winter months. The institution is well kept, and no death has occurred there of a person taken sick within its limits since the present structure has been erected.

The principal disease is malaria. The most frequent cause of death is diphtheria, the mortuary list showing between seventy and eighty deaths from this cause annually. Third on the list (consumption coming between) is disease of the heart, pneumonia following. The climate seems more particularly to develop diseases of the respiratory organs.

The accompanying map shows the location of the fatal cases of diphtheria in 1877 and 1878.

The principal source of danger to life and health is our inefficient Board of Health, for all hygienic laws are openly violated without rebuke. Next are the shallow wells in proximity to full privies and unemptied cesspools.

The registration laws are very poorly observed. Returns of births and deaths are made but once a year. Physicians are remiss. In one case no returns could be obtained until the clerk made it out.

Improvements most needed are, that connections should be compelled between houses and sewers, especially where the dwellings are in blocks or flats, with plumbing under the supervision of the health officer, and the abolishment of privies. That part of the course of the Pequonnock river between the dam at the pond alluded to and the head-waters of Berkshire pond is a broad expanse of lowland, covered with a growth of stunted trees. The region is infested with malaria, and at the present time it is the only place in which diphtheria is prevalent. The course of the stream ought to be narrowed, and the whole space filled in.

For a proper registration of vital statistics, an enforcement of the laws for that purpose provided is necessary.

Illumination is supplied by the Bridgeport Gas Light Company, a chartered corporation. On the outskirts, gasoline is used, with self-feeding lamps.

NORWICH-DR. C. M. CARLTON, REPORTER.

The population, estimated at 16,500, is composed, in addition to the Americans, of Irish, German, English, French, and Scotch, and about three thousand live in tenement-houses. Pulmonary diseases amongst the operatives in the cotton and woolen mills are

very prevalent. Most of them live in cottages and tenementhouses. Rockwell pond, and both Yantic and Shetucket rivers are partially dry during the summer, and the river bed in places offensive from the outhouses on its banks. The area drained by sewers is about eighty acres, and there are about three miles of sewers which empty into the rivers. The dumping-ground is Yantic Cove, which is to be filled in this manner. In some cases there are cesspools which seldom require cleaning, as the soil is gravelly and porous. Intermittent fever has appeared here this fall for the first time, except a few cases on the line of the New London & Northern Railroad, when that was built.

ELLINGTON-A. A. HYDE, REPORTER.

Estimated population 1,500; principal occupation, farming. The soil is a sandy loam, favorably situated for natural drainage. There are three hundred acres of marshy land which are constantly decreased by drainage, and when extensive ditching has been done malarial fevers have prevailed. The average depth of wells is twenty feet, the nearest privy to well fifteen feet, average distance of sink drain from well one rod. Prevalent diseases, typhoid fever, typhoid-pneumonia, diphtheria, dysentery.

COLLINSVILLE-DR. G. R. SHEPARD, REPORTER.

Population, American, three-fourths; French Canadian, oneeighth; Germans, one-eighth; Irish, one-twenty-fourth; Swedes, one-twenty-fourth. The largest number of families living in a tenement-house is seven; average, four. The principal disease, due to occupation, is grinders' consumption, from the dust inhaled. The soil is gravelly. There are no sewers of any length; the principal drainage is by roadside gutters. The bed of the pond is exposed by day and fills up again at night to a very great extent in summer. The average depth of wells is twenty feet; filth is disposed of in heaps near the house. Malarial diseases, dysentery and diarrhea, and of late scarlet fever and diphtheria have prevailed extensively. There is no local health board except the selectmen.

SUFFIELD-DR. J. K. MASON.

The principal occupations are farming, and the manufacture and sale of tobacco, the staple crop. The soil is clay or gravel naturally, well situated for drainage, with about three thousand

acres of low, wet land, and two hundred of swampy, marshy land; about four hundred acres have been drained during the last five years. The principal unsanitary conditions are wet and unclean cellars, foul wells, cisterns, sink-drains, and cesspools. The princi. pal diseases are dysentery, pneumonia, consumption, typhoid and typho-malarial fevers. The water supply is from wells and cisterns, mostly hard. The average depth of wells, twenty-five feet; shallowest, eight feet, and the least distance of privy and sink-drain from well, fifteen feet and ten feet respectively.

WILLIMANTIC-DR. C. J. FOX.

The population is composed of Americans, Irish, and French. About two thousand live in tenement-houses; the same number in cottages, and a thousand in boarding-houses. The greatest number of families living in tenement-houses is eighteen; average, four. The principal diseases liable to occupation are those of the -lungs. The principal manufacturies are sewing-cotton and silk. The soil is gravelly and naturally well drained. An area of 150 acres is drained by sewers. The wells range from sixteen to thirty feet in depth, and the water is pure, but generally hard. The garbage and house refuse is pretty promptly carted away to the neighboring farms. The principal sanitary evils are deficient and incomplete sewerage, and poor ventilation.

DERBY-DR. C. H. PINNEY.

Estimated population, ten thousand-one-half Americans, onethird Irish, remainder English and German. A very large proportion of the employés live in cottages. The drainage is excellent; there is no flat land; the soil sandy and gravelly. There are three water companies that supply this and adjacent villages, but many bring water to their houses from springs in the hills; the water is soft and clear. The house refuse and filth is removed by the river. There are no diseases directly due to occupation. largest number of families in a tenement-house is twelve.

NAUGATUCK-H. C. BALDWIN.

The

The population of about 4,000 is composed of Americans, nearly half Irish, about one-third English and Germans, and a few French, and the employés are about equally divided among tenement-houses, boarding-houses, and cottages. The largest number

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of families in a tenement-house is six. The principal manufactures are rubber, iron, cutlery, and woolen. Those that work in the cutlery shops are subject to grinders' consumption, and those in the rubber and woolen mills are more liable to diseases of the lungs. The natural drainage is excellent; the Naugatuck flows through the center, and there are no bodies of stagnant water. There is not sufficient care taken in summer to cleanse and deodorize privies and cesspools, and as the soil is very porous, the wells often near, they may become contaminated. Typhoid fever and malarial diseases are prevalent.

PLAINFIELD-REV. J. H. FELLOWS.

The principal occupations are farming and manufacturing cotton and woolen goods. The soil is sandy and favorable for drainage. There is but little wet and undrained land. Consumption is the principal cause of death. Typhoid and scarlet fevers prevail. Water is obtained from wells and springs, the former hard, latter soft. Some of the wells are but six feet deep; average, twenty; deepest, sixty. The least distance of privy from well is fifteen feet, of sink-drain, ten feet; average, twenty-five feet. The principal unsanitary causes arise from an insufficient supply of water and the conditions above described. A gradual form of paralysis is the only peculiar form of sickness I have noticed.