tation, the water company had already been caused to sink a great deal of money in just such a project that had proved a flat failure though no fault of theirs. The study was extended to the present filter plant, and the local manager was urged to install a chlorinating apparatus, which recommendation was immediately adopted. The chemist of the State Health Department, Mr. Alton A. Cook, has aided the water company greatly by making a detailed study of the varying character of the river water and of the minimum chemicals needed to effect proper coagulation.

East Bank, Kanawha County.

The town of Eastbank came to us for aid in the securing of a water supply for the town. The source is an abandoned mine, across the mouth of which a dam has been built. This office prepared the necessary drawings for the dam and gave detailed advice as to the earliest method of erection.

Norfolk and Western Railway System.

The division made a careful investigation of the sources of the drinking water furnished passengers on the Norfolk and Western railway and of the drinking water supplies furnished the employes at the different shops and yards. The railroad is deserving of great praise for the manner in which she protects her workmen from water-borne disease.

Summersville, Nicholas County.

This division made a very careful investigation for a water supply for Summersville, the county seat of Nicholas county. Complete plans and cost data were prepared and transmitted to the city officials but no action has been taken. Plans were also prepared for a sewerage system but no cost estimates were made in this case.

The county court of Nicholas county has, for a number of years, had a difficult problem on its hands in the form of disposing of the sewage from the court house and jail. This division undertook to solve their problem and to this end prepared plans and estimates for an Imhoff Tank. The plans were accepted and the work of ccnstruction was carried on under the direct supervision of the division of sanitary engineering. From the latest advice the tank is giving satisfaction and there have been no further complaints.

Charleston, Kanawha County.

Undoubtedly the greatest single piece of work undertaken was that of a complete sanitary survey of Charleston. The field investigations extended over more than three months and the preparation of the report required nearly four months additional. This was largely due to the fact that the survey was not allowed to interfere with the other work of the Division, as it had not been undertaken as an activity of the State health department but purely from the interest of the director,

who was a member of the Charleston survey commission. It can safely be said that, considering its scope, this survey has been one of the least costly of which we have knowledge. On account of the size of this report, comprising as it does more than two hundred and fifty printed pages, it has been thought wise to print it as a separate document.

Educational.

I think it can be said that without doubt education must be at the bottom of all health work. Recognizing this, the division has lost no opportunity to do health educational work in the form of talks, lectures and health exhibits. In the latter connection the Director outlined a number of models, many of them mechanical, to illustrate certain health factors. These models are under construction at the present time. In addition fourteen motion films on health subjects were selected by the Director and are now available for exhibition purposes about the state. More stress will be placed upon the educational phase of our work each year.

Office Work.

While field investigations undoubtedly make the best showing in a report, they are by no means the only work of the division or even the most important. A large part of all the business is transacted from the office by correspondence. All the field surveys must be reported upon and the necessary sketches and drawings for illustrative purposes be prepared in the office.

The division aids towns with their problems, this necessitating many engineering plans and drawings. It has also undertaken the certification of all railroad water supplies as required by the United States public health service. The division also interprets and sends out the results of analyses of all the public water supplies in the state as required by Rule 19 of the regulations of the West Virginia Public Service Commission. Somewhat recently the State school department has been submitting the plans of proposed new schools to our office for examination, that improper ventilating or toilet facilities may not be installed.

The preparation of reports, to which reference has already been made, is an important piece of work in that it makes available to our successors, in usable form, all the information and data which we have gathered.

Summary of Work.

More than 200 field investigations have been made in the past year and reports prepared on them. Fifteen new chlorinating plants for disinfecting drinking water supplies were installed. Some fifteen or eighteen lectures and talks on health subjects have been made by members of the division of sanitary engineering. Forty sources of drinking water used on the railroad passenger coaches have been examined and, where the analyses and field surveys permitted, United States treasury certificates were

issued. A complete health survey of the capitol city of the state has been made and a report written. Health exhibits have been held and models for further exhibits have been designed and are being built at the present time.

The value of the work of the division of sanitary engineering cannot be measured in terms of dollars and cents. There can be no doubt that the safer water supplies made possible through the efforts of this department have meant the sparing of a number of lives that otherwise would have been snuffed out by some water-borne disease as typhoid fever. Is there a single home in the state that would not gladly give the whole health appropriation to insure the lives of their loved ones?

Respectfully submitted,

MAYO TOLMAN,

Director and Chief Engineer

Division of Sanitary Engineering

West Virginia State Department of Health.

REPORT OF THE

HYGIENIC LABORATORY OF THE WEST VIRGINIA STATE BOARD OF HEALTH.

DR. S. L. JEPSON,

BY ARTHUR LEDERER,

Chem. Eng., M. D., C. P. H., Director.

State Commissioner of Health,

Charleston, W. Va.

DEAR SIR:

I herewith submit for your consideration the annual report of the State Hygienic Laboratory, covering the pericd June 1, 1916, to June 1, 1917. At present writing the personnel of the Laboratory, with the exception of our chemist, Mr. Alton A. Cook, is not the same as it was at the conclusion of the fiscal year. For that reason I have had to rely, in making up the repcrt of the bacteriological department, chiefly upon such records as are available in our office. These records are available in the form of tabulations of the bacterial work done each month and were prepared by Mr. M. L. Bonar, who was bacteriologist during that year. As far as I am able to judge from the records, the work of the State hygienic labcratory has been carried on in a similar manner to that of previous years. The new medical building in which the hygienic laboratory is located, offers much better working facilities than the department has had previously. The laboratory moved into its new quarters during September, 1916, and a few months elapsed before the food and drug laboratory was in a position to undertake efficient work on account of lack of proper equipment.

The following Table 1 is self-explanatory and will at once furnish information on the growth of the work undertaken for the benefit of the State in the past three years.

TABLE 1.

GROWTH OF WORK AT HYGIENIC LABORATORY FOR EACH FISCAL YEAR SINCE JUNE 1, 1914.

An analysis of these figures demonstrates at once the growth of the Laboratory within a comparatively short space of time. The increase is largely in the bacterial examinations of waters which has developed into a very potent factor in safeguarding the health of the State. The total number of samples examined in the last fiscal year was over 100 per cent higher than the number of samples examined in the preceding year. The increase of the medical diagnostic work was steady and marked, but less spectacular. The number of medical diagnostic examinations will be increased considerably by greater publicity among the physicians of the State and by an improved system of distribution of diagnostic outfits. The number of chemical examinations was almost equal to the number examined in the previous two years together and this in spite of the fact that during several months after the Laboratory moved into the new medical building, very little work could be carried on. At present, there is no organized food and drug inspection force in the State to collect suspicious samples. Not until such a field organization is established will it be possible to make our food and drug work what it ought to be.

Table 2 gives more detailed information on the work of the food and drug laboratory.

The majority of the alcohol determinations were made for the Commissioner of Prohibition.

The following Table 3 details the bacteriological examinations carried on during 1916-17.