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1857. LAWS 
RELATIVE TO THE 
PUBLIC HEALTH 
IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 
NEW YORK 
EDMUND JONES, PRINTER, 69 NASSAU STREET, CORNER JOHN STREET. 
1857. LAWS 
RELATIVE TO THE 
PUBLIC HEALTH 
IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 
PART 1st, CHAPTER XIV., 
OF THE 
REVISED STATUTES, 
As Aincnded and Modified by the subsequent Acts of the Legislature. 
TITLE I. 
OF THE OFFICERS OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 
§ 1. The legislative powers heretofore vested, by any: 
existing law of this State, in the Board of Health of the 
city of New York, other than as the same are hereinafter 
modified or altered, shall be vested in the Mayor and Com- 
mon Council of the said city of New York. (1850, ch. 275, § 1.) 
§ 2. The said Mayor and Common Council, when acting 
in relation to the public health of said city, or in the exe- 
cution of the said powers, or those hereinafter conferred, 
shall be known as the Board of Health of the city of New 
York, of which ten members shall be necessary to constm 
Board of Health. 
Ib. 
Quorum. 4 
President. 
tute a quorum. The Mayor shall be the President of such 
Board, and shall have power at any time to convene the 
same. (Same ch. §2.) 
§ 3. The sessions of the Common Council, when acting as 
a Board of Health, shall be with closed doors, except when 
otherwise ordered by said Board. (Same ch. § 3.) 
4 
§ 4. The President of the Board of Aidermen, the President 
of the Board of Assistant Aidermen, the Health Officer, the 
Resident Physician, the Health Commissioner, and City In- 
spector, shall be the Commissioners of Health. (Same ch. § 4.) 
§ 5. It shall be the duty of the Mayor and the Commis- 
sioners of Health to render their advice to the Board of 
Health, and to the City Inspector of said city, in regard to 
all matters connected with the public health thereof. (Same 
ch. § 5.) 
§ 6. The Health Officer shall perform all the duties herein- 
after specified, and such other duties as the Board of Health, 
or the Mayor and the Commissioners of Health, shall lawfully 
require. (Same ch. § 6.) 
§ 7. The Health Officer may appoint an assistant, for whose 
conduct he shall be responsible, and who may perform all 
the duties required of the Health Officer. Such assistant 
shall, before entering on the duties of his office, take the oath 
prescribed in the Constitution of this State. (Same ch. § 7.) 
§ 8. The Resident Physician shall visit all sick persons 
reported to the Board, or to the Mayor, and the Commis- 
Sessions. 
Commissioners 
of Health. 
To advise the 
Board. 
Health Officer. 
Assistant Health 
Officer. 
Resident Physi- 
cian. 5 
sioners of Health, and shall perform such other professional 
duties as the Board of Health shall enjoin. {Same ch. § 8.) 
§ 9. The Health Commissioner, under the direction of the - 
Board of Health, shall assist the Resident Physician in the 
discharge of his official duties. {Same ch. § 9.) 
§ 10. (Sec. 8.) He shall also receive all moneys appropri- ] 
ated to the use of the Marine Hospital, and shall pay all 
demands against the Hospital that shall be approved by a 
majority of the Commissioners of Health, and, before he shall 
enter on the duties of his office, shall execute a bond in the 
penal sum of twenty thousand dollars, conditioned for the 
faithful performance of his trust, and with such sureties as 
the Mayor or Recorder of the city shall approve. The bond 
shall be given to the people of this State, and be filed by the 
officer taking it, in the office of the clerk of the city and 
county. (J.s amended 1840, ch. 19.) 
§ 11. (Sec. 9.) He shall render to the Board of Health a 
monthly account of his receipts and disbursements on account 
of the Marine Hospital, and shall deposit the balance that 
shall appear to be in his hands in such bank in the city of 
New-York as the Board shall designate, to the credit of the 
Commissioners of Health. 
§ 12. (Sec. 10.) The moneys so deposited shall not be 
drawn out, except on the check of the Health Commissioner, 
countersigned by the President of the Board of Health.* 
Health Commis- 
sioner. 
ib. to give 
Bonds. 
To Account and 
Deposit. 
Moneys, how 
Drawn- 
* The transfer of the control of the Marine Hospital to the Commissioners 
of Emigration, by chapter 483 of the laws of 1847, has rendered the provisions 
of the original sections 8, 9 and 10, of this title, in marly respects inoperative. 
But they have not been specifically repealed, and it is possible that cases may 
arise under existing laws where moneys may be received and disbursed as 
directed in these sections. They are therefore inserted entire. 6 
Commissioners 
to meet. 
§ 13. In the discharge of their duties, the Mayor and the 
Commissioners of Health shall meet daily at the office of the 
Board of Health, during such part of the year and at such 
hours of the day as the said Board shall designate. (1850, 
ch. 275, § 10.) 
§ 14. The Resident Physician shall receive an annual 
• salary of twelve hundred and fifty dollars, to be paid by the 
Corporation of said city, and the Health Commissioner an 
annual salary of three thousand and five hundred dollars, in 
lieu of fees and percentage, which shall be paid by the Com- 
missioners of Emigration; and after the expiration of the 
term of office of the present Health Commissioner and Re- 
sident Physician, the said officers shall hereafter be appointed 
by the Mayor of the city of New York, by and with the 
advice and consent of the Board of Aidermen of said city.* 
{Same ch. § 11.) 
§ 15. The Board of Health may, from time to time, appoint 
so many visiting, hospital and consulting physicians, as they 
may deem necessary, designate their duties, and fix their 
compensation. {Same ch. § 12.) 
§ 16. The Mayor, by and with the advice and consent of 
the Board of Aidermen, may appoint an Inspector of Vessels, 
who shall, under the direction of the Mayor and the Com- 
missioners of Health, or of the Board of Health, perform the 
duties required of him in this act, and shall be entitled to re- 
ceive the following fees: 
Salaries of Resi- 
dent Physician 
and Health Com- 
missioner. 
consulting Phy- 
sicians may be 
appointed 
inspector of ves- 
* Modified by section 7 of chapter 523, laws of 1851, so as to make the 
salary of the Health Commissioner payable out of the city treasury, and be fixed 
by the city authorities. 7 
For each cargo inspected by him, under such direction, J 
three dollars. 
For each vessel cleansed and purified by him, under the 
like direction, five dollars. 
Which fees shall be paid by the owner or consignee of 
the cargo inspected, or vessel cleansed and purified. {Same 
§ 13.) 
§ 17. It shall be the duty of such Inspector, after he shall 
have performed any service required of him, to make an 
immediate report of his proceedings, and their result, to the 
Board of Health, or to the Mayor and the Commissioners of 
Health. {Same ch. § 14. 
Fees 
TITLE II. 
Of Quarantine, and Regulations in the nature of Quarantine 
at the Port of New York. 
ARTICLE FIRST. 
OF THE PLACE OF QUARANTINE, AND VESSELS AND PERSONS 
SUBJECT TO QUARANTINE. 
§ 1. The anchorage ground for vessels at Quarantine shall; 
be near the place where the Marine Hospital now is, and shall 
be designated by buoys to be anchored under the direction 
of the Health Officer; and every vessel subject to quarantine 
Anchorage 
Ground. 8 
shall, immediately on her arrival, anchor within them, and 
there remain, with all persons arriving on hqr, subject to the 
examinations and regulations imposed by law. (1856, ch. 
147, § 1.) 
