C. O.
409
Observations by Surgeon General .. Mackinnon. C.B. Army Medical Department on Sanitary matters at Hong Kong.
Chinese towns are proverbially filthy, for surpassing in the present day the horrible condition given in history, of the medieval cities of Europe during the greater epidemics of the fifteenth century. Municipal health laws are unknown to the Chinese, and the mandarins do not recognize any obligation on the part of their government to concern itself in public health measures. Sanitary science is a sealed book to the literate, and the civic authorities of China, in common with all classes: men, however intelligent, are wont to deride the Western Barbarian's notion of preventing disease and prolonging life by such absurd whims as house-ventilation and the prevention of overcrowding, proper drainage and sewerage, the speedy removal of putrescent waste-matters, personal ablution and public cleanliness, unpolluted drinking water, vaccination, disinfection, etc.
From an economic point of view, it must, however, be admitted the Chinese are fully alive to the importance of removing human excrementitious matter from their habitations and returning it to the earth as speedily as possible for the sustenance...