 
under the provisions of this act, for the purposes herein specified, 
until the question of the expenditure of such money for the 
purposes aforesaid shall have been submitted to a vote of the 
people of the city in which such water-works may be situated, 
at any election for city officers, or special election called for 
that purpose by the city council of said city, and shall have 
received a majority of the votes cast at such election: Provided, 
further, that no money shall be expended under the provisions 
of this act, for the purposes aforesaid, other than the surplus 
earnings of such wTater-works. 
*Sewerage: 
Contract for sewerage.-An act to enable cities, towns and 
villages to contract with each other for sewerage. Approved 
May 14, 1879. In force July 1, 1879. 
Section 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, 
represented in the General Assembly, That whenever any city, 
or incorporated town or village, shall be adjacent or contiguous 
to any other city or incorporated town or village, they shall 
be authorized to contract with each other, upon such terms as 
may be agreed upon between them, to allow and permit the 
one the use and benefit of any sewer or drain, or of any system 
of sewerage or drainage heretofore constructed, or which may 
be hereafter constructed by the other; and further, that any 
such sewer or drain, or system of sewerage or drainage, con- 
structed or which may hereafter be constructed by the one, 
may be extended or furnished to the inhabitants of the other, 
and they may, by contract with each other, provide for the 
joint construction of any sewer or drain by the municipalities 
so contracting, and for the common use thereof by the inhabit- 
ants of such municipalities. 
*S^, hIso, Powers of City Counjils axd Village TRJsTEE^. Items thirteenth, twinty-.iiuth, 
thirtieth and fifty-seventh. 34 
§ 2. The contract contemplated in section one of this act may 
be made by ordinance or resolution duly enacted or passed by 
the common council, board of trustees, or other proper legis- 
lative authority of the city or incorporated town or village 
proposing such contract, and ratified or assented to by ordinance 
or resolution duly enacted or passed by the common council, 
board of trustees, or other proper legislative authority of the 
city or incorporated town or village confirming or agreeing to 
such contract, and every such contract, when ratified or con- 
firmed by the proper corporate authorities of the municipal 
corporations who are parties thereto, shall be in all respects 
valid and binding. 
Public Buildings: 
To regulate means of egress. -Section 1. Be it enacted by 
the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General 
Assembly, That all public buildings now in process of construc- 
tion, or hereafter to be built or constructed, which may or shall 
be used for churches, school-houses, operas, theatres, lecture- 
rooms, hotels, public meetings, town-halls, or which may or 
shall be used for any purpose whereby a collection of people 
may be assembled together for religious worship, amusement 
or instruction, shall be so built and constructed that all doors 
leading from the main hall or place where said collection of 
people may be assembled, or from the principal room which 
may be used for any of the purposes aforesaid, shall open out- 
ward; and that all means of egress from the building shall be 
by means of doors which shall open outward from the main 
hall or building. 
§ 2. That any person or persons who shall fail or refuse to 
comply with the provisions of this act, shall be fined in any 
sum not less than $100, nor more than $1,000. 
§ 3. That in all cities and towns having a population of two 
thousand inhabitants and unwards, the mayor or other corpo- 
rate authority of said town or city, shall be empowared, and is 
hereby authorised, to close and prohibit all public buildings 
hereafter erected from being used in violation of this act. 
In force July 1, 1874. 
Fire Escapes.*-An act relating to fire escapes from buildings. 
Section 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, 
represented in the General Assembly, That within six (6) months 
next after the passage of this act, all buildings in this State 
which are four or more stories in height, except such as are 
used for private residences exclusively, but including fiats and 
apartment buildings, shall be provided with one or more metallic 
ladder or stair fire escapes, attached to the outer walls thereof, 
and extending from or suitably near the ground to the upper- 
most story thereof, and provided with platforms of such form 
and dimensions, and in such proximity to one or more windows 
of each story above the first, as to render access to such lad- 
See, also, Powers of City Councils and Village Trustees: Item sixty-first. 35 
ders or stairs, from each such story, easy and safe; the num- 
ber, location, material and construction of such escapes to be 
subject to the approval of the board of supervisors in counties 
under township organization, and the board of county commis- 
sioners in counties not under township organization, except in 
villages, towns and cities organized under any general or special 
law of this State, such approval shall be had by the corporate 
authorities of such villages, towns and cities: Provided, how- 
ever, that all buildings more than two stories in height, used 
for manufacturing purposes, or for hotels, dormitories, schools, 
seminaries, hospitals or asylums, shall have at least one such 
fire escape for every fifty (50) persons for which working, 
sleeping or living accommodations are provided above the sec- 
ond stories of said buildings; and that all public halls which 
provide seating room above the first or ground story, shall be 
provided with such numbers of such ladder or stair fire escapes 
as the board of supervisors or commissioners or corporate au- 
torities aforesaid may direct. 
