Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 2.djvu/88

 SANITATION AND SOCIOLOGY.

Non est vivere, sed valere vita. Martial.

AN eminent sanitarian has said that "the relations between sociology and hygiene are extremely intimate, a fact which seems not sufficiently appreciated by the students of either subject." It is true that one need not search far for instances of the failure of people in general to recognize the close relationship which exists between sanitary conditions and social progress ; but ignorance or indifference on the part of the general public may be pardoned, surely, because so little has been done in the past to diffuse general information concerning the facts and theories, or the actual and ideal achievements, of either sanitation or sociology. Such an attitude of mind, however, on the part of the expert in either subject is becoming almost worthy of censure, for sufficient progress has been made along both lines of investigation to show certain phases of their interdependence. The more study is given to these problems of life, the more help- ful the student finds the possibilities involved in this relationship and the more impatient he becomes of the investigator in either department whose efforts to secure independence in his chosen field lead him to a false valuation of the good which may result from a recognition of the bond which truly exists and which is capable of reacting as helpfully for the one side as for the other.

Little time need be spent in searching for evidence that the sanitarian allows himself a very narrow outlook. In general, he limits his object to the prolongation of existence. The address delivered by Dr. Bowditch of Massachusetts at the first meeting of the first State Board of Health organized in the United States is recognized on all sides as epoch-making; nevertheless it contained so limited a conception of the aim of sanitary reform as is implied in the following statement: "I beg

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