The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1894-10-07
HEALTH BOARD QUARTERS.
noon At LAST FOR THEIR MANY
NECESSARY BUREA US.

his Ezperimeuts-How Cultsres Are Made
s-d stusiss-Othsr work or the Board.
The Health Department. with all it, offshoots
and branches, began on last Monday to move from
It's old crampcd quarters in the Police Depart
ment building on Mott street 20 the new and COM
modious Criminal Court building. which occupies
the block boun ded by Centre, White, Elm, and
Franklin streets. All the week the officials and
clerks who have had charge Of the moving have
been working early and late 10 get the new offlcco
and laboratories in order. II Is big under
taking. and several weeks will elapse before
everything has been put to rights. The depart
ment IL in thorough working order, however,
and has been so every day since the moving be-
gan. The painters may DO at work over his
head, and the carpenters may be tearing up and
putting down floors all around him, but DR..
Tracy goes on recording births, DEATHS and
marriages in undisturbed serenity, and the same
h true with respect to the other departments.
The officials are perhaps a little more i'm
patient over the delay In getting settled than
they would be IL they bad ever had any such ex-
perlence before. But II Is the first time the
Health Department has ever moved. Since IL
was first organized in March. 1866. 1t has re-
manned in the Police Department building II
had only few rooms at first, but before long IL
began to grow pretty rapidly. The records and
registrations alone in city like New York take
up q great deal OF space. Then, again, the de-
partment has been extending its work in many
directions, and now divisions and bureaus are
found more and more valuable and necessary.
The Health Department encroachcd upon the
preserves of the Police Department rs long as 1t
could II finally came to occupy eighteen rooms
in the building, and then II had TO spread out
over the neIghborhood. The four-story build
ing at Mulberry and Blocker streets was ac-
quired, and somewhat later two floors at AZ
Blocker street were hired and turned into labo-
ratories for the chemical and meteorological divi-
sons This scattering and the fact that the Police
Department didn't get a fair chance to stretch
itself were what led TO the removal OF the entire
department to the new Municipal building, with
ample accommodations, at least, for the present.
There 10 between four and five times much
room there as there was in tho old quarters.
In all, there are twenty eight rooms, and they
are situated on three different floors. Up at the
top Of the building are the executive Offices.
There is . large room. where Chief Clerk Gold
erman sits behind an iron railing and hears
what visitors have to say. Opening out Of
this on the right is the office Of the
Sanitary Superintendent and tho order
clerks To the left are the Commissioner
offices, the Board room, where they hold their
meetings. and the office OF Gen; Clark. who is
fitted up in fine office style. with heavy iron
ratings and massive oak desks. chairs. and
steel case on one side for the final iing away OF
valuable papers and records. 1t isn't there yet,
to It, and il will OF course. be cquivslent to a
hreproof safe with an unheard-of capacity.
Next to this suite of offices Is the library. n
yerv large room, where, among other things |
bound records will be stored in oak cases, which |
toward the ceiling. They are not in place YET,
either: Then there Is a room for keeping nc
where ooEkeepinS and auditing are a carried on.
The next office is occupied by the attorney OF |
the Board. When the inspectors and sanitary |
policemen are unable to enforce the orders |
for d!sinfecton. isolation, and those kinds of |
things, the attorney threatens the DELINQUENT |
with legal consequences, and that usually brings |
him TO terms. Once in "a while suit has to I've |
instituted. There is also a large room connected |
Then there are two other big rooms where moro |
record; ,h and certificates are FHng to be fled
used chiefly by the Bureau OF Vital sta.
filed away. Just, now these certificates
great deal Of anxiety, for they are piled up
rather promiscuously on the floor and on tables
900 OF the certificates themselves, and 400 vol
tunes In which other certificates have been bound
there are 500 Immense iedsers ' into which the
Oldest certificates have been transcribed.
aas ons Of e keep hs F
The boxes slide into the steel cases, and any
certificate may not only be consuted but may
The rooms occupied by the two registration
officers, pr. Nagle and DR.. Tracy; are next to
oak cases for storing current certificates. In ad-
diti9n, Pr Trays room Is supplied with sr big
is the Doctors especial pride. and IL Is as big
as a room In a summer hotel; 1t is fully fifteen
Doctors choicest statistics may DC piled in
safety:
ing are the offices and laboratories OF tho
chemical and archaeological divisions. These
the executive offices, and are stiil more Behind
hand, although there is SUFFICIENT provision for
on h nu IN nsc wSss an OF
utructed and filed with the queer looking things
that scientific men delight IN The chemical
analysis room. and the laboratory, itself The
latter Is smos, bare at present with the e1csp-
Martin gets all his retorts and other parapher-
MALTA suitably scattered about, It will be most
Is OF great practical value. 1t includes the
analysis OF water. milk, patent medicines, and
The newest, most interesting and perhaps tho
most valuable branch OF the Health Depart
The suite which IL occupies comprises the
executive and clerical Offices, u storeroom, and
the chemical department, and there are other
annexes down stairs.
The entire Health Department has been Rradu-
ally outgrowing its old quarters for years. but
The bacteIiological division has had the hardest
from small beginnings it has been rapidly devsi-
Dping during the past year. With the great ad-
in the science OF bacteriOlogy which
has marked the last decade and Is going on with
increasing momentum, IL Is evident
that this division OF the Health Department will
continue 10 grow and extend its usefulness |
rapidly for a long time 10 come.
The department was organized In September, |
1872, during the cholera scare. under DIR. Her |
man NJ Biggs. for the determination of cases re-
ported as cholera. and for developing an efficient
'ystem OF disinfectOn. Its present work really .
began In January, 1893. At that time its force !
consisted OF one man, who worked part OF the
line. Now there are twelve at work diph-
IBERIA and tuberculosis specimens. Their time ,
8 devoted almost entirely 70 routine work; and
considerable increase OF the STAFF Is looked for
n the near future. The psychological labOra-
Org which has been fitted up Is adapted espe- {
lSsilX 10 the examinatlon OF diphtherla oacilli {
iphthera which occurs in the city. The sys-
EN- by which this Is done has been developed /
within little over year. Several drug stores | d
n various parts OF the city. are supplied with /
culture" outfits, as they are called, and they I
urnish them 10 physicians free OF charge. An | 4
utft consists of two test tubes, one Of which | I