§ 2. All buildings of the numbers of stories and used for 
the purposes set forth in section one (1) of this act, which shall 
be hereafter erected within this State, shall, upon or before 
their completion, each be provided with fire escapes of the kind 
and number, and in the manner set forth in section one (1) of 
this act. 
§ 3. After the expiration of six (6) months next after the 
passage of this act, the boards of supervisors and commission- 
ers, and in villages, towns and cities the corporate authorities 
thereof, as aforesaid, may, at any time, direct the sheriff of their 
respective counties to serve a written notice, in behalf of the 
People of the State of Illinois, upon the owner or owners, trus- 
tees, lessee, or occupant of any building within their county, 
not provided with fire escapes in accordance with the require- 
ments of this act, commanding such owners, trustees, lessee or 
occupant, or either of them, to place, or cause to be placed, 
upon such building such fire escape or escapes within thirty (30) 
days after the service of such notice. And the grand juries of 
the several counties of this State may also, during any term, 
visit or hear testimony relating to any building or buildings 
within their respective counties, for the purpose of ascertaining 
whether it or they are provided with fire escapes in accordance 
with the reqirements of this act, and submit the result of their 
inquiry, together with any recommendations they may desire to 
make, to the circuit court, except in Cook county, and to the 
criminal court of Cook county; and said court may thereupon, 
if it find from the report of said grand jury that said building 
or buildings is or are not provided with a fire escape or escapes 
in accordance with this act, cause the sheriff to serve a notice 
or notices upon the owner, trustees, lessee or occupant of such 
building or buildings. 
§ 4. Any such owner or owners, trustees, lessee or occupant, 
or either of them, so served with notice as aforesaid, who shall 36 
not, within thirty (30) days after the service of such notice upon 
him or them, place or cause to be placed such fire escape or 
escapes upon such building as required by this act and the terms 
of such notice, shall be subject to a fine of not less than twenty- 
five (25) or more than two hundred (200) dollars, and to a further 
fine of fifty (50) dollars for each additional week of neglect to 
comply with such notice. 
§ 5. All the money or moneys collected as fines under and 
by virtue of this act, shall be paid into or placed to the credit 
of the common school fund of the counties in which they are 
collected. Approved June 29, 1885. 
Burial Permits: 
At a regular meeting of the State Board of Health, held 
April 13-15, 1882, the following resolution was adopted: 
Resolved, That in order to protect the legal interests of sur- 
vivors, to facilitate the detection of crime, and to secure fuller 
and more accurate knowledge of the causes of mortality, whereby 
preventive medicine and general sanitation may be promoted, 
the Illinois State Board of Health earnestly recommends to 
the the proper authorities of all cities and towns in this State 
having populations of one thousand or over, the enactment and 
enforcement of a suitable ordinance requiring a burial permit 
from a designated official, and based upon a physician's certifi- 
cate of death now required by the statute, as a condition prece- 
dent to interment within, or removal of a decedent without, the 
corporate limits of any such city or town. 
The following form of such ordinance was prepared by the 
Board in 1882, and has since been adopted and is enforced in 
many cities and towns: 
An Ordinance in Relation to Burial Permits. 
Be it ordained by the of the 
of in the county of in the State 
of Illinois: 
1. That no burial or interment shall be lawful in the 
of nor shall any dead body be removed from said 
until a permit for such burial, interment or 
removal shall have been first obtained from the of 
said 
2. That such permit shall be issued by the 
upon his receipt of the usual certificate of death, signed'by (1) 
the attending physician in the case; or, if none, by (2) by one 
of the parents of the deceased; or, if none, by (3) the nearest 
of kin not a minor; or, if none, by (4) by the resident house 
holder where the death occurred; or, if none, by (5) any repu- 
table citizen cognizant of the facts and circumstances of the 
death; or, if the death be the subject of an inquest, by (6) the 
coroner or other officer holding said inquest. 
3. That any undertaker or sexton, and each and every other 
person engaged or concerned in a burial in violation of the pro- 37 
visions of this ordinance, and the officers and employes of any 
transportation company, or any other person or persons en- 
gaged or concerned in the removal of a dead body from said 
in violation of the provisions of this ordinance, 
shall be subject to a fine of not less than ( ) 
dollars, nor more than ( ) dollars for each 
offense. 
4. That the shall enter in a suitable book 
to be kept for that purpose, a record of all burial permits is- 
sued, specifying the date of issue and to whom Issued, together 
with all the items of information contained in the certificates 
upon which the issue of such permits is based; and he shall 
forward to the county clerk of county, at the end 
of each month, all of said certificates so received during the 
month. 
That this ordinance shall be in force from and after its pas- 
sage and publication. 
The following is the form of permit in use:* 
Burial Permit No 
Office of [City or Town Cleric, or other officer 1. 
[Name of Place.] 
188.. 
Permission is hereby given to remove 
for interment, the remains of 
Date of Death: 188.. Age:..years,..months,..days. ' 
Place of Death: 
Cause of Death: 
Medical Attendant: 
[Official Title of Person issuing ] 
[Stub or Counterfoil to be retained. ] 
Burial Permit No 
[Name of Place.] 