§ 2. Vessels arriving at the port of New York shall be 
subject to quarantine as follows: 1st. All vessels from any 
place where pestilential, contagious or infectious disease 
existed at the time of their departure, or which shall have 
arrived at any such place and proceeded thence to New 
York, or on board of which during the voyage any case of 
such disease shall have occurred, arriving between the first 
day of April and the first day of November, shall remain at 
Quarantine for at least thirty days after their arrival, and st 
least twenty days after their cargo shall have been discharg- 
ed, and shall perform such further quarantine as the May^r 
and Commissioners of Health may prescribe, unless the 
Health Officer, with the approval of the Mayor or Commis- 
sioners of Health, shall sooner grant a permit for said vessel 
or cargo, or both, to proceed. 2d. All vessels from aiy 
place (including islands) in Asia, Africa, or the Mediterra- 
nean, or from any of the West Indies, Bahama, Bermuda qr 
Western islands, or from any place in America, in the ord- 
nary passage from which they pass south of Cape Henlopel, 
and all vessels on board of which, during the voyage or 
while at the port of their departure, any person shall have 
been sick, arriving between the first day of April and the 
first day of November, and all vessels from a foreign port, 
not embraced in the first subdivision of this section, shall, on 
their arrival at the Quarantine Ground, be subject to visita- 
tion by the Health Officer, but shall not be detained beyond 
the time requisite for due examination and observation, un- 
less they shall have had on board during the voyage some 
case of infectious, contagious or pestilential disease, in which 
Quarantine of 
Vessels. 9 
case they shall be subject to such quarantine and regulations 
as the Health Officer and the Mayor or Commissioners of 
Health may prescribe. 3d. All vessels embraced in the fore- 
going provisions, which are navigated by steam, shall be 
subject only to such length of quarantine and regulations as 
the Health Officer shall enjoin, unless they shall have had 
on board during the voyage some case of infectious, contagi- 
ous, or pestilential disease, in which case they shall be subject 
to such quarantine as the Health Officer and the Mayor or 
Commissioners of Health shall prescribe. (Same ch. § 2.) 
§ 3. All vessels and persons remaining at Quarantine on 
the first day of November, shall, thereafter, be subject to 
such quarantine and restrictions as vessels and persons arriv- 
ing on and after that day. (Same ch. § 3.) 
§ 4. The Board of Health, or the Health Officer, or the 
Mayor or Commissioners of Health, whenever, in their judg- 
ment, the public health shall require, may order any vessel 
at the wharves of the city, or in their vicinity, to the Quaran- 
tine Ground, or other place of safety, and may require all 
persons, articles, or things, introduced into the city from such 
vessels, to be seized, returned on board, or removed to the 
Quarantine Ground, or other place. If the master, owner, 
or consignee of the vessel cannot be found, or shall refuse or 
neglect to obey the order of removal, the Board of Health, 
or the Health Officer, or the Mayor and Commissioners of 
Health, shall have power to cause such removal at the ex- 
pense of such master, owner, or consignee, and such vessel 
or person shall not return to the city without the written 
permission of the Board of Health, Health Officer, or Mayor 
and Commissioners of Health. (Same ch. § 4.) 
Ib. 
When Vessels at 
wharves of the 
city may be re- 
moved to Qua- 
rantine Ground. 10 
Vessels bound to 
eastern ports. 
1 § 5. If any vessel arriving at the Quarantine Ground, sub- 
ject to quarantine, shall be bound to some port east of the 
city of New York, the Health Officer, after having duly vis- 
ited and examined her, may permit her to pass on her voyage 
through the Sound; but no such vessel shall be brought to 
anchor off the city, nor shall any of her crew or passengers 
land in, or hold any communication with, the city, or any 
person therefrom. {Same ch. § 5.) 
§ 6. Every vessel having had, during the voyage, a case 
of pestilential, infectious, or contagious disease, and every 
vessel from a foreign port having passengers, and not herein- 
before declared subject to quarantine, shall, on her arrival 
at the Quarantine Ground, be subject to visitation by the 
Health Officer, but shall not be detained beyond the time 
requisite for due examination, unless she shall have had on 
board, during the voyage, some case of infectious, contagi- 
ous, or pestilential disease, in which case she shall be subject 
to such quarantine as the Health Officer, and the Mayor, and 
the Commissioners of Health may prescribe; and it shall be 
the duty of the Health Officer, whenever he thinks it neces- 
sary for the preservation of the public health, to cause the 
persons on board any vessel to be vaccinated. (1850, ch. 
275, § 7.) 
§ 7. The master of every vessel released from Quarantine, 
and arriving at the city of New York, shall, within twenty- 
four hours after such release, deliver the permit of the Health 
Officer at the office of the Mayor. (1856, ch. 147, § 6.) 
§ 8. Nothing in this act contained shall prevent any ves- 
sel, arriving at Quarantine, from again^ going to sea before 
breaking bulk. {Same ch. § 7.) 
Infected Vessels 
Permit to be de- 
livered at May- 
or's Office. 
Restriction. 11 
ARTICLE SECOND. 
OF THE DUTIES OF PILOTS IN RELATION TO VESSELS SUBJECT 
TO QUARANTINE. 
§ 9. It shall be the duty of each branch and deputy pilot 
belonging to the port, to use his utmost endeavors to hail 
every vessel he shall discover entering the port, and to inter- 
rogate the master of such vessel in reference to all matters 
necessary to enable such pilot to determine whether, accord- 
ing to the provisions of the preceding sections, such vessel 
is subject to quarantine or examination by the Health Officer. 
{Same ch. § 8.) 
§ 10. If, from the answers obtained from such inquiries, it; 
shall appear that such vessel is subject to quarantine or ex- 
amination by the Health Officer, according to the preceding 
provisions, the pilot shall immediately give notice to the 
master of the vessel, that he, his vessel, his cargo, crew and 
passengers, are subject to such examination, and that he 
must proceed and anchor said vessel at the Quarantine an- 
chorage, there to await the further directions of the Health 
Officer. {Same ch. § 9.) 
§ 11. It shall be the duty of every pilot, who shall conduct; 
into port a vessel subject to quarantine or examination by 
the Health Officer: 
1st. To bring such vessel to anchor within the buoys 
marking the Quarantine anchorage. 
2d. To prevent any vessel or boat from coming alongside 
of the vessel under his charge, and to prevent anything on 
board from being thrown into any other vessel or boat. 
Duty of Pilots. 
Notice to Master 
of vessel. 
Duty of Pilots ini 
charge of vessels 12 
3d. To present to the master of the vessel a printed copy 
of this title, when such copy shall have been delivered to him 
for that purpose. 
4th. To take care that no violations of this title be com- 
mitted by any person, and to report such as shall be commit- 
ted, as soon as may be, to the Health Officer. (Same ch. §10.) 
ARTICLE THIRD. 
REGULATIONS CONCERNING THE TREATMENT CONDUCT AND 
DUTIES OF VESSELS, ARTICLES AND PERSONS UNDER QUAR- 
ANTINE. 
§ 12. It shall be the duty of the Health Officer to board 
every vessel subject to quarantine or visitation by him, im- 
mediately on her arrival, between sunrise and sunset; to 
inquire as to the health of all persons on board, and the con- 
dition of the vessel and cargo, by inspection of the bill of 
health, manifest, log-book, or otherwise; to examine on oath 
as many and such persons on board as he may judge expe- 
dient, to enable him to determine the period of quarantine 
and the regulations to which such vessel shall be made sub- 
ject, and to report the facts and his conclusions, and especial- 
ly to report the number of persons sick, and the nature of 
the disease with which they are afflicted, to the Mayor or 
Commissioners of Health in writing. (Same ch. § 11.) 
§ 13. It shall be the duty of the Health Officer to reside 
within the Quarantine enclosure, and he shall have power: 
1. To remove from the quarantine anchorage ground any 
Health Officer to 
board Vessels 
'Residence of 
Health Officer. 
To remove dan- 
gerous vessels. 13 
vessel he may deem dangerous to the public health, to any 
place south of the Quarantine buoys and inside of Sandy 
Hook. 
2. To cause any vessel under quarantine, when he shall 
judge it necessary for the purification of the vessel or her 
cargo, passengers, or crew, or .either of them, to discharge 
or land the same at the Quarantine Ground or some other 
place out of the city. 
3. To cause any such vessel or her cargo, bedding, and the 
clothing of persons on board, to be ventilated, cleansed and 
purified, in such manner and during such time as he shall 
direct; and, if he shall judge it necessary, to prevent infection 
or contagion, to destroy any portion of such bedding or cloth- 
ing, and, with the authority of the Mayor or Commissioners 
of Health, any portion of such cargo which he may deem 
incapable of purification. 
