A board of health, in his opinion, should make its own laws, execute its own laws, and sit in judgment on its own acts. It must be an _imperium in imperio_. England, the foremost country in the world in the cultivation of sanitary science and in the application of its principles to practice, had by its legislation for a quarter of a century established a precedent which it was right and safe for us to follow.
He predicted that if this bill became a law its operations would be so beneficial that it would not only become very popular in this city, but that it would be the basis of future health legislation in this country. He believed, however, that no legislature would pass a bill containing such powers if these powers were made a prominent feature of the bill. For that reason he had adopted that involved expression peculiar to English law which required a judicial interpretation to determine the precise meaning. The bill was approved in the form presented by Mr. Eaton, and preparation was made to secure its passage.
As the City Inspector with his health wardens always appeared at Albany when a health bill was before the Legislature, denying vociferously the alleged unsanitary condition of the city, Mr. Eaton advised that the Association make a careful inspection of the city with its own inspectors. This inspection was organized by the Council of Hygiene and prosecuted during the summer of 1864 by young physicians, and was the most exhaustive study of the sanitary condition ever made of a city, even by officials. The results were published in a large volume which has been pronounced by authorities at home and abroad as equal to the best official reports of European cities.
The bill was early introduced into the Legislature of 1865. In due time it came before a joint committee of both houses, with Senator Andrew D. White in the chair. The City Inspector, with his health wardens, was present, and a large attendance of members with several prominent citizens of New York. At Mr. Eaton’s request I described the deplorable sanitary condition of the city as revealed by our inspections and explained the medical features of the bill. He followed with a brilliant and exhaustive speech on the nature of sanitary legislation and the value to cities of adequate health laws administered by well-organized boards of health.