TABLE I.-Number of cases and deaths from diphtheria during the fiscal year 1899-1900.

TABLE II.—Showing ages of cases and deaths from diphtheria reported during the fiscal

year 1899-1900.

TABLE III.-Number of cases and deaths from scarlatina during the fiscal year 1899-1900.

TABLE IV.-Showing the ages of cases and deaths from scarlatina reported during the fiscal year 1899-1900.

APPENDIX B.

REPORT OF THE CHEMIST.

DEAR SIR: I have the honor to submit the following report relative to the work performed in the chemical laboratory for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1900:

During the year 787 analyses were made, as follows:

In addition to the above analyses, 8 schoolhouses were examined as to their ventilation.

Water. Of the 255 samples of water examined 53 were submitted from private wells, 126 from public wells, 39 from wells and springs pertaining to dairy farms, and the remaining 37 from the Potomac River.

As a result of these analyses 11 of the public wells were condemned, while 10 were reported as suspicious. Of the waters from the private wells examined 21 were condemned, 2 reported as suspicious, and 4 recommended to be cleaned, while from the dairy farms 19 were condemned, 1 reported as suspicious, and 3 recommended to be cleaned. Three samples of water from the public schools were also examined, with the result that 1 was condemned, 1 reported as suspicious, and í recommended to be cleaned.

From this it will be seen that practically 9 per cent of the waters from the public wells were condemned, 40 per cent of the waters from private wells, and 50 per cent of those examined from dairy farms. This is equivalent to 20 per cent condemned of the total number examined.

There is probably no more important work that could be undertaken than a systematic examination of the waters from the dairy farms, as the above result would indicate. The fact that one-half of the waters examined from this source were condemned as unfit for use is in itself a sufficient argument to show the necessity for carrying out a much more extended course of investigation in this line than we have heretofore attempted.

Milk.-Of the samples of milk examined, 296 were collected about the city, 68 from the Baltimore and Potomac station, 1 from the Washington and Alexandria station, while the remaining 48 samples were submitted by private parties.

Very few cases of willful adulteration have been detected during the year, and consequently but few prosecutions for the sale of adulterated milk were instituted. There were, however, five instances in which

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formic aldehyde was found in the milk, two instances in which skimmed milk was sold for whole milk, and one instance in which water had been added to the milk. Prosecutions were instituted in these cases, with the result that fines were imposed or collateral forfeited in each instance.

There were also several instances in which the milk fell slightly below the legal requirements, but as there were no indications that the milk had been tampered with it was not deemed advisable to institute prosecutions in those cases.

In this connection it might be well to state that this condition of the milk is sometimes unintentionally brought about at the dairy farm by filling one can with the foremilk and another can with the strippings of those cows from whom the foremilk has been obtained, together with, perhaps, the whole milk of other cows. It may thus happen that one can is filled with only the foremilk, in consequence of which it is liable to fall below the legal requirements in respect to the fat contained therein, while the other can is, for the reason above set forth, liable to exceed the legal requirements.

This is, however, of comparatively rare occurrence, the greater portion of the milk received at the depots ranging from 10 to 30 per cent above the requirements, there probably being not more than one can in a hundred that fails to reach the standard. With this exception it may be stated as a fact that the adulteration of milk, such as exists, is carried on after the same reaches the city.

To thoroughly meet this question, therefore, and provide against such adulteration it is essential that the inspection of milk should be continuous throughout the year.

It should also be remembered that the majority of the samples collected are secured between the hours of 9 a. m., and 4 p. m. and that consequently we meet with only the better quality of milk. This is so for two reasons: First, because the milk delivered between the above-mentioned hours has been, for the most part, received by the dairymen from the producers that day, and consequently the same has not been in the possession of the dairymen over night. The cream has not, therefore, had the same opportunity to rise, and in consequence there has not been the temptation to remove the same as might arise in the case where the milk had been quietly in their possession over night.

Secondly, owing to the knowledge on the part of the dairymen that their milk is more liable to be inspected during the above-mentioned hours than at any other time, it is more to their interest to put out good milk at such times than it would be at a time when the inspection of their milk is hardly probable. It is absolutely essential, therefore, in order to properly guard this important article of food, that samples should be collected at any and all hours that the milk is offered for sale, and that as much or even more attention should be devoted to the early morning delivery as is given to that placed on the market during the office hours of the department.

It is also equally as essential that additional help be given this department whose time shall be limited only by the number of hours of labor performed, and not by any fixed period.

Again, it should be remembered that our milk supply is derived principally from two sources-that which is delivered at the stations by trains from the adjacent States of Maryland and Virginia and that

which is delivered directly by wagon transportation. It is this latter class which is the one most difficult to reach, and the one also which furnishes us with practically one-third of our milk supply. It is important that we should be able to inspect this supply as frequently and as readily as the other. Such, however, is not the case at present, for under the present arrangement there is a certain portion of the milk inspected over and over again, namely, that which comes by trains from the adjacent States of Maryland and Virginia, while the other portion, which arrives by wagon transportation, or which is delivered directly by wagons from farms in the District to the consumer, is scarcely ever inspected. We have, as a matter of fact, little or no information as to the character of this portion of our milk supply.

The reasons are as above intimated, namely, that the greater portion of this supply is delivered early in the morning before office hours, and from the further fact of the difficulty experienced in locating at any particular time this class of dairymen.

It seems to me that the only practical manner in which this portion of our milk supply can be reached is to require these dairymen to deliver their milk at some central station each morning for inspection. Of course it might be necessary to have more than one such station for the accommodation of the dairymen, but the benefit derived by the people of the District from such a requirement would more than repay the little expense attached thereto. The very fact that the dairymen were obliged to submit their milk for inspection would be sufficient in itself to maintain a pure supply whether the milk was examined every day or not.

With this requirement complied with, and with such additional help given us as would enable us to carry out this system of inspection, I have no doubt but that adulterated milk would become a scarce article in the District of Columbia.

In addition to the above requirements, however, it is also necessary that the present law governing the sale of milk should be amended in several particulars.

As I have, however, on former occasions pointed out these deficiencies and made suggestions whereby the same might, in my opinion, be remedied, and as you are as familiar with the necessities of the case as I am myself, it would seem to be unnecessary at this time to devote much attention to this part of the subject. I would, however, emphasize the necessity for a regulation governing the temperature at which milk shall be kept, stored, and sold; also the necessity of a penalty for filling bottles on the streets, as well as an increase in the minimum penalty for the first offense to not less than $25. I would also recommend that the present law be so amended as to include grocery stores and dairy lunch rooms within its provisions, and that the authority of the Commissioners of the District to make and enforce regulations in this respect be extended so as to include the manner in which milk shall be kept, stored, and sold.

Seidlitz powders.-As was stated in the summary, eleven samples of seidlitz powders were examined during the year, ten of which were procured from certain druggists in the city. Upon examination of these powders it was found that the majority of them varied greatly from the standard as laid down in the United States Pharmacopoeia, the error ranging as high as 80 per cent.

Prosecutions were instituted in six instances, and the cases came on