188.. 
Mame of 
Deceased: 
Age: ....years, months, ....days. 
Sex: ....... ; Color: 
Date of Death: 188.. 
Place of Death: 
Cause of Death: 
Medical Attendant: 
Place of Interment: 
Issued to: 
It should be observed that wherever such an ordinance is 
adopted the certifying physician is relieved of the necessity of 
transmitting his certificates direct to the county clerk, but will 
♦These may be obtained, bound in book form, from leading stationers in Chicago, >vho make 
a specialty of public printing, forms, etc. 38 
simply return them to the designated city or town official, who 
will forward them to the county clerk after using them as the 
bases for the burial permit. This has been found to work well 
practically in places where burial permits are required. It 
helps to secure a more general compliance with the laws re- 
quiring physicians to report all deaths occurring under their 
supervision, with certificates of the causes thereof. 
The manifest object of the State law is to secure such knowl- 
edge of the causes of mortality as may be led to measures for 
removing or modifying such causes as are susceptible of removal 
or modification. This is of primary importance to cities and 
towns, since a reputation for healthfulness, or the reverse, un- 
doubtedly influences the growth and prosperity of any given 
locality. By means of the burial permit and its record the facts 
contained in the physician's certificate may be made immediately 
available for this purpose, while they cannot be where returned 
direct to the county clerk. From the "suitable books" pre- 
scribed in the ordidance, a weekly or monthly report may be 
compiled for publication, either in the newspaper press or other- 
wise, and thus the condition of, and the influences affecting, the 
public health may be accurately judged at any given time, and 
comparison made with other localities. 
When burial permits are required-as they are in many places-- 
the existence of a contagious disease-as small-pox, scarlet fever, 
diphtheria-has often first been made known by the information 
given m the permit, which thus serves to direct preventive 
measures for arresting further spread of the contagion. 
On the other hand, in the absence of a burial permit many 
evils arise, among which may be mentioned the fact that the 
bobies of murdered persons may be more easily disposed of. 
Within a brief period three such instances have come to the 
Secretary's knowledge where the bodies of victims were buried 
without exciting suspicion. Accidental clues led to disinterment 
and discovery of the crimes. 
Briefly, the reasons for the enactment of such an ordinance 
may be thus summarized: 
First-It will be of value in securing fuller, more accurate, and 
more readily available knowledge of the causes of death-a 
knowledge which is absolutely necessary to the profitable appli- 
cation of efforts for the preservation of health, the limitation 
of disease, and the prolongation of human life. 
Second-It will be of value in the protection of life against 
criminal violence, by facilitating the detection of such violence 
through preventing the burial of victims of homicide, abortion, 
poisoning, etc., without proper investigation. 
Third-It will be of value in the protection of property inter- 
ests, by making the facts pertaining to a death and burial, 
matters of record which may be useful in probating wills, set- 
tling estates, determining heirships, perfecting letters, adjusting 
life insurance, and kindred matters. 39 
Cemeteries: 
An Act in relation to the control of public graveyards. Ap- 
proved May 29, 1879. In force July 1, 1879. 
Section 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, 
represented in the General Assembly, That public graveyards in 
this State, not under control of any corporation sole, organi- 
zation, or society, and located within the limits of cities, vil- 
lages, towns, townships or counties not under township organi- 
zation, shall and may be controlled or vacated by the corpor- 
ate authorities of such city, village, town, township or county, 
in such manner as such authorities may deem proper, and in 
the case of towns, such control may be vested in three trustees, 
to be elected annually by the voters of such towns at the annual 
town meeting therein.* 
*See also. Powers of Citv Councils and Village Boards: Item Seventy-ninth 40 
RULES AND REGULATIONS CONCERNING THE PUBLIC 
HEALTH. 
Vaccination of School Children: 
At the January, 1894, meeting of the State BoaRD of Health, 
the Order of the Board concerning the vaccination of school 
children was reaffirmed, and extended so as to cover parochial 
as well as public schools. 
In accordance with this action of the Board, County Superin- 
tendents of Schools, School Directors, Trustees and Teachers, 
are hereby reminded that the admission of any child to a public 
or parochial school in this State, without presenting satisfac- 
tory evidence of proper and successful vaccination is prohibited. 
The following extracts from opinions of the Attorney General, 
define the rights and duties of all concerned in the matter: 
Under the Revised Statutes of Illinois, Chapter 126a, Section 
2, broad duties are devolved upon the State Board of Health, 
and ample power is given to enable them to discharge such du- 
ties. They not only have the right, but it is their duty, to make 
any and all rules and regulations which they may deem neces- 
sary to preserve the public health. Such rules and regulations, 
when promulgated, have the force and authority of law, and 
are to be enforced, if necessary, by the entire power, including 
school officers, etc., of the State. 
