The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-11-15

. the profits of labor. thus causing i'm roverishment and in this way dimin-
 lsh the resisting power to disease.
 Lawfully established business that per- ! niits the manufacture and sale of pro- ducts that are injurious to health and
 causes of disease. Laws that permit
 the adulteration of commercial foods
 or the pollution of food and water, all contribute to the production of dis ease. On the other hand natural con ditions that favor disease may be mod flied in such way as to favor health
 instead of disease. Again artificial con-
 dltions that favor disease can be pro- hibited by law and in their stead law , may provide conditions that favor
 health.
 For all times there have been good and bad things. To find out which Is good and which is bad and to employ , and to present the former and to avoid
 tnd destroy the latter are certainly
 Intelligent purposes.
 To learn the good and bad things that favorably and unfavorabiy affect : the health and how to observe and en-
 ploy the former and avoid the latter
 are the problems of sanitation and hy-
 giene. In it's broadest sense santa ton IS the province of the public and In : restricted sense hygiene is the pro- vince of the individual.
 Preventive medicine searches for tho
 
 disease and employs appropriate meth ods for their removal. Sanitation Is the means or instrumentality for the exc
 cution of preventive medicine. There fore, study of geogT aphical, topo- graphical conditions the soil with its physical. chemical and biological prop
 erties water. its source and means of pollution, natural purficiation. relation tc soil, manner of its collection and
 place of deliverance-well, spring,
 stream or hydrant. etc, the air, It's
 temperature. moisture. wind, foreign
 substances. etc; climate with It's nat ural conditions of soil. water and air and temperature, and it's flora and
 fauna: habitation. whether in cities
 or country or In large aggregations or segregations. with their light heat
 ing, ventilation and drainage, etc. The vast majority of acute diseases
 are caused by bacteria or parasites.
 These are perfectly definite organisms living things, with a definite biological
 history. Therefore. study of bacteria
 is a primary study in preventive med-
 icine. This study embraces the morph-
 ological and cultural chara cteristics,
 where they grow and multiply, where
 they come from, how long they live,
 the manner in which they enter the
 body, how distributed in the body, how
 discharged from the body, the circum-
 stances and conditions which favor
 them outside of the body. A definite
 knowledge of the biological cycle so as to learn the most favorable points for attack Is necessary for the sue
 cessful employment of sanitary meas ures Thus if the bowel and kidney dis charges in all cases of typhoid fever } were destroyed or disinfected. the
 typhoid bacilli would be killed at that point of their life history or if thny have escaped these, if kept out of food and drink there would be no entrance iato the body. If all breeding places . Of the anopheles mosquito were de- 7 stroyed there would be no mosquitoes l to suck the blood of malarial patients to act as Intermediate host and subse- i; quently bite healthy people: there 9 could be no introduction of the plas- medium and malaria1 diseases would De avoided. If the excrement of mar , and animal were properly taken care ]. of there could be no infection from these sources. In all infectious dis , eases if the bacteria are attacked a1 @ the most accessible or vulnerable point
 in their life history most of them coule
 be avoided and the rest of them great
 ly diminished These illustrations arc : merely to point out some of the meth f ods of sanitation.
 4 How Employed and Enforced We have today worldwide lndustr, 7 and commerce. The location and diversit,
 
 5 of labor, and the means of shipment ere ate a worldwide market in exchangins ) tho natural and manufactured product. r Of one locality with the other. In tn. r event of famine, pestilence or war il 3 any part of the world the whole worlt
 Is affected in proportion to its import 3 ance as an industrial and commercial locality. In this way prosperity or calam f ity has worldwide significance and af fects the whole world in proportion t, I the importance and influence of givel ! locality.
 Q From the standpoint of sanitation ther [ are local foci in different parts of tn 3 world where certain diseases are epidemi / and through the instrumentality of ! world commerce and travel may be car = ried and result in epfdemics in far dis tant places. Hence, there Is an inter national field for the employment of san @ itary science and art. The laws an a their enforcement pertaining to the pre- T vention of these epidemics are necessari ' national and international in their scope In most national governments there ar certain subdivisions or units, such a 5 states, colonies provinces etc. In tn United States there are states, which ar 2 the governmental units of that natior Sanitary laws and their enforcement be = tween and among the states are chief
 under the Jurisdiction of the Unite f | States. In the state there are certai II municipal or local governmental subdi Il visions-counties and cities. These ar I under the Jurisdiction of the state gov H ernment, and for the prevention of mos H diseases the Jurisdiction is conferred upo the state units by act of the legisla ture. The United States government ha H Jurisdiction over all matters ceded to H by the states, among which is the gen
 eral welfare. the limits of which are ike III by the courts. The state constitutio III provides that the legislature can do any III thing not prohibited by the constitutio III of the United States or of the state. Tn H power of the general government Is. there III fore. an authorization for the enactmen and execution of law, while that of tn H state government is limitation impose H by the national and state constitution III The power and Jurisdiction of countie Il and cities are derived from the legisa III ture of the state with constitutional lin III itations. The Jurisdiction over laws an H their enforcement relative to health ar III national, state and municipal.
 II These are the immediate or excitin H cause of infectious diseases with whic III sanitation has most to do.
 H What preventive medicine is capab] III of doing by the employment of sanitar II methods in destroying or modifying tn activities of bacteria is very great. Tn H law and methods must be made, and UT der the authority of some political un or government, national, state or m, III nicipal.
 There is lodged in these govern III hents legislative. executive and iu II dicial department. The officials com H posing these several departments ar II elected by the people or appointed h