4. To prohibit and prevent all persons, arriving in vessels 
subject to quarantine, from leaving Quarantine, or removing 
their goods or baggage therefrom, yntil fifteen days after the 
last case of pestilential, contagious, or infectious disease shall 
have occurred on board, and ten days after her arrival at 
Quarantine, unless sooner discharged by him, with the con- 
sent of the Mayor and the Commissioners of Health. 
5. To permit the cargo of any vessel under quarantine, or 
any portion thereof, when he shall judge the same free from 
infection and contagion, to be conveyed to the city of New 
York or elsewhere; such permission, however, to be inoper- 
ative without the written approval of the Mayor or Commis- 
sioners of Health. 
Cargo and pas- 
sengers to be 
landed- 
Ventilation and 
cleaning of Ves- 
sels. 
Cargo may bo 
destroyed. 
Prohibition as to 
leaving Quaran- 
tine. 
Permit to pro- 
ceed lo N. Y 14 
vaccination. 
6. To cause all persons under quarantine to be vaccinated, 
when he deems it necessary, for the preservation of the pub- 
lic health. 
7. To administer oaths and take affidavits in all examina- 
tions prescribed by this act, and in relation to any alleged 
violation of quarantine law or regulation ; such oaths to have 
the like validity and effect as oaths administered by a com- 
missioner of deeds. {Same ch. § 12.) 
§ 14. The Health Officer or the Physician of the Marine 
Hospital may direct, in writing, any constable or other 
citizen, to pursue and apprehend any person, not discharged, 
who shall elope from Quarantine, or who shall violate any 
quarantine law or regulation, or who shall obstruct the 
Health Officer, or the Physician of the Marine Hospital, in 
the performance of their duty, and to deliver him to said 
officer or officers, to be detained at Quarantine until dis- 
charged by said officer or officers; but such confinement 
shall in no case exceed ten days. It shall be the duty of 
the constable, or other citizen so directed, to obey such direc- 
tions; and every sucrh person so eloping or violating the 
quarantine laws and regulations, or obstructing the Health 
Officer, shall be considered guilty of a misdemeanor, punish- 
able with or by fine and imprisonment. {Same ch. § 13.) 
§ 15. Every sick person sent to the Marine Hospital, by 
the Health Officer, shall be there kept and attended to with 
all necessary and proper care, and no such person shall leave 
the Hospital until the Health Officer shall grant a discharge 
in writing. {Same ch. § 14.) 
To administer 
oaths. 
Persons eloping 
from Marine 
Hospital may be 
arrested. 
Care of the sick. 15 
§16. The Commissioners of Emigration shall remove 
from the Marine Hospital and take charge of all indigent 
emigrants whose quarantine has expired, and who shall have 
sufficiently recovered from the diseases with which they were 
admitted, on the notification in writing of the Health Officer, 
that such removal will not, with ordinary care, endanger the 
safety of the individual, or the health of the community. 
{Same ch. §15.) 
§ 17. The Health Officer, the Board of Health, or the 
Mayor and Commissioners of Health may, if in their opinion 
it will not be dangerous to the public health, permit the 
cargo of any vessel under quarantine, or any portion thereof, 
to be shipped for exportation by sea, or transportation up 
the North or East River; and if the vessel receiving the 
same shall approach nearer than two hundred yards to the 
wharves of the city, said cargo may be seized and sold by 
the Mayor and Commissioners of Health for the use and 
benefit of the Marine Hospital. {Same ch. § 16.) 
§ 18. Every vessel during her quarantine shall be designat- 
ed by colors, to be fixed in a conspicuous part of her main 
shrouds. {Same ch. § 17.) 
§ 19. No vessel or boat shall pass through the range of 
vessels lying at Quarantine, or land at the Quarantine Grounds 
or wharves, without the permission of the Health Officer. 
{Same ch. § 18.) 
§ 20. No lighter shall be employed to load or unload ves- 
sels at Quarantine without permission of the Health Officer, 
and subject to such restrictions and regulations as he shall 
impose. {Same ch. § 19.) 
Indigent emi- 
grants. 
When cargo may- 
be shipped for 
sea. 
^^gnation by 
range of vesse!s- 
^Sempioyedto 
without permit, 16 
deTo^anune' 
how provided for. 
§21. All passengers being on board of vessels, under 
quarantine, shall be provided for by the master of the vessel 
in which they shall have arrived; and if the master shall 
omit or refuse to provide for them, or they shall have been 
sent on shore by the Health Officer, they shall be maintained 
by the Commissioners of Emigration at the expense of such 
vessel, her owners, consignees and each and every one of 
them; and the Health Officer shall not permit such vessel to 
leave Quarantine until such expense shall have been repaid 
or secured; and the said Commissioners shall have an ac- 
tion against such vessel, her owners and consignees and each 
and every one of them for such expenses, which shall be a 
lien on such vessel, and may be enforced as other liens on 
vessels are enforced by said Commissioners. (Same ch. § 20.) 
§ 22. The Health Officer, upon the application of the 
master of any vessel under quarantine, may confine, in any 
suitable place on shore, any person on board of such vessel 
charged with having committed an offense punishable by the 
laws of this State or of the United States, and who cannot 
be secured on board of such vessel; and such confinement 
may continue during the quarantine of such person ; or until 
he shall be proceeded against in due course of law; and the 
expenses thereof shall be charged and collected as in the 
last preceding section, (Same ch. § 21.) 
§ 23. Any person aggrieved by any decision, order or 
direction of the Health Officer, may appeal therefrom to the 
Mayor and Commissioners of Health of the city of New 
York, who shall constitute a Board of Appeal; the said 
Board shall have power to affirm, reverse or modify the de- 
cision, order or direction appealed from, and the decision of 
said Board thereon shall be final. (Same ch. § 22.) 
with°offensermay 
Xrenflned°n 
^«whom 17 
§ 24. An appeal to the Board of Appeal must be made by 
serving upon the Health Officer a written notice of such ap- 
peal within twelve hours (Sundays excepted) after the appel- 
lant receives notice of the order, decision or direction com- 
plained of. Within twelve hours after the Health Officer 
receives such notice (Sundays excepted), he shall make a 
return in writing, including the facts on which his order, 
decision or direction was founded, to the Mayor, who shall 
immediately call a meeting of the Board of Appeal, and 
shall be president of said Board; and said appeal shall be 
heard and decided within twenty-four hours thereafter (Sun-] 
days excepted); and until such decision is made, the order, 
decision or direction complained of, except it refer to the 
detention of a vessel, her cargo or passengers at quarantine, 
shall be suspended. {Same ch. § 23.) 
How made 
Health officer's 
return of facta, 
Decision 
ARTICLE FOURTH. 
OF THE REGULATION OF INTERCOURSE WITH INFECTED 
PLACES. 
§ 25. The Mayor of the city of New York may issue his 
proclamation, declaring any place, where there shall be rea- 
son to believe a pestilential, contagious or infectious disease 
exists, or may exist, to be an infected place within the mean- 
ing of the health laws of this State. {Same ch. § 24.) 
§ 26. Such proclamation shall fix the period when it shall' 
cease to have effect; but such period, if they shall judge the 
public health requires it, may from time to time be extended 
by the Board of Health of said city; and notice of the same 
shall be published in five or more of the newspapers of the 
city. {Same ch. § 25.) 
Proclamation by 
Mayor. 
Publication of 
notice. 18 
SnC( procla 
§ 27. After such, proclamation shall have been issued, all 
vessels arriving in the port of New York, from such infected 
place, shall be subject to the same quarantine laws and regu- 
lations as the vessels embraced in the first subdivision of the 
second section of this act, and shall, together with their offi- 
cers, crews, passengers and cargoes, be subject to all the 
provisions, regulations and penalties of this act, in relation to 
vessels subject to quarantine; but such quarantine shall not 
extend beyond the period when such proclamation shall cease 
to have effect, as provided by the last preceding section. 