* * * As to the authority of school directors to enforce 
the rules of the State Board of Health in reference to vacci- 
nation, I have the honor to say that section 2 of the act creat- 
ing the State Board of Health, declares that "it shall be the 
duty of all police officers, sheriffs, constables, and all other offi- 
cers and employes of the State, to enforce such rules and regu- 
lations, so far as the efficiency of the Board may depend upon 
their official co-operation." These are the words of the law, and 
it includes school directors with all other officers. In enforcing 
the orders of the Board of Health, of course the law will pro- 
tect them in using any necessary means to carry out these or 
ders, even to the extent, should it become necessary, of exclud- 
ing from the school those who refuse to comply. 
Based upon these opinions, the Board unanimously adopted 
the following resolution: 41 
Resolved, That the power of the State Board of Health, under the 
law creating said Board, to order the vaccination of all school children, 
is clear and unquestionable. The consequent duty of Boards of School 
Directors to see that such order is strictly enforced in their respective 
districts, is equally clear, and the said Order of the Board of Health 
is their sufficient warrant for so doing. 
Should any Board of Directors refuse or neglect to carry out 
said Order, they may be proceeded against for neglect of duty; 
and should any such Board be prosecuted for enforcing said 
Order, they may, if necessary, employ counsel to defend them 
in such suits, and pay said counsel out of any school funds of 
their district not otherwise specifically appropriated. 
The protection of the public health from loathsome and 
deadly small pox is a paramount obligation, and nothing can 
or should or will excuse School Boards, or other officers or 
persons concerned, from doing their whole duty in the premises. 
The object of this measure is to make sure that children in 
attendance at the public and parochial schools are properly 
protected against small pox, to the end that their health and 
lives may be preserved, and interruption of schools by the dis- 
ease may be avoided. Evidence of this protection will be most 
readily and usefully afforded by means of the Certificate (Form 
292) prepared and furnished by the State Board, of which 
the following is a copy: 
Illinois State Board of Health-Personal Certificate of 
Vaccination. 
(i) in. 
I hereby certify that I have, this (2) day of 189.., 
examined (3) and pronounce (4) 
in my judgment, properly protected against Small-Pox or Varioloid by 
reason of (5). (A) Successful recent primary vaccination. (B) Successful 
recent re-vaccination. (C) ...unsuccessful recent attempts at vaccination. 
(D) Previous attack of small-pox or varioloid. 
(6) M. D. 
Explanation of figures: 1-Write in the name of city, town or village. 
2-Date. 3-Give name in full. 4-Strike out superfluous pronoun. 5- 
Check the initial "A," "B," "O' or "D," which indicates the "reason." 
If it be "C," insert number of attempts. 6-Signature of certifying 
physician, who should in all cases be a legally qualified physician. 
Children over the age of fourteen years (approximately)- 
that is, who have passed through the developmental changes 
occurring about this age, and which changes are known to 
frequently impair the protective power of vaccination perform- 
ed prior thereto-can be certified to as "properly protected'T 
only after they have been successfully vaccinated, or revaccin- 
ated, as the case may be, subsequent to this age. In case, 
however, a given child has passed the age mentioned, and 
such changes have not yet taken place, re-vaccination is not 
indispensable, provided the evidence of a successful primary 
vaccination is conclusive. The physician is the sole judge in 
each case. 42 
A certificate from a legally qualified physician that a given 
child is protected by a previous attack of small-pox or vario- 
loid; or that it would be dangerous at the present time to vac- 
cinate a given child; or that such insusceptibility has been 
demonstrated as, in itself, amounts to protection-shall be ac- 
cepted by school authorities in lieu of the "satisfactory evidence" 
required by this order. 
All vaccinations should be performed by competent medical 
men; or, if by a non-professional person of sufficient skill and 
experience, the result must be examined and certified to by a 
legally qualified physician. Such authority only is competent 
to pronounce upon the sufficiency of vaccinal protection, or 
upon the danger or inadvisibility of performing the operation 
at a given time, or in certain conditions of the system. 
In case of failure in a primary vaccination, the attempt 
should be repeated often enough (at intervals of a fortnight) 
to demonstrate the insusceptibility of the child. Five repeti- 
tions are not too many, and it not unfrequently happens that 
the seventh, eighth or ninth attempt is successful. Where less 
than five repetitions are advised by the physician, he must 
assume the responsibility of asserting the proper protection of 
the child. His certificate to that effect shall be received by 
the school authorities as entitling the child to school attendance. 
If more than one in five primary vaccinations are failures, 
the physician should suspect the quality of his virus, and obtain 
a supply from a new source. With most physicians it undoubt- 
edly is unnecessary to urge the importance of examination at a 
proper interval after the operation. Such examination should 
be always made, because, among other reasons, without it the 
vaccinator deprives himself of the only proof of the value of 
the virus employed, and his vaccinees may thence be reposing 
in a false security, which may prove disastrous. 
To School Authorities.-I. The execution of this Order is 
necessarily devolved upon the various officers of public and 
parochial instruction-County Superintendents, School Directors, 
Trustees and Teachers-each and all of whom are hereby author- 
ized and directed to aid in its enforcement in their respective 
capacities. In all cases, however, the assistance and co-oper- 
ation of the local health authorities should be invited. 
