BRATTLEBORO, Vт., March 12, 1907.

GEORGE B. HULBURD, M. D., Health Officer, Jericho, Vt.

DEAR DOCTOR:-While recently being in your town I inspected the slaughter house of A. W. Edwards. It was found to be in a filthy condition and should be cleaned, as well as the basement where the blood and offal are thrown. If the business of slaughtering is continued there it is likely to become a nuisance, in which case it should be abated at once. Further,

it is so situated that the drainage from this building must find its way into the stream back of it, the water of which, I understand, is used for domestic purposes. Mr. Edwards informed me that he should discontinue to use the building for the purposes of a slaughter house. You will see that this promise is complied with and that the premises are put in a sanitary condition.

BRATTLEBORO, VT., March 12, 1907.

C. M. MEAD, Esq., Health Officer, Underhill, Vt.

DEAR SIR:-While in your town last week my attention was called to the slaughter house of Mr. Pollard (I think that name is right). It seems that they slaughter young calves and feed them to swine. Should this continue as the weather gets warmer, it would render the establishment a nuisance that would have to be abated at once. Mr. P. informed me that he should not continue the business there after the weather was warm. You will inspect these premises and see that his pledge to discontinue slaughtering there is fulfilled and that everything is put in a sanitary condition.

BRATTLEBORO, Vт., April 29, 1907.

To the School Directors of Royalton, PEARL B. DEWY, Chair

man.

GENTLEMEN :—Having inspected the brick schoolhouse in what was formerly District No. 9 of your town, we do not find it meeting the requirements necessary to comply with the rules and regulations for a sanitary school house. As we were informed that it was the intention of your board to make repairs during the summer vacation we do not at this time condemn

the building, but shall require that, during the coming vacation, you make such changes and repairs as will make the building conform to the Rules and Regulations of this Board relating to school houses. These Rules and Regulations are hereunto annexed and made a part of this report.

The platform across the front of the building must be replaced by a new one; on each side of the house, in the underpinning, two windows, at least, must be placed, of sufficient size to admit plenty of fresh air for the preservation of the floor timbers; sufficient land should be acquired to allow a passage around the building, so that a walk could be made to outhouses in the rear. There should be two, one for the boys and one for the girls, so arranged that they could be approached by the girls from one side and by the boys from the other. Each house should be at least twenty feet from the building and a fence should be so placed as to screen children from observation in passing to and from these houses, which should be kept clean at all times, dry earth or sand being used daily to absorb all odors.

The light does not meet the requirements. If each of the windows were extended up to the ceiling, it would probably increase the area sufficiently; if not, in addition, a window could be put in the back of the room. A new floor and new, adjustable seats should take the places of the present floor and seats. Ventilation should be supplied as indicated on the last page of the attached circular. If a water supply is not secured, fresh, clean water should be supplied and each pupil should have his own individual drinking cup.

In behalf of the State Board of Health,

HENRY D. HOLTON,

Secretary and Executive Officer.

BRATTLEBORO, VT., April 29, 1907.

To the Local Board of Health of the Village of Hardwick, S. E. DARLING, M. D., Secretary.

GENTLEMEN:-At a recent inspection of your village by Dr. F. T. Kidder, a member of this Board, it was found that there were, in various parts of the village, manure piles, the accumulations of several months, which were offensive and are hereby declared to be nuisances. You are therefore directed to see that, from the 1st of May to the 1st of November of each year, the accumulations of all such refuse be removed every four to six weeks. All other offensive accumulations are to be treated

in the same way; all premises to be kept clean and not allowed to become nuisances.

In behalf of the State Board of Health,

HENRY D. HOLTON, Secretary and Executive Officer.

BRATTLEBORO, Vт., May 11, 1907.

F. C. RUSSELL, M. D., Newbury, Vt.

DEAR DOCTOR:-An examination May 10th, with reference to a building being erected in the ravine west of your village and south of your square, which is intended to be used as a slaughter house, shows that, in case it should be used for such purpose, it could not affect the springs of water which are further south and upon higher ground, only in the event of a leakage in the pipe down in the swamp below where any refuse of the slaughter house would drain into the swamp, and this, of course, is a very remote contingency. If this building is used as a slaughter house, the business should be so conducted that it will not become a nuisance by reason of unpleasant odors arising from decaying animal matter, or from the keeping of hogs under or about it. But no order with reference to this can be issued at the present time. When the above mentioned conditions arise, if they do, then your Local Board of Health can make an order abating such nuisance.

Yours truly,

HENRY D. HOLTON, Secretary.

BRATTLEBORO, VT., May 15, 1907.