{Same ch. § 26.) 
§ 28. The Board of Health may, in their discretion, pro- 
hibit or regulate the internal intercourse, by land or water, 
between the city of New York and such infected, place; and 
may direct that all persons, who shall come into the city of 
New York contrary to their prohibitions and regulations, 
shall be apprehended and conveyed to the vessel or place 
from whence they last came ; or, if sick, they shall be con- 
veyed to the Marine Hospital, or such other place as the 
Board of Health shall direct. {Same ch. § 27.) 
infected^piMe^ 
regun- 
ARTICLE FIFTH. 
PENALTIES FOR VIOLATING THE PROVISIONS OF THIS TITLE. 
§ 29. Every master of a vessel subject to quarantine, or 
visitation by the Health Officer, arriving in the port of New 
York, who shall refuse or neglect either: 
1. To proceed with and anchor his vessel at the place as- 
signed for quarantine, at the time of his arrival; 
ofwMe™as' 19 
2. To submit his vessel, cargo and passengers, to the ex- 
amination of the Health Officer, and to furnish all necessary 
information to enable that officer to determine towhat length 
of quarantine and other regulations they ought respectively 
to be subject; or, 
3. To remain with his vessel at Quarantine during the 
period assigned for her quarantine, and while at Quarantine 
to comply with the directions and regulations prescribed by 
law, and with such as any of the officers of health, by vir- 
tue of the authority given to them by law, shall prescribe in 
relation to his vessel, his cargo, himself, his passengers, or 
crew, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and be punished by 
a fine not exceeding two thousand dollars, or by imprison- 
ment not exceeding twelve months, or by both such fine and 
imprisonment. {Same ch. § 28.) 
§ 30. Every master of a vessel, hailed by a pilot, who shall 
either: 
1. Give false information to such pilot, relative to the con- 
dition of his vessel, crew or passengers, or the health of the 
place or places from whence he came, or refuse to give such 
information as shall be lawfully required; 
2. Or land any person from his vessel, or permit any per- 
son, except a pilot, to come on board of his vessel, or unlade 
or tranship any portion of his cargo before his vessel shall 
have been visited and examined by the Health Officer; 
3. Or shall approach with his vessel nearer the city of 
New York than the place of quarantine, to which he may 
Ib. 20 
be directed, shall be guilty of the like offence, and be sub- 
ject to the like punishment; and any person who shall land 
from any vessel, or unlade or tranship any portion of her 
cargo under like circumstances, shall be guilty of the like 
offence, and be subject to the like punishment. {Same ch. 
§29.) 
§ 31. Any person who shall violate any provision of this 
act, or neglect or refuse to comply with the directions and 
regulations which any of the officers of health may prescribe, 
shall be guilty of the like offence, and be subject for each 
offence to the like punishment. {Same ch. § 30.) 
§ 32. Every person who shall oppose or obstruct the 
Health Officer, in performing the duties required of him, 
shall be guilty of the like offence, and be punished by a fine 
not exceeding five hundred dollars, or by imprisonment not 
exceeding three months, or by both such fine and imprison- 
ment. {Same ch. § 31.) 
§ 33. Every person who shall go on board of, or have any 
communication, intercourse or dealing with any vessel at 
Quarantine, or with any of her crew or passengers, without 
the permission of the Health Officer, or who shall, without 
such authority, invade the Quarantine Grounds, or anchor- 
age, shall be guilty of the like offence, and be subject to like 
punishment; and such offender shall be detained at quaran- 
tine so long as the Health Officer shall direct, not exceeding 
twenty days. In case such person shall be taken sick of any 
infectious, contagious, or pestilential disease, during such 
twenty days, he shall be detained for such further time, at 
the Marine Hospital, as the Health Officer shall direct. 
{Same ch. § 32.) 
By other persons. 
Punishment for 
Health officer. 
'^1"^'without 
tparmit. 
dSned at Quar^ 
anttne. 21 
§ 34. Every person who shall violate the provisions of 
this act, by refusing or neglecting to obey or comply with 
any order, prohibition, or regulation made by the Board of 
Health, in the exercise of the powers herein conferred, shall 
be guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by fine and imprison- 
ment, in the discretion of the court by which the offender 
shall be tried. {Same ch. § 33.) 
§ 35. The Courts of General and Special Sessions of the 
Peace of the city and county of New York shall have exclu- 
sive jurisdiction of all offences against the provisions of this 
act; and it shall be the duty of the District Attorney of the 
city and county of New York to prosecute all persons guilty 
of such offences without delay. {Same ch. § 34.) 
§ 36. Section six of article one of title two of chapter two 
hundred and seventy-five of the laws of eighteen hundred 
and fifty, and sections fifteen and twenty-two of article three 
of title two of the same chapter of the laws of eighteeen hun- 
dred and fifty, and section thirty-five of article five of the 
same law, and section seventeen of chapter five of title five 
of part first of the Revised Statutes, together with all laws 
inconsistent herewith, are hereby repealed. {Same ch. § 37.) 
Penalty for other 
acts. 
Jurisdiction of 
offences. 
Repeal, 22 
TITLE III. 
Internal Regulations for the Preservation of the Public Health 
of the City of New York* 
ARTICLE FIRST. 
OF CERTAIN DUTIES AND POWERS OF THE CITY INSPECTOR, 
THE BOARD OF HEALTH, AND THE MAYOR AND COMMIS- 
SIONERS OF HEALTH. 
§ 1. The City Inspector of the City of New York shall 
have power- 
1. To appoint, by and with the advice and consent of the 
Board of Aidermen of said city, from time to time, all and 
so many Health Wardens and other officers as the Common 
Council or the Board of Health shall direct, to carry into 
effect the provisions of this title, and the rules and regu- 
lations of the Board of Health, the laws and ordinances of the 
Common Council of said city, and the laws of this State 
relating to the public health. Such Health Wardens and 
Officers shall be subject to the supervision and control of the 
City Inspector. 
2. To authorize such officers, at such times as he shall 
think, fit, to enter into and examine in the day-time all build- 
ings, lots, and places of every description within the city, 
and to ascertain and report to the Mayor and the Commis- 
sioners of Health the condition thereof, so far as the public 
health may be affected thereby. 
city inspector. 
Health Wardens. 
Thair duties 
* Title 3 of Chapter 275 of 1850 substituted for title 3 R. S. 23 
3. It shall be the duty of the City Inspector, on complaint ■ 
being made to him, or whenever he shall deem any business, 1 
trade, or profession, carried on by any person or persons in 
the city of New York, detrimental to the public health, to 
notify such person or persons to show cause, before the 
Board of Health, at a time and place to be specified in such 
notice, why the same should not be discontinued or removed, 
which notice shall be a notice of not less than three days, 
(except in case of epidemic or pestilence, the Board of Health 
may, by general order, direct a shorter time, not less than 
twenty-four hours,) and may be served by leaving the same 
at the place of business or residence of the parties to be affect- 
ed thereby. Cause may be shown by affidavit, and the 
order of the Board of Health shall be final and conclusive 
thereon. . 
4. The said City Inspector to give all such directions, and j 
adopt all such measures for cleansing and purifying all such ' 
buildings, lots and other places, and to do or cause to be 
done everything, in relation thereto, which, in the opinion of 
the Mayor and the Commissioners^ of Health of the city, 
shall be deemed necessary. Every person who shall disobey 
any order of the City Inspector, or of the Board of Health, 
which shall have been personally served upon them, to abate 
or remove any nuisance in the manner and at the time de- 
scribed in such order, shall, on complaint of the City Inspect- 
or, or of the person serving such order, before the Mayor or 
any Police Justice of said city, be liable to arrest, and sum- 
mary punishment by fine, not exceeding one thousand dol- 
lars, or imprisonment not exceeding one year, or by both 
such fine and imprisonment. 