Much of the success of this effort to protect the children 
from a loathsome pestilence will depend upon the wisdom, firm- 
ness and intelligent action of the school authorities. Timely 
notification and instruction will save much unnecessary friction; 
and exact information will soon dispel ignorant and bigoted 
opposition. It only needs that the public be rightly informed 
to secure ready cooperation. All inquiries will be promptly 
answered by the Secretary, and every available facility afforded 
for meeting emergencies. 43 
II. County Superintendents are respectfully requested to se- 
cure a prompt distribution of the copies of the Order, certifi- 
cates, returns, etc., forwarded to them; to explain to Directors 
and Teachers the scope of the Order, and to advise as to the 
methods of its enforcement. It is epecially desired that they 
communicate fully and promptly to the Secretary's office any 
difficulties encountered, and suggestions which their individual 
knowledge of local conditions and circumstances may warrant. 
III. School Directors are the immediate source of authority 
for the action of Teachers under this Order. In addition to the 
resolution concerning the duty of School Boards already quoted, 
the Attorney-General says that the law which directs all officers 
and employes of the State to enforce the rules and regulations 
of the State Board of Health, unquestionably includes School 
Directors. He adds: "In enforcing the orders of the Board 
of Health, of course the law will protect them [the School 
Directors] in using any necessary means to carry out the orders, 
even to the extent, should it become necessary, of excluding 
from the schools those who refuse to comply." Instructions 
to this effect should, therefore, be given to Teachers by their 
Directors. 
Provision should be made by School Boards for the gratuitous 
vaccination of the children of those unable to pay for the same. 
Local boards of health have the right to do this at the ex- 
pense of town, county or city funds. Where there are no regu- 
larly organized boards of health the county commissioners act 
in that capacity, or the supervisors, assessors and town clerks 
of townships. These officers have all the power, authority and 
responsibility of a board of health, and will generally be found 
quite willing to assist in this method of protecting the public 
health. 
IV. Teachers-who should, in all cases, have been revacci- 
nated within the past five years-should familiarize themselves 
with the form of the Scholar's certificate; see that it is prop- 
erly filled out when presented; make a record of its data for 
their own use; fill up the blank return and forward said return 
to their County Superintendent. 
All returns should be made through the County Superinten- 
dent, who, after examination, will forward them to the office 
of the State Board in Springfield. 
Concerning Contagions and Infections Diseases: 
The following Rules and Regulations of the Illinois State 
Board of Health, Concerning Conta.qious and Infectious Dis- 
eas^s, are applicable to Small-Pox, Diphtheria, Scarlet Fever, 
Typhoid Fever, Asiatic Cholera, and Yellow Fever; and their 
enforcement and observance are enjoined upon all local health 
authorities: 
1. Isolation and Quarantine. -Whenever it is known that 
any person is sick with small-pox or varioloid, diphtheria, 
scarlet fever, typhoid fever. Asiatic cholera or yellow fever, 44 
isolation of the individual must be promptly and rigidly en- 
forced. The local authorities must be at once notified of the 
case by the householder in whose dwelling the case occurs, and 
of its exact locality. 
2. Duties of Health Authorities.-Immediately upon re- 
ceipt of such notice, the medical health officer should visit the 
locality and secure prompt compliance with the precautions 
herein set forth. He should see that proper placards are duly 
posted; and, through the sanitary policeman, or otherwise, 
should notify the schools; take charge of funerals of those dying 
of the disease; superintend the disinfection of rooms, clothing 
and premises; and, finally, give official certificates of recovery, 
and of freedom from liability to communicate the disease to 
others. Until these latter are issued, a rigid system of isola- 
tion or quarantine should be maintained with regard to an in- 
fected house and its contents-persons and things. 
Where there is no medical health officer, the attending phy- 
sician should see that the following precautions are carried out: 
The Sick-Room.-The room selected for the sick should be 
large, easily ventilated, and as far from the living and sleep- 
ing-rooms of other members of the family as it is practicable 
to have it. All ornaments, carpets; drapery, and articles not 
absolutely needed in the room, should be removed. A free 
circulation of air from without should be admitted both by 
night and by day-there is no better disinfectant than pure air. 
Place the bed as nearly as possible in the middle of the room, 
but care should be taken to keep the patient out of draughts. 
In cold weather, whenever it is possible, there should be an 
open fire in the sick-room. An open fire is the best ventila- 
tion for a room in cold weather, and it should be used for the 
sick-room even when register or steam heat is used. 
If the room connects with others which must be occupied, 
lock all but one door for entrance and exit to the sick-room, 
and fasten to the door-frames-top, bottom and sides - sheets 
of cheap cotton cloth, keep wet with Standard Disinfectant No 2, 
(see page 48). Over the door to be used, the sheet must not 
be tacked at the bottom nor along the full length of the lock- 
side of the frame, but about five feet may be left free to be 
pushed aside; this sheet, however, must be long enough to al- 
low ten or twelve inches to lie in folds on the floor and must 
also be kept wet with the disinfectant. 
