Arizona republican., 1910-06-16
|DR. GODFREY HOME FROM EASTERN TRIP
Attended Three Notable Conventions of Physicians and Health Officers.

Dr. F. s. Godfrey Jr, territorial health officer returned yesterday from his eastern visit, undertaken mainly to be present at the annual conference of the state and provincial boards of health of the United States and Can ada, and the annual conference be- tween the surgeon general of the Pub lie Health and Marine hospital, and the health officers of the various states. The doctor said he had fine time and the conventions were we'll worth the expense and effort of at tending them, The conference with the surgeon general only lasted one day while that of the health boards was a session of considerable length attended by many and consisting of numerous helpful discussions.
 On the way back the doctor also at tended the annual meetings of the American Medical association in St. Louis Dr. J. B. Murphy of Chicago was elected president of the society and Los Angeles vas named as the place of meeting next year.
 Though the discussions covered a wide range the most important thing considered was that of revising the
  served between the states and provin- ces. concerning the transportation Of dead bodies And even in respect of that question no great changes were decided upon. There were some modi- | fications, providing that under certain conditions bodies of persons who have died of bubonic plague, yellow fever and typhus fever, (not typhoid which ] is cOnfOunded with typhus in the 1 minds of some) may be transported 1, from one place to another over rail- roads and steamships, that having pre- viously been prohibited.
 | Unlike restrictions governing most
 things in civilized countries, in this ! instance the tendency is to make them i more liberal instead of more severe. on | the theory that the public generally is prejudiced with transformation con
 corning the dead and in the interest
 of public health has demanded unnec-
 essary restrictions, in order to be on
 the safe side. It is contended that this
 public aversion or fear of the conta-
 zion of the dead is quite unscientific.
 IL has not been demonstrated that the
 bodies of persons who have died or
 contagious diseases. spread those dis
 eases after death, if they are confined
 at all closely as they would be in a
 casket and shipping box. The theory
 is that the germs of disease cannot
 long survive after dissolution. Hay
 ing this in mind the gentlemen in con
 ference could not see why the friends
 and relatives of those p'ho had died in foreign lands or in infected
 districts in this country during cpl denies, might not be permitted to
 bring the bodies home for interment, if they complied with certain reason able restrictions.
 The convention also passed resolu-
 ton endorsing the owens bill tO create department of public health. A pub lie meeting was held which was ad 1 dressed by Senator owens, pr. John | s. Fulton, secretary of the interna tional congress on hygiene and derm ography, Prof Irving Fisher and other
 nota bles.
 l There was also a hearing before the ! senate committee on quarantine. in re |! gard to the Owens bill which was ad- | dressed by Wm H. Welch of Balti l more president of the American Medi- | cal association, and by others high in the medical profession.
 In the conference with the surgeon | general more attention was paid to the matter of morbidity statistics with re- | gard to contagious diseases. than to | any other subject. and that was of | special interest to Dr Godfrey who has been engaged during the last year 1 in devising a system of gathering sta | tistical reports in Arizona in conform l ity with a law passed by the last leg ! islature. The chief object sought is to ] get better record of cases and more detailed information by which to trace such cases to the sources of their in | lection.
 In this connection the doctor was asked if he voted for the sewer bonds 1 yesterday. He said he did not but | surely would have done so if he had