FOURTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE SANITARY COUNCIL OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. THE Fourth Annual Meeting of the SANITARY COUNCIL OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY was held in Cairo, Ill., April 19-20, 1882, representatives from the following organizations being present: STATE BOARDS OF HEALTH. Arkansas-J. A. DIBRELL, Jr., M. D., Secretary. LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS. Keokuk, Ia., City Board of Health-D. B. HILLIS, M. D., President. Memphis, Tenn., City Board of Health-G. B. THORNTON, M. D., President. Hon. DAVID P. HADDEN, President Legislative Council, and ex officio Member. New Orleans Auxiliary Sanitary Association-GUSTAVUS DEVRON, M. D., Sanitary Director. New Orleans Medical and Surgical Association-L. F. SALOMON, M. D., Member. NATIONAL BOARD OF HEALTH. HOSMER A. JOHNSON, M. D., Resident Member, Chicago, Ill. ROBERT W. MITCHELL, M. D., Resident Member, Memphis, Tenn. OFFICERS OF THE COUNCIL PRESENT. JOHN J. SPEED, M. D., Louisville, Ky., President. JOHN H. RAUCH, M. D., Chicago, Ill., Secretary and Treasurer. Endorsement of the "Harris Bill": The regular order of business was suspended at the forenoon session on the 16th, in order to consider what action, if any, should be taken by the COUNCIL with reference to the passage of U. S. Senate Bill No. 1049, which the Secretary stated he was informed would be reported back from the committee to the Senate during the day. After some remarks upon the importance of the measure, which is designed to render more directly operative the provisions of the Act of June 2, 1879, in preventing the introduction of contagious and infectious diseases into the United States, the Secretary submitted the following: Resolved, That the SANITARY COUNCIL OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY earnestly urges the immediate passage of Senate Bill No. 1049, as amended March 22, 1882, and known as the "Harris Bill." believing that it offers speedy and certain relief from the evils of imported contagion now causing widespread sickness, death and material losses in the interior States. On motion of Dr. Thornton the resolution as read was unanimously adopted, and the Secretary was authorized to telegraph its purport to Senator Harris in Washington. Under the suspension of the rules Dr. Devron announced the recent death of Dr. C. B. White of New Orleans. After remarks by various members, the Chair appointed Drs. Devron, Johnson and Baker a committee to draft and present appropriate resolutions, and the COUNCIL adjourned until 2 o'clock p. m. AT the afternoon session, April 19th, the regular order of business being resumed, the Secretary read the minutes of the Third Annual Meeting of the COUNCIL, held at Evansville, Ind., April 2122, 1881, and which were approved as read. Under the call for the election of new members, the Secretary presented the credentials of Dr. L. F. Salomon as a delegate from the New Orleans Medical and Surgical Association, and the question being duly put, Dr. Salomon was declared elected. Dr. C. B. White, in Memoriam: Dr. Devron, of the committee on resolutions, in memory of Dr. C. B. White, submitted the following: WHEREAS, This COUNCIL has learned of the recent death of CHARLES BRAHMAN WHITE, M. D., one of its most valued and honored members; one of the first members of the American Public Health Association and its late President; for seven years President of the Louisiana State Board of Health; and for the past three years Medical Director of the New Orleans Auxiliary Sanitary Association; an able and accomplished practical sanitarian, whose labors for the protection of human life in New Orleans, his adopted home, and in the Valley of the Mississippi, have been crowned with an unusual meed of success; and WHEREAS. Many of the members of this COUNCIL have held intimate personal and offcial relations with the deceased, through which they had come to respect his judgment and methods as an administrative sanitarian in the larger questions of the whole country, as well as in those of his immediate environment; therefore, be it Resolved, That in the death of Dr. C. B. White, not only does New Orleans lose a gifted and useful citizen, but Louisiana and her sister States of the Mississippi Valley are thereby deprived of the services of a vigilant and valiant guardian of their health interests, and the cause of sanitary science is bereft of one of its most steadfast workers and illustrious exponents. Resolved. That we, the individual members of the SANITARY COUNCIL OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY, sincerely deplore the demise of our friend, co-worker and brother-member; and do hereby direct that a page in the Book of the Minutes of this COUNCIL be inscribed with the initials C. B. W.; that these resolutions be spread thereunder; and that a suitably engrossed copy of the same, signed by the President and Secretary, be transmitted to his relatives. On motion of Dr. Rauch, the preamble and resolutions were unanimously adopted. Amendment to the Constitution: Dr. Rauch submitted his report as Treasurer of the COUNCIL, after the reading and acceptance of which, on motion of Dr. Mitchell, the Constitution was amended as to Sec. iii, so as to read,-The fee shall be five dollars annually from each organization having representatives in the Sanitary Council. River-Inspection Service, National Board of Health: Under the call for "new business," the Secretary read a communication from the National Board of Health concerning its RiverInspection Service and the conditions under which it would be reestablished and maintained during the ensuing season; which are, in