Precautions in the Sick-Room.-All discharges from the nose 
and mouth of the patient should be received on rags and im- 
mediately burned. Night vessels should be kept supplied with 
a quart or so of Standard Disinfectant No. 2, into which all 
discharges should be received. All spoons, dishes, etc., used 
or taken from the sick-room, should be put in boiling wrater at 
once. 
A pail or tub of Standard Disinfectant No. 3-two ounces to 
a gallon of water-(see page 49) should be kept in the sick- 
room, and into this all clothing, blankets, sheets, towels, etc., 45 
used about the patient or in the room, should be dropped im- 
mediately after use, and before being removed from the room. 
They should then be well boiled as soon as practicable. 
Attendants.-Not more than two persons-one of them a 
skillful professional nurse, if possible-should be employed in 
the sick-room, and their intercourse with other members of the 
family should be as much restricted as possible. 
In the event that it becomes necessary for an attendant to 
go away from the house, a complete change of clothing should 
be made, using such as has not been exposed to infection; the 
hands, face and hair should be washed thoroughly with disin- 
fectant soap and water. There is a variety of good disinfectant 
soaps for sale by druggists; use the one recommended by the 
attending physician. 
Hd isc ell ■ ineous.-No inmate of the house, during the continu- 
ance of the disease, should venture into any public conveyance, 
or assemblage, or crowded building, such as a church or school; 
nor. after its termination, until permission is given by the health 
authorities. 
Letters must not be sent from the patient, and all mail mat- 
ter from the house should first be subjected to a dry heat of 
250-260 deg. F. 
Domestic animals, dogs, cats, etc., should not be allowed to 
enter the room of the patient, or, better still, should be ex- 
cluded from the house. 
During the entire illness the privy should be thoroughly dis- 
infected with Standard Disinfectant No. 2, four or five gallons 
of which should be thrown into the vault every day. Water- 
closets should be disinfected by pouring a quart or so of this 
disinfectant into the receiver after each use. r 
Care after Recovery.-There is danger of communicating the 
disease directly, from one recovering from Scarlet Fever, so 
long as there is any soreness of the eyes, nose or air-passages; 
or any symptom or dropsy; but, more especially, so long as 
the skin continues to peel off. Although the latter process is 
usually completed within about forty days from the beginning 
of the sickness, cases happen, sometimes, when it lasts even 
seventy or eighty days. No matter how long this period may 
be, the child should be considered dangerous until all scaling 
or peeling of the skin has ceased. Vaseline, cosmoline, olive 
oil or lard should be used, in the discretion of the attending 
physician, to anoint the skin, in order to prevent the scales 
from being scattered about and so spreading the contagion. 
When recovery is complete, and the skin smooth and free 
from scales, the child should be bathed all over, at least twice 
or oftener, and the hair thoroughly washed each time, before 
being allowed to leave the house. This bathing should be un- 
der the direction of the family physician, at such times and in 
such manner as he thinks prudent, and with the disinfectant 
soap recommended by him 46 
4. No person, after recovering, should appear in public 
wearing the same clothing worn while sick or recovering from 
Scarlet Fever, until such ciothing has been thoroughly disin- 
fected, and this without regard to the time which has elapsed 
since recovery. Nor should a person from premises in which 
there is or has been a case of Scarlet Fever attend any school, 
Sunday school, church, or public assembly, or be permitted by 
the health authorities or by the school board to do so, until 
after disinfection of such premises and of the clothing worn 
by such person if it has been exposed to the contagion of the 
disease. 
5. Cases of Scarlet Fever should be promptly reported to 
the proper health authorities, either by the attending physi- 
cians or by the householders. Plain and distinct notices, in 
the form of placards, should be placed upon the house or 
premises where there is a case of Scarlet Fever, and children, 
especially, should not be allowed to enter such house. Notice 
should also be given to all public schools, of the locality of 
any house in w'hich there is Scarlet Fever, and the scholars 
should be cautioned against visiting or playing on the infected 
premises. 
6. Immediately upon receipt of notice of the existence of a 
case of Scarlet Fever, the health officer should visit the locality 
and secure prompt compliance with the precautions above set 
forth. He should see that the proper placards are duly posted; 
should notify the schools; take charge of funerals of those 
dying of this disease; superintend the disinfection of rooms, 
clothing and premises; and, finally, give official certificates of 
recovery, and of freedom from liability to communicate the 
disease to others. Until these latter are issued a rigid system 
of isolation or quarantine should be maintained with regard to 
an infected house and its contents-persons and things. 
Where there is no health officer, the attending physician 
should see that the above precautions are carried out. 