5. To adopt such prompt measures, to prevent the spread- 
Duty of City In- 
spector on com- 
plaint 
Cleansing and pu- 
rifying buildings, 
&c. 
Further duties 24 
ing of any contagious, infectious, or pestilential disease, as 
shall be directed by the Mayor and the Commissioners of 
Health, when it shall appear to the Mayor and Commission- 
ers of Health that any person within the city is afflicted 
with any disease of that character. 
§ 2. The Mayor, Aidermen and Commonalty of the city of 
New York shall have full power and authority to make and 
pass all such by-laws and ordinances as they shall from time 
to time think necessary and proper, for the preservation of 
the public health of said city, and also for the abatement and 
removal of all and every nuisance in said city, and for com- 
pelling the proprietors or owners of the lot or lots, upon 
which the same may be, to abate and remove the same. 
§ 3. It shall be lawful for the said Mayor, Aldermen, and 
Commonalty, in all cases where they may deem it necessary 
for the more speedy execution of said by-laws or ordinances, 
or any of them, to cause any such nuisance or nuisances 
to be abated or removed at their own expense, and they 
are hereby authorized to levy and collect the sum or sums 
so expended, with lawful interest and all reasonable costs 
and expenses attending such proceedings, by distress and 
sale of the goods and chattels of the proprietors or owners 
of the lots and premises, from which such nuisance or nui- 
sances shall have been abated or removed, or to recover the 
amount of every such expense, by action in any court of 
record, from such owner or owners respectively, on whose 
account the same shall have been expended, their respective 
heirs, executors, or administrators; in all which actions they 
shall, also, recover lawful interest upon the amount of said 
expense from the time of payment thereof, with full costs of 
suit. 
Bylaws. 
NuisancM 25 
§ 4. That the amount of every such expense, which the • 
said Mayor, Aidermen, and Commonalty shall incur or pay, 
as aforesaid, on account of the owner or owners of such lots 
or premises, for the abatement or removal of any such nui- 
sance or nuisances, shall be a real incumbrance upon the lots 
and premises from or upon which nuisance or nuisances shall 
be abated or removed, and shall bear lawful interest until 
paid, and that the same may be recovered or the payment 
thereof, with costs, enforced in like manner, as if the said 
lots and premises were mortgaged to the said Mayor, Aider- 
men, and Commonalty for the payment thereof. 
§ 5. It shall be the duty of the Board of Health- 
1. To cause any avenue, street, alley, or other passage 
whatever, to be fenced up or otherwise inclosed, if they shall 
think the public safety requires it, and to adopt suitable 
measures for preventing all persons from going to any part 
of the city so inclosed. 
2. To forbid and prevent all communication with the house 
or family infected with any contagious, infectious, or pesti- 
lential disease, except by means of physicians, nurses, or mes- 
sengers, to carry the necessary advice, medicines, and provi- 
sions to the afflicted. 
8. To adopt such measures, for preventing all communica- 
tion between any part of the city infected with a disease of 
a pestilential, infectious, or contagious character, and all other 
parts of the city, as shall be prompt and effectual. 
4. To procure suitable places for the reception of persons 
sick of any pestilential, infectious, or contagious disease, and, 
in all cases where sick persons cannot otherwise be provided 
for, to procure for them proper medical and other attendance 
and provision. 
Expenses of ra- 
moving. 
Board 26 
5. To publish, from time to time, all such regulations as 
they shall have made, in such manner as to secure early and 
full publicity thereto. 
6. To issue warrants to any constable or police officer in 
said city, to apprehend and to remove such person or persons 
as cannot otherwise be subjected to the regulations by them 
adopted; and, whenever it shall be necessary so to do, to 
to issue their warrant to the Sheriff of the city and county of 
New York* to bring to their aid the power of the county ; 
all which warrants shall be forthwith executed by the offi- 
cers to whom the same shall be directed, who shall possess 
the like powers, and be subject to the like duties, in the exe- 
cution thereof, as if the same had been duly issued out of 
any court of record in this State. 
§ 6. The Board of Health, or the Mayor and the Commis- 
sioners of Health, when they shall judge it necessary, may 
cause any cargo, or part of cargo, or any matter or thing 
within the city, that may be putrid or otherwise dangerous 
to the public health, to be destroyed or removed ; such re- 
moval, when ordered, shall be to the Quarantine Ground, or 
such other place as the Board of Health shall direct; such 
removal or destruction shall be made at the expense of the 
owner or owners of the property so removed or destroyed, 
and the same may be recovered from such owner or owners, 
in an action at law, by the Mayor, Aidermen, and Common- 
alty of said city. 
t 
§ 7. The Board of Health may send to the Marine Hospi- 
tal, or such other place as the Board of Health may direct, 
all aliens and other persons in the city, not residents thereof, 
who shall be sick of any infectious, pestilential, or contagious 
When cargo may- 
be removed or 
destroyed. 
Non-resident 
sick to be sent to 
Hospital. 27 
disease. The expense of the support of such aliens or other 
persons shall be defrayed by the Corporation of the city of 
New York, unless such aliens or other persons shall be enti- 
tled to be supported by the Commissioners of Emigration. 
§ 8. The Board of Health shall have power to take pos- 
session of, and occupy, for temporary hospitals, any building 
or buildings in the said city, during the prevalence of an 
epidemic, if, in their judgment, the same may be required, 
and shall pay, for private property so taken, a just compen- 
sation for the same. 
§ 9. It shall be the duty of the Mayor and the Commis- 
sioners of Health, from time to time, to communicate to the 
Board of Health all reports that shall be made to them, or 
either of them, under the provisions of this law ; and it shall 
be the further duty of the Mayor and the Commissioners of 
Health, and of each of them, so to communicate all informa- 
tion in their power that may the better enable the Board of 
Health to preserve the health of the city. 
Hospitals, tempo- 
rary. 
Mayor and Com- 
missioners of 
Health to report. 
ARTICLE SECOND. 
OF THE DUTIES OF PHYSICIAN'S AND OTHER PERSONS. 
§ 10. It shall be the duty of each and every practicing 
physician in the city of New York: 
1. Whenever required by the Board of Health, or the 
Mayor, and the Commissioners of Health of said city, to 
report to the City Inspector of said city, at such times, and 
Duties of Physi- 
cians. 28 
in such, forms as said Board may prescribe, the number of 
persons attacked with any pestilential, contagious, or infec- 
tious disease attended by such physician for the twenty-four 
hours next preceding, and the number of persons, attended 
by such physician, who shall have died in said city during 
the twenty-four hours next preceding such report, of any 
such pestilential, contagious, or infectious disease. 
2. To report in writing to the City Inspector, the Board 
of Health, or to the Mayor and the Commissioners of Health, 
every patient he shall have laboring under any pestilential, 
contagious, or infectious disease, and within twenty-four 
hours after he shall ascertain or suspect the nature of the 
disease. 
3. To report to the City Inspector, when required by the 
Board of Health, the death of any of his patients who shall 
have died of disease, within twenty-four hours thereafter, 
and to state in such report the specific name and type of 
such disease. 
§ 11. Every person keeping a boarding or lodging-house, 
in the city of New York, shall, whenever required by the 
Mayor and the Commissioners of Health, report in writing 
to the City Inspector, the Board of Health, or the Mayor 
and the Commissioners of Health, the name of every person 
who shall be sick in his house, within twelve hours after each 
case of sickness shall have occurred. 
t 
§. 12. Every master, owner or consignee of a vessel, lying 
at a wharf, or in a harbor of the city of New York, shall 
make a like report, and within the same period, of the name 
Boarding-house 
keepers. 
Masters and 
owners of vessels. 29 
of every sick person on board such vessel, and no person 
shall be removed therefrom without a written permit for that 
purpose from the Board of Health, or the Mayor, or one of 
the Commissioners of Health. 
