127. Soil Pollution. The Chain Gang as a Possible Disseminator of Intestinal Parasites and Infections. By Ch. Wardell Stiles. 128. Typhoid Fever at Albany, N. Y. An Account of the Recent Outbreak Due to Use of Raw Hudson River Water Following Flooding of Filtration Plant. By Theodore Horton. 129. Paratyphoid Fever. A Report of an Outbreak in a Hospital at Roanoke, Va. By L. L. Lumsden, A. W. Freeman, and W. B. Foster. 130. Outbreak and Suppression of Plague in Porto Rico. An Account of the Course of the Epidemic and the Measures Employed for its Suppression by the United States Public Health Service. 131. Sanitation of Flood-Stricken Towns and Cities. With Special Reference to Conditions Observed in River Towns and Cities of Kentucky. By L. L. Lumsden. 132. Fumigation of Vessels for the Destruction of Rats. By S. B. Grubbs. 133. A Model State Law for Morbidity Reports. Adopted by the Eleventh Annual Conference of State and Territorial Health Authorities with the United States Public Health Service, Minneapolis, Minn., June 16, 1913. 134. Investigation of the Prevalence of Trachoma in the State of Minnesota. By Taliaferro Clark. PUBLIC HEALTH BULLETINS. Seven public-health bulletins were printed during the fiscal year. This series of bulletins is published so as to make available to the public results of important studies, and to disseminate practical information that will lead to the improvement of sanitation. The bulletins which have been issued this year and which are representative of this series are as follows: No. 54. Organization, Powers, and Duties of Health Authorities. An Analysis of the Laws and Regulations Relating Thereto in Force in the United States. By J. W. Kerr and A. A. Moll, August, 1912. This publication contains an analysis of the laws and regulations in force relating to organization, powers, and duties of health authorities in the United States. A historical sketch is given of health organization in this country. Detailed analyses are presented of the different forms of organization provided for in the several States. Copies of the laws themselves are contained in the bulletin, and a number of court decisions have also been abstracted and included. The powers and duties of State health authorities are analyzed under several headings, namely, investigative, executive, advisory, educational, quasi legislative, and quasi judicial. Finally, statements of appropriations made by States for health work are presented to convey information as to the present status of public-health administration under existing laws. Presenting as it does for the first time a comprehensive and detailed comparative statement of the powers and duties of health authorities, this bulletin should be of decided value in securing additional necessary health legislation and should contribute to greater uniformity in health administration. No. 55. A Word to Ship Captains About Quarantine. An Open Letter to Ship Captains. By L. E. Cofer. July, 1912. This bulletin contains practical information for the use of ship captains to enable them to take proper measures aboard vessels to prevent sickness and to facilitate quarantine administration. It is assumed that ships' captains have important duties to perform of a public-health character, and simple instructions were given as to the discharge of these duties. No. 56. Digest of Laws and Regulations Relating to Habit-Forming Drugs. By M. G. Motter and M. I. Wilbert. August, 1912. This bulletin contains an outline of the earliest legislative enactments by the States designed to prevent the accidental ingestion of poisons. The progress of antinarcotic legislation is then referred to, and analyses are presented showing the present requirements of existing laws on this subject. Finally, abstracts and references to Federal, State, and municipal laws, and regulations relating to the sale and manufacture of poisons and habit-forming drugs, are presented. No. 57. Common Drinking Cups and Roller Towels. An Analysis of the Laws and Regulations Relating Thereto in Force in the United States. By J. W. Kerr and A. A. Moll. August, 1912. This publication contains a brief sketch as to the views long held regarding the danger of common drinking cups, and presents accumulated evidence on the subject. Analyses of legal measures in force in 26 States and 1 Territory are also presented. Like information in respect to the dangers of roller towels is also presented. Copies of the laws are given, as well as abstracts of court decisions bearing on the subject. No. 58. Open Air Schools for the Cure and Prevention of Tuberculosis Among Children. By B. S. Warren. October, 1912. This bulletin describes the benefits of open-air schools for the prevention and cure of tuberculosis among children, and refers to the site and character of building best adapted for the purpose. Practical detailed information is also presented regarding equipment, operation, and cost of maintenance of such institutions. No. 59. Transactions of the Tenth Annual Conference of State and Territorial Health Officers with the United States Public Health and Marine-Hospital Service, Washington, D. C., June 1, 1912. This publication is an exact transcript of the proceedings of the conference held in accordance with the act of July 1, 1902. The following subjects were discussed at the conference: Report of committee on morbidity reports; compilation of State health laws; the Hygienic Laboratory phenol coefficient for testing disinfectants; Rocky Mountain spotted or tick fever; cerebrospinal meningitis; typhoid fever; and typhus fever. No. 60. Rules to be Observed by Tuberculous Patients. By F. C. Smith. January, 1913. This publication is intended as a pocket edition of rules for tuberculous patients. General advice concerning the value of fresh air, food, rest, and exercise are given. The general sanitary precautions necessary to prevent the spread of the infection are emphasized, and certain general information is given regarding the conduct and daily routine of patients at the Fort Stanton Sanatorium. BULLETINS OF THE HYGIENIC LABORATORY. The following bulletins have been published during the fiscal year, and indicate partially the work being carried on at the Hygienic Laboratory: No. 86. Collected Studies on Typhus. By John F. Anderson and Joseph Goldberger. There