7. In the event of death, the body should be wrapped in a 
disinfectant sheet thoroughly soaked in one of the Standard 
Disinfectants Nos. 1 or 2, and placed in an air-tight coffin, 
which is to remain in the sick-room until removed for burial. No 
public funeral should be allowed either at the house or church, 
and no more persons should be permitted to go to the cemetery 
than necessary to inter the corpse. 
8. After a recovery or death, all articles worn by, or that 
have come in contact with the patient, together with the room 
and its contents, should be thoroughly disinfected by burning 
sulphur. To do this, have all windows, fire-places, flues, key- 
holes, doors and openings securely closed by strips or sheets of 
paper pasted over them. Then place on the hearth or stove, 
or on bricks set in a wash-tub containing an inch or so of 
water, an iron vessel of live coals, upon which throw three 
pounds of sulphur for every 1,000 cubic feet of space in the 
room. (The sulphur should be thoroughly moistened with 47 
alcohol.) Closets opening into the room should have propor- 
tionate quantities of sulphur burned in them at the same time. 
All articles in the room and others of every description that 
have been exposed to infection, which cannot be washed or 
subjected to dry heat, and yet are too valuable to be burned, 
must be spread out on chairs or racks; mattresses or spring- 
beds set up so as to have both surfaces exposed; window-shades 
and curtains laid out at full length, and every effort made to 
secure thorough exposure to the sulphur fumes. The room 
should then be kept tightly closed for twenty-four hours. A 
sulphur candle, with plain directions for use, is sold by drug- 
gists; it is safer and more convenient than loose sulphur and 
alcohol. 
The object of disinfection in the sick-room is, mainly, the 
destruction of infectious materials attached to surfaces, or de- 
posited as dust upon window-ledges, mouldings, door-frames, 
in crevices, etc. If the room was properly cared for and ven- 
tilated during the sickness, and especially if it was stripped of 
carpets, curtains and unnecessary furniture at the beginning,, 
the difficulties of disinfection will be greatly reduced. 
After the sulphur fumigation all surfaces should be thoroughly 
washed with Standard Disinfectant No. 1, diluted with three 
parts of water, or with 1-1000 solution of corrosive sublimate; 
or with Standard Disinfectant No. 2, four ounces to the gallon 
of water. Walls and ceilings, if plastered, should be brushed 
over with one of these solutions and then lime-washed; if paper- 
ed, the paper should be removed and the exposed surfaces 
then brushed over with the solution. 
Especial care must be taken to wash away all dust from 
every part of the room and to apply the solution liberally to 
crevices and out-of-the-way places where dust may settle. 
After such application of the disinfectant, open doors and 
windows for twenty-four hours, and then scrub all wood work, 
floors, etc., with soap and hot water. 
The articles wlrch have been subjected to fumigation should 
be exposed for several days to sunshine and fresh air. If the 
carpet has unavoidably been allowed to remain on the floor 
during the illness, it should not be removed until after the 
fumigation; but must then be taken up, beaten and shaken in 
the open air, and allowed to remain out of doors for a week 
or more. If not too valuable, it should be destroyed; but, 
whenever practicable, it should be removed from the room at 
the beginning of the illness. 
After the above treatment has been thoroughly enforced, the 
doors and windows of the room should be kept open as much 
as possible for a week or two. Where houses are isolated, 
articles may be exposed out of doors. The entire contents of 
the house should be subjected to the greatest care, and when 
there is any doubt as to the safety of an article it should be 
destroyed. 48 
All this work shall be done-both the disinfection and the 
destruction of property-under the direct supervision of the 
local authorities. 
9. Such articles of clothing, bedding, etc., as can be washed 
should first be treated by dipping in the Standard Disinfectant 
No. 3-two ounces to the gallon of water; they should then be 
immediately and thoroughly boiled for at least half an hour. 
The ticking of beds and pillows used by the patient should be 
treated in the same manner, and their contents, if hair or 
feathers, should be thoroughly baked in an oven. If this can- 
not be done, they should be destroyed by fire, as should, in 
any event, all straw, husk, moss, or "excelsior" filling. The 
clothing of the nurses should be thoroughly fumigated and 
disinfected before it is taken from the house, or, better still, 
burned, if feasible. 
Standard Disinfectants. 
For general use: Sunlight, fresh air, soap and water, 
thorough cleanliness, are the best disinfectants. 
For special purposes, the following solutions are good, 
simple and cheap: 
Standard Disinfectant No. 1. 
Dissolve chloride of lime of the best quality in pure water, in 
the proportion of four ounces (a quarter of a pound) to the 
gallon. 
One quart of this solution for each discharge in scarlet or 
typhoid fever or other contagious or infectious disease. Mix 
well and leave in the vessel for an hour or more before throw- 
ing into privy vault or water closet. The same for vomited 
matter. For a very copious discharge, especially in cholera, 
use a larger quantity; and for solid or semi-solid matter use 
the solution in double strength. Discharges from the mouth 
and throat should be received into a cup half full of the 
solution, and those from the nostrils upon soft cotton or linen 
rags which should be immediately burned. 