§ 13. It shall be the duty of each Commissioner of Health, 
and of each visiting, hospital and consulting physician, to 
make an immediate report to the Board of Health, of the 
name of every practicing physician by whom he shall have 
reason to believe the provisions of the tenth section of this 
title have been violated; and, if such physician shall neglect 
or refuse to perform his duty, the Board shall suspend him 
from his office, and he shall, moreover, be liable to such fur- 
ther penalty as the said Board shall prescribe. 
tinglctato be°rei 
ported- 
ARTICLE THIRD. 
PROHIBITIONS AND PENALTIES. 
§ 14. The Board of Health shall have power to prohibit, at 
such times and for such period and periods of time as they 
shall see cause, the packing or repacking of any salted pro- 
visions in any and all parts of the city. 
§ 15. No salted or pickled beef, pork or fish, (except 
smoked beef and fish,) shall be deposited in such parts of the 
city, during the period or periods of time so prohibited by 
the Board of Health under the last preceding section. 
§ 16. The last preceding section shall not be construed to 
prevent retail grocers, or other small dealers, from keeping 
Packing salted 
provisions may 
to prohibited, 
Ib. 
Exception, 30 
on hand, for the use of their customers, small quantities, nol 
exceeding five barrels, of each kind of provisions therein 
mentioned, if the provisions so kept be sound and in good 
order. 
§ 17. All salted or pickled provisions, and all hides, skins, 
and cotton, that may be deposited in those parts of the city 
wherein the Board of Health shall prohibit the packing or 
re-packing of salted provisions, at the time or times when 
such prohibition may be made, shall be reported forthwith, 
by the owner or person having charge thereof, to the office 
of the City Inspector, that the same may be examined, and, if 
necessary, destroyed or removed. 
§ 18. If such articles, when ordered to be removed by the 
City Inspector, shall not be forthwith removed by the owner 
or person having charge thereof, the City Inspector shall 
cause them to be removed to some safe place, there to remain 
at the risk of the owner. 
§ 19. The expense of the removal, and subsequent storage 
of such articles, shall be borne by the owner or person hav- 
ing charge thereof, when removed, and, if paid in the first 
instance by the City Inspector, may be recovered by the City 
Inspector, in an action against such owner or bailee; or, if 
payment of such expenses be refused by the owner or bailee, 
the City Inspector may cause such articles to be sold, ahd 
shall account for the proceeds, deducting such expenses and 
the costs of sale. 
§ 20. Nothing contained in this article shall be construed 
to extend to provisions exposed for sale by butchers in the 
public markets, or kept by the heads of families for fami- 
ly use. 
prohibited arti- 
cles when depos- 
'ted to be report- 
to be removed. 
Expense thereof 
to be borne by 
owner. 
Exception. 31 
§ 21. Every person who shall refuse or neglect to obey the 1 
directions of this article, or of the Board of Health, or City 
Inspector, pursuant thereto, in relation to the provisions and 
other articles above mentioned, shall be considered guilty of 
a misdemeanor, and, on conviction, shall be subject to fine 
or imprisonment, or both, at the discretion of the Court. 
Such fine shall *not exceed one thousand dollars, and such 
imprisonment shall not exceed two years. 
§ 22. No rags, hides, or skins, arriving in the port of New ' 
York, shall be deposited in any part of the city, within which 1 
the Board of Health shall have prohibited the packing or 
re-packing of salted provisions, and all such articles, brought 
into the city contrary to the above provision, may be seized 
and sold by the Mayor and the Commissioners of Health for 
the use of the Marine Hospital. 
§ 23. The Board of Health, or the Mayor and the Com- 
missioners of Health, may, however, permit sound hides and 
skins to be brought into any part of the city, in small quan- 
tities, and for the purpose of immediate manufacture, but not 
otherwise. 
§ 24. It shall be the duty of the master and owner of every 
vessel.that shall have brought cotton into the city, between 
the first day of May and the first day of November, in any 
year, and of the owner and consignee of such cotton, if, upon 
examination, it shall appear damaged, or otherwise unsound, 
to make an immediate report thereof to the Mayor and the 
Commissioners of Health. 
§ 25. Every master, or owner, or consignee, refusing or 
Penalties, 
Bags, hides, and 
skins, prohibi- 
tion. 
Exception. 
Damaged cotton 
to bo reported. 
Penalty for neg- 
lect to report. 32 
neglecting to perform the duties so enjoined, shall, for each 
offence, forfeit to the Commissioners of Health the sum of 
five hundred dollars. 
■ § 26. Every person who shall violate any regulation, order, 
or direction of the City Inspector, or of the Board of Health, 
made or given in the exercise of any of the powers vested in 
them by any section of this title, shall be considered guilty 
of a misdemeanor, and, on conviction thereof, be subject to 
fine or imprisonment, or both, at the discretion of the Court. 
Such fine shall not exceed one thousand dollars, and such 
imprisonment shall not exceed two years. 
§ 27. Every practicing physician, who shall refuse or neg- 
lect to perform the duties enjoined on him by the tenth 
section of this Title, shall be considered guilty of a misde- 
meanor ; and shall also forfeit for each offence the sum of 
two hundred and fifty dollars, to be sued for and recovered 
by the Board of Health. 
§ 28. Every keeper of a boarding or lodging-house, and 
every master, owner or consignee of a vessel, who shall re- 
fuse or neglect to obey the orders and directions of the Mayor 
and the Commissioners of Health, as provided in the eleventh 
and twelfth sections of this Title, shall be considered guilty 
of a misdemeanor; and, on conviction, shall be fined for each 
offence in a sum not exceeding two hundred and fifty dollars, 
or be imprisoned for a term not exceeding six months. 
Penalty for viola- 
ting any section 
of this Title. 
Physicians liable 
to punishment. 
Penalties. 33 
ARTICLE FOURTH. 
GENERAL PROVISIONS. 
§ 29. Whenever it shall appear to the Board of Health j 
that any of the provisions of this Act, limited in their oper- 
ations to a certain period of the year, ought to be extended, 
the Mayor of the city shall issue his proclamation, extending 
such provisions to such time as shall be determined on by 
said Board, and such provisions shall thereupon be extended 
accordingly, and with the like effect as if the periods men- 
tioned in the proclamation had been herein enacted. 
§ 30. If it shall appear to the Board of Health, while such 
proclamation is still in force, that the necessity of extending 
the period therein named has ceased, the Mayor, by a new 
proclamation, declaring that fact, shall revoke the proclama- 
tion issued, pursuant to the preceding section, which shall 
then cease to have effect. 
§ 31. All fines, forfeitures, and penalties imposed in this 
act, or under the powers delegated therein, shall be paid to 
the Health Commissioners, to and for the use of the city of 
New York, and such as are recoverable by suit shall be sued 
for by the Commissioners of Health, in their name of office, 
* unless otherwise herein provided. 
§ 32. It shall be the duty of the Mayor and the Commis- 
sioners of Health, and of each of them, to give information 
to the District Attorney of the city and county of New York, 
of all offences against the provisions of this act that shall 
come to their knowledge, that he may prosecute the offenders 
without delay, in the Court of Sessions of the city. 
Power to extend 
provisions of this 
act. 
Mayor may re- 
voke proclama- 
. tion. 
Fines and penal- 
ties, how collect- 
ed. 
. Offences to be re- 
ported to District 
Attorney. 34 
Suits not to 
abate. 
§ 33. No suit, that shall be brought by the Board, or Com- 
missioners of Health, or the Health Officer, or' City Inspect, 
or, in their respective names of office, in pursuance of the 
authority given in this act, shall abate, on account of the 
death of the officer or officers by whom the same shall be 
commenced. 
§ 34. The provisions of the foregoing titles of this act shall 
extend to all diseases which, in the opinion of the Board of 
Health, or of the Mayor and Commissioners of Health, shall 
be deemed dangerous to the public health ; and nothing in 
this act shall be construed to inter^re with the remedies 
against nuisances, provided by the common law. 
§ 35. The Mayor and the Commissioners of Health shall 
from time to time cause such parts, as they shall deem neces- 
sary, of this act to be printed, and shall deliver the same to 
the respective pilots of the port for distribution to the mas- 
ters of vessels subject to quarantine. 
