Evening star., 1902-04-24
HEALTH CONDITIONS
Papers Read Before the Social
Scientists.
PROBLEMS DISCUSSED
HEALTH OFFICER WooDwARD's
ADDRESS ON SANITATION.
DR.. Kober Speaks of Milk, Butter and
Butter Substitutes and Pubils
Health.
PROBLEMS DISCUSSED

The session of the American Social
Science Association this morning was pre-
| sided over by Surgeon General George NJ.
Sternberg of the army, and the papers
read before the meeting had reference to
health conditions affecting the social
system. The principal papers of the ses-
sion were by Dr. W. c. Woodward, health
officer of the District on Some Problems
in Municipal Sanitation From an Executive
Standpoint and by George NJ. Kober NJ.
D., on Milk, Butter and Butter Substi-
tutes in Relation to Public Health" Sew
eral members of the association present
participated in the discussion of the papers
DR.. Woodward prefaced his paper by
saying it should be understood that none
of the conditions described in it were pecu-
liar to any one city and that in but few
single cities, If in any, did they all exist.
Some cities were afflicted in one way and
some in another, and possibly some had
solved satisfactorily every problem which
would be discussed.
The First Problem.
The first problem considered had to do
with the organization of municipal ma
chinery for the protection of public health.
1t was pointed out that in many cities in
which boards of health had been abolished
in favor of health officers the promuga-
tioH of sanitary regulations had been in
trusted to municipal councils. 1t was sug-
gested that however desirable it may have
been to transfer the executive functions Of
boards of health to officials Independent of
such boards. the legislative authority might
we'll have been preserved or conferred upon
boards created for that purpose.
Sanitary regulations he said, 'are or
dinarily technical in their nature and when
enacted by the average municipal council
are enacted in ignorance of the bearings
of many of the technical points involved.
Even If properly framed when introduced
they are liable to become sadly misshapen
in their passage"
DR. Woodward spoke of the general diff
ficulty in securing the services Of compe-
tent inspectors because of the uncertain
tenure of office. inadequate salaries and
political Interference. Inspectors, he de-
gclared, must be trained by each health de-
partment as needed. There are no schools
in this country in which they can learn to
do such work and no line of private busi-
ness which fits them for it.
The difficulty of supervising the work Of
inspectors was discussed and the advisa-
bility of subjecting any supposed infrac-
tionS of rules or neglect of duty to review
and punishment in the manner In which
such matters are dealt with in police ad-
ministration was suggested.
Enforcement Of Laws.
He III lile way VI d IlSiu eli
forcement of the laws requiring report
Of births and of cases of contagious dis
ease were pointed out and the paper ended
with appeal to the association to assist
in the solution of the problems which had
been presented and to the individual men,
bers of the association to be slow In con-
demning any health officer supposedly dere-
lict in his duty until they had determined
whether he had or had not been provided
with the machinery necessary to enable
him to perform it.
Production of Pure Milk
DIR. Kober in his opening remarks, said
the production of pure milk might well be
considered one of the most important prob
lens which confronts the sanitarian. Nu-
merous instances, he declared, have been
observed in which outbreaks of typhoid and
scarlet fever and diphtheria, affecting fam
lilies in the same locality, pointed to the
milk supply as the common cause.
Continuing, he said that it was not until
1851 when DR.. Michael Taylor, an English
physician, pointed out definitely that cows
milk might serve as the medium Of spread
ing typhoid fever from a dairy where the
disease prevailed. In 1867 he showed that
scarlet fever might be distributed in the
same way. Epidemics of cholera and diph-
liberia were later traced to similar sources,
and in 1881 the history of fifty outbreaks
of typhoid fever, fifteen of scarlet fever
and seven of dphtheria, all traceable to
lne Inllh supply, was presented 10 tHe IN
ternational medical congress held in Lon
don.
1T is easy to conceive" DR.. Kober said,
how the milk may be infected with the
germs Of typhoid fever OF the 195 epidem-
les of typhoid fever which | have tabulated
there is evidence in 143 of the disease hav-
ing prevailed at the farm or dairy. In six
ty-seven instances infection probably reach
ed the milk by percolation of the germs
into the we'll water with which the utensils
were washed; infection in seven cases is
attributed to the cows wading in sewage
polluted water and pastures; in twentyfour
cases the dairy employees acted as nurses,
and in ten cases the patients, while suffer
ing from a mild attack of the disease, con-
tinued their work, and 1t is easy in this
case to SurmiSe the manner OF direct dlgl-
tai infection.
Produces Scarlet Fever.
Infection in ninety-nine epidemics of
scarlet fever was produced in about the
same manner as those Of typhoid, as was
also thirty-six outbreaks of diphthera. 1t
has also been demonstrated that milk is
the most frequent cause of cholera in
fantum and the diarrhoael diseases in chill
dren
"A review of the milk legislation shows
that the laws already enacted deal largely
with the prevention of milk sophstication,
and those familiar with the surroundings
of our milk farms and the habits of the av
erage dairy employees need no argument for
the necessity Of sanitary reforms and addi-
tional legislation upon this subject.
'Since milk is known to be carrier of
disease germs under the conditions referred
to, the possibility that butter may act in
the same way has been considered, and the
evidence on the subject shows that tuber-
cule bacilli are present in about one-third
of the samples Of market butter examined
in Europe. Although the number of re-
ported cases of infectious diseases in which
the contagion was introduced through but
ter is not large, it is enough to show the
possibility of contracting disease by the
consumption of this common article of food
This fact is of enormous Importance when
we realize that the production of butter in