effect, that the State and local boards of health interested shall take such action as may be necessary to secure the recognition of the certificate of inspection. The Secretary stated that the Tennessee State Board of Health, as also the local board of health of Memphis, had already taken such action; while the ILLINOIS STATE BOARD, at its regular quarterly meeting, April 13-15, 1882, had adopted a preamble and resolutions, wherein it is recited that the geographical position of Illinois and its relations with the Lower Mississippi country, by rail and river, are such as to render the State subject to invasions of yellow fever whenever that disease gets a foothold below; and that it is believed that the exclusion of yellow fever from said region can only be effected through National agencies operating for the general welfare without regard to State boundaries, and uninfluenced by merely local considerations. Action of the Illinois State Board of Health thereon: Wherefore, the ILLINOIS STATE BOARD OF HEALTH formally approves the action of such State and local boards of health as have adopted the rules and regulations of the National Board of Health, and have conformed to its advice, suggestions and requirements on this subject; renews its approval of the Mississippi River-Inspection Service of said National Board of Health; authorizes its Secretary, in the event of yellow fever appearing on the Lower Mississippi during the coming summer, to make application to the National Board, in the name of the ILLINOIS BOARD, for the establishment and maintenance of inspection stations of said Service, to be located at such points as, in his judgment, are best calculated for the protection of the State; and orders that, in such event, no railroad or steamboat travel or traffic, from any point or place within the compromised territory to any point or place within the State, be permitted, except in accordance with the rules, regulations and requirements of the National Board of Health. Action of the Michigan State Board of Health: The Secretary also read the preamble and resolutions adopted by the Michigan State Board of Health, at a special meeting held March 1st, 1882, setting forth that, as the prevention of the introduction of yellow fever into the United States is a subject of National importance, it is proper for the Louisiana State Board of Health to ask, and it is the duty of the National Board of Health to continue to give, aid in preventing the introduction of that disease into the Mississippi Valley; to which end, and to enable the. National Board to give accurate information to the sanitary organizations of the State interested, it is advised that inspectors of the National Board should be placed at Eadsport and at the MississippiRiver Quarantine Station of the Louisiana Board, while all health authorities in Louisiana and the Gulf States should furnish prompt and full information to the National Board concerning yellow fever. In the same connection the Secretary read a series of resolutions. prepared by Dr. Thornton, to be submitted to the COUNCIL, and in which the National Board of Health is formally requested to reestablish, and maintain until the middle of next October, its Inspection Service on the Mississippi River; and to place on duty at New Orleans, and other Southern ports, such inspectors as may be necessary to supervise the shipment of merchandise, baggage, etc., from said ports by rail or river. Connection of the Louisiana State Board of Health therewith: With reference to the details concerning the Louisiana State Board of Health, above alluded to. Dr. Salomon read the correspondence between Dr. Stanford E. Chaillé, Supervising Inspector of the National Board of Health at New Orleans, and Gov. McEnery; in which Dr. Chaillé inquires whether the privilege of placing an inspector of the National Board of Health at the Mississippi-River Quarantine Station of the Louisiana State Board of Health will be continued during the season of 1882; and to which the Governor replies that such privilege, accorded by his predecessor, Governor Wiltz, has not been revoked; but that it is expected the inspector will subject himself to the rules and regulations of the State Board, and shall not in anywise attempt to supervise, control or direct the actions of the quarantine physician of said Board. Exclusion of Imported Contagion a National Duty: In submitting these papers to the COUNCIL the Secretary took occasion to observe that the subject was only one branch of the larger question of National control of exterior quarantines. The exclusion of yellow fever from the Mississippi Valley is, in point of fact, embraced in measures for the exclusion of all epidemic contagious and infectious diseases,-not from a given region, but from the whole. country; measures which, sanitarians are now pretty well agreed, could only be instituted and efficiently carried out by the General Government. While he objected to the assumption, by the city of New Orleans or the State of Louisiana, of sanitary control over the mouth of the Mississippi, he objected quite as strenuously to the port of New York, or any other Atlantic port being allowed exclusive authority in quarantine matters which, with our present close intercommunication, are of equal concern to distant communities and States in the interior. Experience has demonstrated that the health authorities at such ports are too heavily handicapped by local influences, commercial rivalries and other potent considerations, to permit them to satisfactorily administer such a trust as this. Their laws, ordinances and rules may look well enough on paper; but they are too often honored in the breach rather than the observ |