§ 36. It shall be the special duty of all magistrates and 
civil officers, and of all citizens of the State, to aid, to the 
utmost of their power, the Board of Health, and all the 
Health Officers mentioned in this act, in the performance of 
their respective duties. 
§ 37. Bills of Health to masters of vessels shall be granted 
by the Mayor. 
§ 38. The Act entitled, " An Act concerning Quarantine, 
and regulations in the nature of Quarantine, at the port of 
New York," passed May 13th, 1846, is hereby repealed ; but 
such repeal shall be in no wise construed or deemed to revive 
Declaratory. 
•nd distributed'1 
® °f Magis' 
Bills of Health. 
Repeal. 35 
any act or part of any act repealed thereby. And all other * 
laws inconsistent with this Act are hereby repealed. 
But nothing contained in this act shall be construed as 
repealing any part of the act entitled, " An Act to amend the 
Charter of the City of New York," passed April 2nd, 1849. 
TITLE IV.* 
OF THE MARINE HOSPITAL AND ITS FUNDS. 
ARTICLE FIRST. 
§ 1. The institution belonging to this State, now known as 
the Marine Hospital, and all the lands and buildings thereon, 
and all lands and buildings which may hereafter be purchased 
or erected and designated for such Marine Hospital, or lands 
and buildings used for quarantine purposes, are hereby vest- 
ed in the Commissioners of Emigration, to be by them held 
in trust for the people of this State, and the sole and exclu- 
sive control of the same, except in regard to the sanitary 
treatment of the inmates thereof, is hereby given to the said 
Commissioners of Emigration, for the purpose of receiving 
therein all persons for whom bonds may be required,, or for 
Marine Hospital, 
in whom vested. 
* By the original fourth title, the Marine Hospital was placed in charge of 
the Commissioners of Health, and provision was made for its support by the 
collection of " Hospital Moneys." By chapter 483 of the laws of 1847, it was 
transferred to the Commissioners of Emigration, whose offices had been crea- 
ted by chapter 195 of the laws of that year. Since that time, various acts 
have been passed relative to their powers and duties. Such portions of them 
as do not refer to the Marine Hospital, or the Officers of Health, have been 
omitted in this compilation, which is intended to embrace only such laws as 
strictly relate to the public health. 36 
whom any bond or bonds may have been given, required, or 
commuted for, under the provisions of this act, or the acts 
hereby amended, suffering under or afflicted with any con- 
tagious or infectious disease, or other disease preventing their 
immediate removal to any more distant hospital, and who 
shall be sent to such hospital by the direction of the Health 
Officer, or under his authority. (1847, ch. 483, § 1, as amend- 
ed 1849, ch. 350, § 6.) 
§ 2. The Commissioners of Emigration are authorized to 
employ, and appoint, and dismiss at pleasure, a superintend- 
ent, physicians, and such other officers, nurses and order- 
lies, and such servants as they shall deem necessary for the 
management and care of the Marine and other hospitals 
used for quarantine purposes, and to pay all needful ex- 
penses therefor out of the moneys under their control; but 
the moneys received under any of the provisions of this act 
as commutation money, or upon bonds given for or on ac- 
count of any persons or passengers landing from vessels at 
the Port of New York, or elsewhere, shall not be applied or 
appropriated to any other purpose or use than to defray the 
expenses incurred for the care, support or maintenance oi 
such persons or passengers, nor shall such passengers be 
entitled to any aid from the Commissioners of Emigration 
after they shall have left the State of New York, and been 
absent therefrom for more than one year. Nothing in this 
act contained shall be deemed to affect the authority of the 
Board of Health, nor the mode of appointment of the Health 
Officer, Resident Physician, or Commissioners of Health of 
the city of New York, or to prevent the Health Officer from 
selecting his own medical assistants, other than those of the 
Marine Hospital, for any duties required by law to be dis- 
[Modified, see 
post section 4.] 
Nurses and Or- 
derlies, &c. 
Restriction. 37 
charged by him, or under his authority. (1849, ch. 350, § 8, 
as amended, 1851, ch. 523, § 5.) 
§ 3. The Health Officer shall not, by right of office, have j 
any other authority over the Marine Hospital or medical 
charge, as Physician thereof, than is in this act provided. 
(1849, ch. 350, § 14.) 
§ 4. There shall be nominated by the Governor^ and ap-; 
pointed by him, with the consent of the Senate, a Physician 
of Marine Hospital, whose powers and duties shall be as 
follows: ' 
1. To select and appoint, subject to the approval of the 
Commissioners of Emigration, such and so many assistant 
physicians, nurses, orderlies, and other employees of the 
Marine Hospital as may be found necessary for the care 
and management of the said hospital, and the proper treat- 
ment of the inmates thereof, and to suspend or remove the 
same; but the rate of pay of the said assistant physicians, 
nurses, orderlies, and other employees, shall be regulated and 
determined by the Commissioners of Emigration. 
2. To have the general charge and control of the Marine 
Hospital, and to make and enforce such rules and regulations 
for the government of the same, and the treatment of the 
sick inmates thereof, as shall seem to him necessary and ex- 
pedient, to maintain the said Marine Hospital as a quaran- 
tine establishment. 
3. To report to the Health Officer in writing, from time 
to time, and as often as may be, the persons sufficiently re- 
covered from sickness to be discharged from said hospitals, or 
any of them. 
Authority of 
Health Officer. 
Ma^ne Hospital 
His duties. 38 
4. To receive into the Marine Hospitals all persons of con- 
tagious, infectious, or pestilential disease, which may be sent 
thither by the Health Officer, or under his authority, or un- 
der the authority of the Board of Health of the city of New 
York, except itch and syphilis, which shall not be construed 
as diseases entitling those suffering from them to be admitted 
as patients into the Marine Hospital; 
• 
5. And to allow or permit the Health Officer at all times 
to have free access to the several wards of the Marine Hos- 
pital. for the purpose of examining the sick inmates thereof, 
in order to enable the said officer to judge as to the necessity 
for detaining the vessels from which said sick may have 
been landed. (1849, ch. 350, § 17; as amended 1853, ch. 224, 
§ 4, and 1856, ch. 147, § 35.) 
§ 5. The Physician of Marine Hospital shall have and 
receive an annual salary of five thousand dollars, to be paid 
quarterly; and each of the assistant physicians shall have and 
receive a salary of one thousand two hundred dollars per 
annum, to be paid quarterly or monthly, as the Commis- 
sioners of Emigration may determine, and in that ratio for 
any period of service of such physician or assistant, and all sala- 
ries and other compensation, of such physician and assistant 
physicians, and of all nurses, orderlies, and servants, or others 
necessarily employed in and about the business, care, and 
proper management of such Marine or other hospital for 
quarantine purposes, shall be paid by the Commissioners of 
Emigration, from and out of moneys collected upon the bonds 
hereinbefore required to be given by the owners or consignees 
of vessels arriving with and landing passengers at the port of 
New York, or from the commutation moneys paid upon or 
in lieu of such bonds, in accordance with the provisions of 
Modified as to as- 
sistants. [See 
ante, § 4, sub. 
1st.] 
Salaries. 39 
this act, and all the expenses of such marine or other hos- 
pital for quarantine purposes, shall, as far as practicable, be 
defrayed by said Commissioners out of and from the moneys 
and securities in this act specified ; but nothing in this act 
contained shall be so construed as to authorize the payment 
of any salary or compensation for services rendered by said 
Commissioners of Emigration, or any of them. (1849, ch. 
350, § 20.) 
§ 6. The Physician of Marine Hospital shall present to the 
Legislature, annually, on or before the first of March, a re- 
port of the general condition of the Hospital under his charge, 
with the statistics of the Institution in detail, and such other 
information and suggestions in regard to the same as he may 
deem advisable, and testify the same by his affidavit; he 
shall also furnish to the Board of* Health of the city of New 
York, and to the Commissioners of Emigration whenever 
required by them so to do, an official return of the numbers 
and diseases of the patients in the Marine Hospital. (1853, 
ch. 224, § 9.) 