H. H. SEELEY, M. D., Secretary and Executive Officer of Local Board of Health, Richmond, Vt.

DEAR DOCTOR: We have examined the basement plan for heating and plumbing your proposed school house. We regret that the plans were not fuller, showing just how it is proposed to complete the work in the superstructure. You have a copy of the Rules and Regulations promulgated by the State Board of Health regarding public buildings, especially school houses. Your heating and ventilating plant must comply with the requirements contained therein. (See bottom of third page.) Instead of saying in the first paragraph of specifications" to properly heat the building," it should guarantee to warm all rooms to 70 degrees Fahrenheit in any weather. Instead of saying in last paragraph at bottom of page two, in specifications, "four times per hour," it should specify "not less than thirty

cubic feet per minute of pure air for each pupil will be supplied and so supplied as not to produce an uncomfortable draft." The difference in temperature between any two points on the breathing plan should not exceed three degrees. It should also be provided that the ventilating flues shall be of sufficient size to readily introduce and remove the requisite amount of air from the room. The ventilation for the water closets must be by separate shaft, not into the shaft that ventilates the school rooms. All conduits to be of metal, not of wood.

Regarding the specifications for plumbing, the accompanying Regulations of this Board relative to plumbing should be a part of the contract, all work to be especially in conformity with them. All rain water pipes should be connected and provided with traps under ground. The lavatories and drinking fountains should not be in water closets nor should waste from them be into "closet tanks." All traps to be "Sanitas traps." On completion all work to be submitted to the smoke

test.

All submitted in behalf of the State Board of Health,

HENRY D. HOLTON,

Secretary and Executive Officer.

BRATTLEBORO, Vт., May 17, 1907.

HON. JOHN ROBBINS, Mayor, Barre, Vt.

DEAR SIR: An inspection of the water shed from which the supply of water is derived that is used in your city indicated that, in the main, everything was, at this time, in a satisfactory condition.

There were, however, one or two exceptions. The first was the Bock brook in Orange, which is, at present, in good shape, though requiring some repairing of the fences to keep the cattle out of the brook and the cleaning out of the pond above the dam and its annex, where an attempt was made to filter some of the water through a bed of sand. To make this of any value it requires to be rebuilt in a manner entirely different. The methods of constructing sand filters for the purification of water are now well understood. If you are to have an effective filter, you should have one properly constructed. We were informed that on a narrow strip of land on the west side of this brook, lying between the brook and the highway opposite the residence of a Mrs. Bugbee, who is supposed to own this land, it is proposed to erect a barn. The erection of a building on this strip of land would not of itself be objectionable. However, if at

any time such a building should be used for keeping animals of any kind, the excrements from such animals would be very likely to be drawn or washed into the brook, thus polluting the water. This would be in contravention of Section 18 of No. 113, also Section 6 of No. 115 of the Acts of 1902. Therefore in the exercise of proper courtesy it would seem that you should notify any persons about to erect a building on this strip of land that it could never be used in any way that by itself, or by reason of any use to which it might be put, the water of the brook should become polluted; they would be subjected to the penalties prescribed by the law.

On inspection of the Bolster reservoir it appeared that a brook discharging its water into it and which came from Peck's pond, flows past the farm buildings of Mr. La Bounty; not only the drainage from the barns, pig pens, out buildings and manure heaps, all within 50 to 100 feet of the brook, must at times pollute the water, but the sewage from the kitchen tends to flow to the brook. This is and will always be a serious menace to the purity of this water; hence we recommend that measures be taken to remove this source of danger to the contamination of your water. If necessary you can accomplish this by taking action under Section 6 of No. 115 of the Acts of 1902.

You should act with promptness in preventing pollution of your water supply; delay in such cases has in time past caused serious epidemics, with loss of life.

In behalf of the State Board of Health,

HENRY D. HOLTON, Secretary and Executive Officer.

BRATTLEBORO, Vт., May 24, 1907.

C. W. PECK, M. D., Brandon, Vt., Secretary.

GENTLEMEN:-On the 23rd we made a careful inspection of the sanitary condition of your village. Our attention was called to the grounds of R. H. West. We found that Mr. Charles Thomas, living east and on higher ground, had a drain taking the sewage from his house on High Street down through his garden west to land of Mr. West and discharging it upon the land of Mr. West, thus making a nuisance at the point where it runs on to said land. A person cannot thus create and maintain a nuisance upon his own land, much less upon the land of another. Section 15, sub-section 1 of No. 113, Laws of 1902, as amended in 1904, especially authorizes you to abate such nuisances. This you should do without delay.