the town of Eagley, Lancashire, England, on the 2d of February of the present year. It was carefully investigated by Dr. John Robinson, medical officer of health. The water supply was derived from different sources, and was, therefore, probably not the cause. The milk supply was all from the same source. The most conclusive evidence of contamination of the milk with impure water was obtained. The Eagley milk-can was in a filthy state. All the water used for dairy purposes was obtained from a small stream running past the door, and collected in a tub. This stream, a little higher up its course, ran by a mill in process of erection and had been used as a place of defecation by the workmen. Large quantities of fecal matter were found on its banks. The water from this stream was admitted to have been used for rinsing out the milk-cans; and this, notwithstanding that a pump of good pure water existed a short distance off. The whole number of cases up to Feb. 25, in the two small villages of Eagley and Bolton, both infected from the same source, was 190.'

That simple filtration through the earth is not sufficient to eliminate noxious material from drinking water-as is claimed by some who still refuse to believe in the necessity for an absolutely pure beverage-cannot be too strongly insisted on. Prof. Frankland, in a discourse before the Fellows of the Chemical Society at Burlington House in February of the present year, adduced, "as a striking instance of the persistency of the typhoid poison, when diffused in water, the outbreak of a violent epidemic of typhoid fever in a Swiss village, through the use of spring-water, which,

1 One solution of this problem is already presenting itself for our larger cities. This is found in the subjection of pure, fresh milk, in healthy dairy districts, remote from large towns, to the process of condensation, which, at once diminishing its bulk, and increasing its resistance to decomposition, renders transportation for long distances a trifling matter. Large dairies, placed under careful hygienic observation, and supplied with every facility for maintaining perfect purity in every detail of preparation are established in connection with the factory-for such it may be called. In the city of New York this plan has been in successful operation for some years, the milk being delivered daily in bulk, at the door, as in the case of ordinary milk. The profession of that city are unanimous in their testimony to the admirable adaptation of this milk to the stomachs of infants and invalids, and the diminution of gastric and intestinal fevers since its introduction. I understand that a similar enterprise for the supply of this city has recently been inaugurated in York County, in this State, and that the wagons of the company can already be seen upon our streets. It is to be hoped that no child will be allowed to die of disease of the digestive tube, without a fair trial of this form of nourishment having been permitted it. The price at which it is furnished is even less than that of ordinary milk.

after contamination with the poison, had filtered through nearly a mile of porous earth, but which had nevertheless lost none of its virulent properties." He adds: "As the typhoid poison is always liable to be present in sewage, and as there is no test for it except its effects upon man, the discovery of previous sewage contamination in potable water ought to be one of the chief objects of the analyst." (Nation, Feb. 24, 1876.) But there is good reason to suspect that other disease than typhoid may be introduced into the system through this medium. Very instructive and convincing, in this regard, is the history of the "Boil Pest in Tripoli.”

"During the early part of last year a rare and malignant disease made its appearance in Tripoli, characterized by the formation of two or three boils in the axilla, or upon the arms, legs, or abdomen. Of ten instances of the affection observed by Dr. Reval, seven terminated fatally within twenty-four hours. It was regarded as a significant feature that the disorder was limited to the tribe of Merdji, the inhabitants of the surrounding districts enjoying an immunity from the malady, although they maintained uninterrupted commu nication with this tribe. The authorities at Constantinople appointed a commission to inquire into the causes of this epidemic, and this commission-of which the American Consul, Mr. Semen, was President-have recently made an exhaustive report. In accordance with this report, the epidemic in question had its origin in miasmata, proceeding from a burial-ground in Merdji, where it is the custom to inter the dead in shallow graves, scooped out of the sand, the corpse being simply covered with straw. When it rains, these graves are filled with water, which, upon the following day, is rapidly evaporated by the hot sun, and this contributes to the rapid decomposition of the bodies, by means of which the surrounding atmosphere is loaded with the putrid emanations. In winter, the graveyard is converted into a small lake, the water from which is used for drinking purposes." It will be observed that the writer of the above account attributes the disease to miasmatic influences. But as the epidemic took place in the early part of the year-that is, the winter or early spring-it is more probable that it was due to the use of the contaminated water as a beverage.

That scarlet fever, as well as typhoid, may be propagated in this manner, is made highly probable by the following history by Dr. Ballard, of Lower Sedgely, England, as reported in the Lancet of Feb. 27, 1875. He says, in tracing the history of an outbreak of the former disease at the village of Wood Sutton, that a brook at the back of certain of the houses was unmistakably the cause of its spread. In 1871-72, there had been seventeen deaths, and the out

break had been almost entirely confined to one side of Back Street, supplied from the brook running at the back of it, or from local wells sunk in the spoil bank. Another street, running parallel with Back Street, also supplied from the brook, had deaths from this disease, while Sedgely Road, also parallel with Back Street, but supplied by waterworks, was free from it.