§ 7. It shall be the duty of the Superintendent of the Ma- 
rine or other hospital, used for quarantine purposes, to furnish 
to the Board of Health, as often as may be required, a full and 
correct report of all persons in the said hospital affected with 
any contagious or infectious disease, and of all such patients 
as may die or be discharged as cured; such report shall be 
countersigned by the agent of the Board of Health, and no 
persons who may be, or who have been received as patients 
affected with contagious or infectious diseases, or under treat- 
ment as such,shall be discharged or removed from the Marine 
or other hospital used for quarantine purposes, without a per- 
mit in writing from the Health Officer. (1849, ch. 350, § 12.) 
. Restriction 
; Annual report of 
Physician of Ma- 
rine Hospital 
Report of Super- 
intendent. 40 
Physician to be 
Superintendent. 
§ 8. The Physician of Marine Hospital shall discharge the 
duties of superintendent -of Marine Hospital, under the Com- 
missioners of Emigration, and without further pecuniary 
compensation than that allowed him as physician. (1853, 
ch. 224, § 12.) 
§ 9. The Commissioners of Emigration shall receive into 
the Marine, or other hospital for quarantine purposes, all 
alien passengers for whom bonds shall have been given, or 
commutation paid, under the several acts of this State re- 
lating to alien passengers arriving at the port of New York, 
who shall be affected with any contagious or infectious dis- 
ease, and sent to such hospital by the authority of the Health 
Officer. They shall defray the expenses of such patients out 
of the moneys by them received on account of bonds or com- 
mutation. They shall also receive and provide for all other 
patients or passengers who shall have landed from any ves- 
sel at the port of New York, affected with any contagious 
or infectious disorders, who shall be directed to be so received 
by the Health Officer, or the Board of Health; they shall 
be entitled to receive for each person so admitted (other than 
aliens as above mentioned), at the rate of three dollars per 
week for their support and medical care, which shall be at 
the expense of the owner or consignee of any vessel in which 
such person shall have arrived, and from which they shall 
have landed, and no vessel shall be permitted to leave qua- 
rantine until such expense shall have been paid, or secured 
to be paid, to the satisfaction of the Commissioners of Emi- 
gration, or the officer duly authorized by them for such pur- 
pose. (1849, ch. 350, § 13.) 
§ 10. All officers and employees of the Marine Hospital, 
except chaplains, shall be required to reside within the qua- 
What alien pas- 
sengers are to be 
received into 
Hospital. 
Etnployees, 
where to reside. 41 
antine enclosure, and the Commissioners of Emigration are 
hereby directed to provide suitable accommodations for the 
same. (1853, ch. 224, § 7.) 
MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS. 
§ 1. The Board of Health may supply any vacancy that 
may occur in the office of either of the Commissioners of 
Health of the city of New York, whether arising from the 
temporary inability of the officer to discharge his duties, or 
otherwise; but the person so appointed shall hold his office 
only until such inability be removed, or the sense of the 
Governor, or of the Governor and Senate be declared. 
(Part II. ch. V. Title V. § 18, R. 8.} 
§2. Whenever any effects of a deceased person, of which 
the public administrator is authorized to take charge, shall 
be at the Quarantine at the time of the death of such person, 
or shall arrive there afterwards, it shall be the duty of the 
Health Officer, or his deputy, whichever shall be present, to 
secure the said.effects from waste and embezzlement, and 
immediately to give information of such effects to the public 
administrator, to cause an inventory, or account thereof, to 
be taken, and to deliver the same to the said public adminis- 
trator, unless the said property be of such a description as 
ought not to be removed, or may be ordered to be destroyed 
under the laws concerning the public health. (Part II. 
ch. VI. Title VI. § 14, R. N.) 
§ 3. The Health Officers shall not grant a permit to any 
vessel subject to quarantine, to approach the city of New 
Vacancies in of- 
loners of Health, 
Health Officer to 
take charge of 
effects of persons 
dying at Quaran- 
tine. 
Hospital moneys 
vessel'1 pro- 42 
York beyond the place assigned for Quarantine, until satis 
factory evidence shall be adduced, that all hospital money 
demanded from the master of such vessel has been duly 
paid, or until satisfactory security be given that the same wik 
be paid. (1854, ch. 172, §6.) 
§ 4. The Board of Health of the city of New York may 
appoint any physician in their employ, or in that of the Com- 
missioners of Emigration, to act as the agent of the Board 
of Health, in all matters concering the protection of the city 
against the introduction of contagious or infectious diseases. 
(1849, ch. 350, §11.) 
, § 5. The Commissioners of Emigration may, when in their 
* opinion it nhall seem necessary, appoint a proper person or 
persons, to board vessels from foreign ports at the Quaran- 
tine Ground or elsewhere in the port of New York, having 
on board emigrant passengers, for the purpose of advising 
such emigrants and putting them or their guard against fraud 
and imposition; and the Health Officer is hereby required to 
prevent any person on persons from going on board such 
vessels, which may be subject to examination by him, until 
after the said person or persons, appointed by the Commis- 
sioners of Emigration, shall have had sufficient opportunity 
to perform their duty. (1848, ch. 219, § 6.) 
• § 6. It shall be the duty of the said trustees (of the Sea- 
■ men's Fund and Retreat,} to contract with the He'alth Com- 
missioners for the support of sick and disabled seamen who 
were subject to quarantine, and shall pay to the said Commis- 
sioners the reasonable expenses, so contracted for, of all such 
sick and disabled seamen during the time they shall be sub- 
ject to quarantine and remain at the Marine Hospital under 
their direction. (1854, ch. 172, §7.) 
Board of Health 
may appoint an 
agent. 
of'Emi^atfoTto 
bSardveX^ t0 
Trustees of Sea- 
men's Fund and 
lietreat to con- 
tract for support 
<>f sick. APPENDIX. 
Extract from an Ordinance passed April 9 th, 1839. 
Sec. 3. It shall be the duty of the Resident Physician and 
Health Commissioner to attend the meetings of the Board of 
Health, and to communicate such information and perform 
such acts as may be required of them by the said Board. 
Resolution of the Board of Health, passed June 8, 1854. 
Resolved, That the Commissioners of Health be requested 
to attend the meetings of this Board until directed to the 
contrary. COMMISSIONERS OF HEALTH. 
1857 - 8. 
DANIEL F. TIEMANN, Mayor, 
and President Commissioners of Health. 
Office, City Hall. 
Residence, Manhattanville. 
B. H. THOMPSON, M. D. 
HEALTH officer. 
Office, Marine Hospital, Staten Island. 
Residence, Tompkinsville, Staten Island. 
WILLIAM BOCKWELL, M. D. 
RESIDENT PHYSICIAN. 
Office, Mayor's Office, City Hall. 
Residence, 50 East 11th Street, New York. 
JEDEDIAH MILLEB, M. D. 
HEALTH COMMISSIONER. 
Office, Mayor's Office. City Hall. 
Residence, 17 Avenue D, New York. 
GEOBGE W. MOBTON, Esq. 
CITY INSPECTOR. 
Office, No. 1 Centre Street. 
Residence, No. 55 Vandam Street. 45 
JOHN CLANCY, Esq, 
PRESIDENT BOARD OF ALDERMEN. 
Office, 65 Bayard Street. 
Residence, 85 Elm Street. 
CHARLES H. HASWELL, Esq. 
PRESIDENT BOARD OF COUNCILMEN. 
Office, 6 Bowling Green. 
Residence, 59 East 31s£ Street. 46 
OFFICERS AT QUARANTINE, S. I. 
R. H. THOMPSON, M. D. 
HEALTH OFFICER. 
F. E. MARTINDALE, M. D. 
DEPUTY HEALTH OFFICER. 
DOCTOR BISSELL, 
PHYSICIAN OF MARINE HOSPITAL. 
MICHAEL WILLIAMS, Esq. 
SPECIAL PORT WARDEN, 
Appointed for Quarantine Service.