are brought together in this bulletin the series of papers on experimental typhus fever that have appeared in the Public Health Reports, together with one paper published here for the first time. For the sake of completeness, and because they are out of print, it was considered desirable to include the papers that appeared in the winter of 1909-10, which contain the first studies made by the Hygienic Laboratory on typhus. The subject of typhus fever is one that has become of great publichealth interest and importance to the people of the United States, due to the fact that the disease known as "Brill's disease" has been shown by experiments made at the Hygienic Laboratory to be identical with typhus fever. Cases of typhus have been reported from a number of the larger eastern cities, where the conditions for its spread are particularly favorable, and should the disease at any time assume virulence, the health authorities of those cities may be confronted with a serious problem. No. 87. Digest of Comments on the Pharmacopoeia of the United States of America (Eighth Decennial Revision) and on the National Formulary (Third Edition) for the Calendar Year Ending December 31, 1911, by Murray Galt Motter and Martin I. Wilbert. This bulletin is the seventh of the series, and, like its predecessors, serves to reflect current progress in pharmacology, pharmacy, and related subjects bearing on pharmacopoeial revision. The material included in this bulletin is of more than ordinary interest to the makers and users of the pharmacopoeia and other books of standards, and illustrates the growing importance of such books of standards from a public-health point of view. The widespread movement to limit official recognition to a more restricted number of drugs and preparations is noted, as is the ever increasing appreciation of the vital importance of international standards for widely used medicaments. The general adherence of the new official European pharmacopoeias to the provisions of the international treaty, signed at Brussels November 29, 1906, has resulted in proposals to elaborate the principles involved and to secure international uniformity in methods of testing and in the nomenclature of pharmacopoeial articles. The need for some form of restriction of the actively discussed materia medica is demonstrated by the evidence that medicines dispensed on physicians' prescriptions are not always of the quality prescribed by the pharmacopoeia, and that the immense number of articles usually carried in stock by the apothecary practically precludes that supervision and care in the testing of medicaments which is inferentially required by the pharmacopoeial monographs. No. 88. Method for determining the toxicity of coal-tar disinfectants, together with a report on the relative toxicity of some commercial disinfectants. By Worth Hale. This bulletin is a continuation of the work reported by Surg. J. F. Anderson and Passed Asst. Surg. T. B. McClintic in Bulletin No. 82, in which a new method was given for determining the phenol coefficient of disinfectants. The desirabilty of establishing a toxic coefficient for poisons is pointed out and a method is proposed for determining the relative toxicity of the coal-tar products as they appear in commercial disinfectants. A detailed report is made on the toxicity of 50 different samples of these and a recommendation is made that these products should be labeled poisonous rather than nonpoisonous, as is a common practice. No. 89. Sewage pollution of interstate and international waters with special reference to the spread of typhoid fever. VI. The Missouri River from Sioux City to its mouth. By Allan J. McLaughlin. The condition of the Missouri River from Sioux City to its mouth is such as to demand attention. The degree of pollution is very much greater than that of the Great Lakes and the dangers in the spread of typhoid fever are pronounced. The effects of pollution have been mitigated in some instances by intelligent purification. The prompt correction of defects and the application of remedies suggested in this bulletin should result in a lowering of the typhoid fever prevalence and considerable saving of life. LIBRARY. Forty-two medical and scientific journals were subscribed to during the fiscal year. In addition to these, a large number are received regularly either gratuitously or as exchanges. In most instances these are bound and become a part of the bureau library. Many books, especially ones dealing with sanitation, public health, sewage treatment, and water purification, etc., have been purchased for the library, which now numbers about 7,000 volumes. There is an urgent need for a librarian, in order that a central library of public health may be organized with the present valuable nucleus of public-health literature in the library. Eighteen hundred dollars per annum should be provided for as a salary for this librarian NEEDS OF THE SERVICE. There are many perfectly obvious things to be done for the betterment of urban and rural conditions in the United States. The act approved August 14, 1912, authorized additional Federal activities in the field of scientific research and sanitation, and additional medical officers are required to carry out the intent of the law. This is one of the most urgent needs of the service. As stated elsewhere in this report, there is need of greater space at the Hygienic Laboratory to provide adequate room for the increased amount of work being done. An additional laboratory building should be provided without delay. In view of the increasing demands on the part of the public for information regarding sanitary problems and the methods of handling them, larger funds are needed for the printing of publications of the service dealing with these subjects. The collection of morbidity reports, an important factor in the control and prevention of disease, is at present entirely dependent upon the cooperation of State and local agencies, and no fund is available for measures to insure the receipt of these reports in localities where this cooperation is not given. There is need of an appropriation for this purpose, and an estimate has been submitted for this purpose for the fiscal year 1915. Respectfully submitted. RUPERT BLUE, Secretary of the Treasury. Hon. W. G. MCADOO, 278 |