The Lancet for May 29, 1875, refers to a certain pump in Bishopsgate Street, which stands opposite the rails of the old churchyard there, and of which Mr. Simon-the distinguished medical officer of the Privy Council-gives the following interesting account: "The water from this well is perfectly bright, clear, and even brilliant ; it has an agreeable, soft taste, and is much esteemed by the inhabitants of the parish, though-as will be seen by the subjoined analysis-it is an exceedingly hard water (yielding carbonates

of lime and magnesia, sulphate of lime, chloride of sodium, nitrates of potash, soda, magnesia, and ammonia, silica, and phosphate of lime; but of organic matter none, or scarcely a trace). The quantity of nitrates in this water is very remarkable. These salts are doubtless from the decomposition of animal matter in the adjacent churchyard."

What, for example, was the history of Broad Street pump, which proved so fatal during the cholera epidemic of 1854? Was its water foul, thick, and stinking? Unfortunately, not. It was the purest looking and most enticing water to be found in the neighborhood, and people came from a distance to get it. Yet there can be no doubt that it carried cholera to many who drank it; and its analysis showed that, in composition it was very similar to the water near the graveyard in Bishopsgate Street.

The experience of the city of Glasgow, since the introduction of pure water from sparkling Loch Katrine, has been eminently satisfactory in respect to the diminution of the diarrheal death-rate. We are told that "there are fountains for horses to drink everywhere, and these are perfectly free to the population." After bearing testimony to the fact that, in the cholera epidemic in 1866, Glasgow was remarkably free from disease, Dr. Gairdner was examined as to the actual and comparative mortality from diarrhoea, dysentery, and cholera. His evidence shows that the diarrhoeal death-rate in Glasgow over the ten years, 1861 to 1870, was 590 per million, whereas, that of Lanarkshire was 766 per million. In consequence of this remarkable comparative result, Dr. Gairdner inquired into the state of Glasgow before the introduction of the Loch Katrine water. The result of this inquiry proved that, in 1855, the death-rate was 143 in 100,000; in 1856, 126; in 1857, 226; in 1858, 155; and in 1859, 94; so that

the mean of these five years, before the introduction of the Loch Katrine water, was 149 in 100,000 living; whereas, since the introduction of the lake water it has averaged 59.

In comparing the results of graveyard contamination of drinking water with that occurring from other sources, I would venture to propose tentatively a general principle, that the more highly organized an animal is, the more deleterious to human health will be the absorption into the system of its decomposing particles. Doubtless, it is for this reason that human feces have been made so much more offensive to the sense of smell than those of inferior animals, so that we may be compelled to remove them from our immediate neigh borhood; and I may here remark that any deodorizer, applied in the process of their conversion into fertilizing agents, which is not at the same time a disinfectant, is simply a snare and delusion.

In conclusion, Mr. President and gentlemen, while fully conscious of the entire absence of originality in the foregoing paper-which is perhaps excusable in an annual report—I cannot but indulge the hope that the mass of evidence which I have been able to bring before you will have convinced the most incredulous of the great moment of this question of the purity of our two great staple beverages. To secure these, it is absolutely necessary that our legislators should be aroused to a sense of their duty and responsibility, in the matter of providing us with a State officer, who shall make the public health, and all that concerns it, his especial care, clothed with authority to enforce such regulations as, with the assistance of competent advisers, he shall deem to be necessary to secure these and similar blessings to our people.

To show you how our present fragmentary and disjointed system of hygienic administration impresses a European observer, let me quote the remarks of the most prominent British Medical Review on the Report of the Board of Health of a large city within the limits of this Commonwealth, whose name I blush to mention.

"The sanitary reports of American cities," he says, "rather indicate what may and should be done for the public health, than the results of definite and coercive legislation. There is much good work done under a species of semi-authority and sufferance, and by volunteer exertion; but the plaint is the lack of a central authority and administrative power to make sanitary supervision an effective reality. The water supply of a considerable portion of this city is abominably polluted, but no sufficient authority is found to remedy it; there are numerous and deplorable nuisances, but no efficient inspectors; there are many factories and workshops, but no laws to secure their hygienic condition, or the physical well-being of tho e

employed in them; there is evidence, unmistakable, of the sale of unwholesome and adulterated food, but it is nobody's business to meddle with it, and protect the public; there are on all sides complaints of building operations in defiance of sanitary law, and no one with authority to attend to them, and take action against them; and, lastly, intra-mural interments stand condemned in all civilized communities, but the public authorities of the American cities have no power to stop them."

If every member of this Society, Mr. President, would, on his return to his home, earnestly, conscientiously, and persistently use his influence with such of his acquaintance as are in a position to mould public opinion-physicians, jurists, divines, editors-we might be able to congratulate ourselves upon the occasion of our next annual meeting that this stigma upon our civilization had been removed, and that Pennsylvania had joined the sisterhood of intelligent and progressive commonwealths who possess a State Board of Health-a fitting crown for a Centennial Hygeia.