The chloride of lime must be of the best quality; poor chloride 
of lime is worthless. 
Standard Disinfectant No. 2. 
Dissolve corrosive sublimate, permanganate of potash and 
muriate of ammonia in pure water in the proportions of two 
drachms of each to the gallon. 
Use for the same purposes and in the same way as No. 1. 
Equally effective, but slower in its action, so that it is necessary 
to let the mixture (disinfectant and inf ectant material) stand 
about four hours before disposing of it. It is best to empty the 
mixture into a wooden pail and leave it for twenty-four hours, 49 
when it may be thrown into the vault or water closet, or into 
a hole dug in the ground for that purpose, in some suitable 
spot. This solution is odorless, while the chloride of lime solu- 
tion is often objectionable in the sick room on account of its 
smell. 
This disinfectant is highly poisonous, and will injure lead 
pipes if passed through them in large quantities without free 
flushing. 
Standard Disinfectant No. 3. 
Dissolve four ounces of corrosive sublimate and one pound of 
sulphate of copper in one gallon of water. 
Use this for disinfecting clothing and bed clothes. Add a tea- 
cup of it to two gallons of water. Soak the clothes in it for two 
hours, then wring them out and boil them. This solution is 
poisonous, and must not be kept in metal vessels, nor poured 
into lead pipes without free flushing. 
Solutions of corrosive sublimate should not be made or kept 
in metal vessels. A wooden tub, barrel, or pail or an earthen 
jar should be used for such solutions. 
Disinfection of Privy Vaults, Cess pools, etc.-When the excreta 
or discharges (not previously disinfected) of patients suffering 
with any contagious disease have been thrown into a vault 
this becomes infected and dangerous. Disinfection should be re- 
sorted to as soon as the fact is discovered or even suspected. 
Disinfectant No. 3, diluted one part to three of water, may 
be used in the proportions of one gallon of the diluted solution 
to every four gallons (estimated) of the contents of the vault. 
All exposed portions of the vault, and wood work should be 
thoroughly wet with the solution. 
To keep a vault disinfected during the progress of an 
epidemic-or even a single case of contagious disease, sprinkle 
chloride of lime freely over its contents daily. Or if the odor 
of chloride be objectionable apply daily four or five gallons of 
disinfectant No. 2, which should be made by the barrel, for this 
purpose, and keep in a safe place where children and animals 
cannot get at it. 
[Special instructions in English and German, concerning each individual dis- 
ease above specified, are to be found in the Preventable-Disease Circulars 
prepared by the State Board, copies of which may be obtained by addressing the 
Secretary at Springfield.] 
Notification of Contagious Diseases: 
Under the authority conferred upon the State Board of 
Health by Section 2 of the State Board of Health Act, it is 
ordered that on and after January 1, 1892, the first case of 
Small-Pox, Typhoid Fever, Asiatic Cholera or Yellow Fever oc- 
curring in any county, township, town or city in this State, as 50 
also the prevalence and progress of any epidemic disease, shall 
be promptly reported to the Board by the local health authori- 
ties; it being borne in mind that in counties where township 
organization exists, the township board is the board of health, 
and in counties not under township organization, the county 
commissioners act in like capacity. Reports of first cases must 
be made immediately upon discovery;, and of the progress of the 
disease from time to time-at least weekly. Forward all reports 
to the Secretary State Board of Health, Springfield, lllnois. 
Transportation of Corpses: 
Rules for the Transportation of Corpses by Railroads 
and Steamboats in the State of Illinois. - Rule 1 The trans- 
portation* of the bodies of persons who have died of Small-Pox, 
Diphtheria, Asiatic Cholera or Yellow Fever, is absolutely for- 
bidden 
Bule 2. The bodies of those who have died of Scarlet Fever, 
Typhus or Typhoid Fever, shall be received for transportation 
only when wrapped in a disinfectant cerecloth, placed in a close 
metallic or wooden coffin, and this enclosed in a tight wooden 
box. This rule shall be enforced throughout the entire year. 
Rule 3. Between March 15th and November 15th no dead 
body shall be transported unless prepared in the manner 
set forth in Rule 2, above. But between November 1.5th and 
March 15th, all dead bodies may be transported without re- 
striction, excepting the bodies of those wTho have died of Scarlet 
Fever, Typhus or Typhoid Fever, which must be prepared in 
accordance with Rule 2 at all seasons: and excepting the bodies 
of those who have died of Small-Pox, Diphtheria, Asiatic 
Cholera or Yellow Fever, which may not be transported at any 
season in any public conveyance. 
Rule 4. Every dead body received for transportation must be 
accompanied by (1) a physician's certificate, showing cause of 
death, or a certificate of inquest from the coroner, or a permit 
for transportation (stating cause of death) from the clerk of 
the local board of health; and (2) by a written certificate from 
the shipping undertaker, that the corpse has been prepared for 
transportation in accordance with the foregoing rules of the 
Illinois State Board of Health. 
*By public conveyance.