Birmingham state herald., 1896-01-14
DEL|BERAT|YE = DOCTORS -
  Annual Meeting by the Jefferson County Medical Society. VARIOUS ILLS DIAGNOSED Officers ected-lmportant Reports Heard and an Animated Discussion
 Developed.

| The Jefferson County Medicall society l held its regular semi-monthly meeting in l Magnolia hall, on Third avenue, last night
 The meeting was called to order promptly at o'clock, with Dr. E. F. l Riggs, president, in the. chair, and pr. l W. H. Wilder, secretary, at his post. | There were sixty members present. l The meeting was interesting and spirited throughout, it being the occasion for the annual election of officers.
 The secretary read the following re- port from the various committees To the Jefferson County Medical Society: I submit the following report of your committee of health for the year 1895: The committee has held twelve regular monthly meetings and four or five called meetings, where matters of public inter-
 est have been considered and monthly re-
 ports have been submitted by the health
 officer.
 As a board of medical examiners we
 have examined five candidates for the
 practice of medicine. all of whom were given certificates.
 At the January meeting the committee
 was reorganized for the year by electing
 Dr. Sholl to the chairmanship and the
 present incumbent secretary. Dr. J. C. Dozier was elected supervisor of medical examinations.
 The high mortality from the Coalburg
 prisons early attracted the attention of
 your committee and an investigation was
 deemed necessary. The state health of-
 ficer was communicated with and as a
 result a commission was appointed by
 the governor, which included the state health officer, who came up and inspected the prisons - Your committee sent the county health
 officer with the commission to represent
 this society. There was some msunder-
 standing between tue commission and
 our health officer in the matter of pro cedure, and your committee instructed the health officer to continue his inves-t tigations in behalf of the Jefferson coun-. ty board of health and report fully. This was done and the report as made by himN was published in the Birmingham papers, and also in pamphlet form. This reporto you have all seen. Dr: Lewis of Coal-i burg published defense of the Coalburg officials, to which the health officer made, reply. This. was also published Tn pamphlet form. The cost of both publi-G cations was assumed by the county commissioners. This report was primar-s fly for the benefit of the committee, but
 so thorough did 1t appear and so timely, that the committee voted to have It pub
 lished and distributed throughout the7
 state with the hope that it might be the beginning of better things. ',
  question of compulsory vaccination in the public schools and the mayor has been importuned to look into the legality of the question. '--
 With the beginning of the year the city | had no sanitary officer. The city en- gineer was supposed to act in that ca pacity, but through the intervention of the committee of health one was ap- pointed. This officer now makes daily reports to the health officer. During the past summer the Southside | storm sewer was agitating the public
 mind. The committeecef health were re- quested by the mayor'to inspect the city sewers. This was4done., The committee was accompanied-by the mayor, the city | engineer and a@member of the board of l aldermen The condition of the sani- l tary sewers was founclas represented by | the engineer overcharged and broken in several places from the pressure. The mayor asked for an expression | from the committee,~'and the following communication wasssent:
 | To His Honor, Mayor VanHoose: Noting your communication to our secretary asking an opinion as to the l sanitary necessity of the proposed storm l sewer, we would say, after personal in vestigation made, that we are satisfied | that in so far as it may be the means of | relieving the pressure under which the present discharge of sewage is finding it's way through leaking and broken sewage pipes to the surface soil, and thus dis tributed in the city, where it may possi- bly, in the future become a menace to the health of the city, in that proportion 1t becomes a sanitary necessity for the general public welfare"
 In October there was entered a com plaint against the Tennessee Packing | company by the Elyton people, on ac-. count of the pollution of the stream | running through that community. spe- | cial meeting was called and the manager of the Tennessee company was summon ed to appear" He stated that the com pany were preparing to erect a plant which would eyaporate the drippings and convert them to fertilizer. That if the committee would give him thirty days
 the trouble would be overcome. This was agreed to. .4
 The committee has during the year been agitating the question of better care of the county poor, there being no separate rooms for the sick and well in- mates. Also a better means of caring for the pauper insane and the erection of buildings for the care of smallpox in
 case of an emergency. All of these questions have been brought before the county commissioners, who are progressive.s thinking men, and we have been assured ofo their co-operatiofi as far as the county's finances will per- nit There will be some arrangements | made for hospital at the aims housS
 
 for the care of smallpox cases. should any occur. The location will be decided upon by the county commissioners and the city authorities. Mayor VanHoose is;
 in sympathy with the work and will coz operate with the county authorities. i2
 On account of the prevalence of ceE.
 tain contagious diseases the committees
 had published the following recommemo
 datlons regulating the attendance in the
 public schools, copysof a similar recomy mendations last year or the year previous appearing In the. papers at the time: sar Reports ofSpecial Committees. s7i
 The committee on public schools made the following report so,, To the Chairman of the Committee ot Public Health: aa,g .
 desire to report that have examined the public school buildings of the. S..y
 finding the condition. about the same as pertained last year, at which time went somewhat into detail. As that report is on record. it will scarcely be necessary
 or advisa ble to go oyer the whole ground
 again At the eost~ofua very few dollars
 slight sanitary. defects, in the basements1
 of both, Paul Hayne and Henley schools