the laws of health. I only regret that there are not more boards of health in Pennsylvania similarly constituted and possessed of the same degree of energy.

I have the honor to be

Yours respectfully,
(Signed)

BENJN. LEE,

Secretary.

XXIV. REPORT OF AT INSPECTION AT FERNWOOD, DELAWARE

COUNTY.

By WILLIAM B. ATKINSON, M. D., Medical Inspector.

BENJAMIN LEE, M. D.,

PHILADELPHIA, July 27, 1886.

Secretary and Executive Officer, State Board of Health:

In response to your instructions, I proceeded to Fernwood, Delaware county, on the 26th inst., and made a careful examination of the drainage of the village, its cess-pools, cellars, etc.

At the house of Mr. Buehler, Samuel Bartram, owner, on Baltimore avenue and Third street, I found a foul privy, with no outlet, the filth not two feet below the seat. This overflows and runs over the open ground. A gutter on Third street drains from the pump, which is about ten feet distant from the privy. This drain was stagnant and green with filth. This tenant is a baker and complains that the people refuse to buy his bread on the ground that it is made from foul water. His cellar was quite damp. There were five houses in this row, all the property of the same owner, and in a similar condi

tion.

On Fourth street opposite the school house lives F. Bradley. His cellar was ankle deep in water. It is believed by Mrs. Bradley that there is a wooden drain which has been obstructed below. Mr. Vanfleet is the agent for this house. Next door is Joseph Dickerson; as the family were absent, I learned that his cellar was not so wet. The privy for these premises had been recently cleaned. The water of the well when pumped up was of a greenish yellow color, and could not be used. The house of F. Hopkins, same agent, had in the cellar an open drain running the length of the house, which contained at least six inches of water. W. Waddy next door, and Ford next, had both evidences of great dampness in the cellars. All had ill-smelling cesspools and did not use the pump, but went some distance for water. Barney Gallagher, cellar wet. Here I was informed that several of the children had been sick with chills.

George Stewart, cellar very wet. McIntire's cellar and the next

neighbor's were in one; water at least one foot deep. These are the last houses on the pike next to West Fernwood. The privy was filled to within one foot of the seat, and its contents were running over the ground. Boyd's house, cellar wet, and after each rain flooded. Among a number of others, I visited the house of Mr. Hoopes on Baltimore pike and, I think, Third street. Here the cellar was quite damp, if there was any form of drain, it was not apparent. The owner, Mr. Hoopes, admitted to me that there was no drain of any kind. His privy was quite foul and greatly needed cleaning, I was informed that a young man had been sick at this house, and had gone to New Jersey, at the suggestion of his physician.

Over the whole of this village, there is marked evidence of the worst form of drainage. The soil is mostly a very tenacious clay which holds the rain water and sewage, and as far as I could ascertain, very little effort had been made to construct sewers, or to prevent the contamination of the drinking water by the drainage from cess pools, etc. Very few of the privies were in a proper condition; being usually quite full, and the contents running freely over the ground, at least infecting the air if not the water. During the present season, when the houses are constantly open, but little sickness was prevalent, except some forms of bowel affection, which in all probability were aided, if not started, by the drinking water. I should apprehend however, at the approach of winter, a marked increase in low forms of fever, rheumatism, and the like.

The only possible means to obviate these difficulties will be the early construction of sewers, and the connection with them of terra cotta drains from each house. Much also may be done by the careful and present cleansing of the cess pools and the prevention of their contents from running over the surface.

I also visited West Fernwood, and was pleased to find that the drain south of the railroad, for the property of Mr. Bartram had been completed and was successfully carrying off the sewage of these houses, where formerly so much fever had been prevalent.

APPENDIX E.

REPORTS OF QUARANTINE AND DISINFECTION.

1. Report on the Observation, Quarantine and Disinfection of Japanese Rags, the cargo of the bark Lucy A. Nickles-Benjamin Lee, Secretary.

2 The Quarantine of Small-pox in the Port of Philadelphia-Benjamin Lee, M. D., Secretary.

L-REPORT ON THE OBSERVATION, QUARANTINE AND DISINFECTION OF JAPANESE RAGS.

Dr. J. F. EDWARDS,

STATE BOARD OF HEALTH, PHILADELPHIA, February 16th, 1886.

Chairman Committee on Travel and Traffic:

DEAR SIR: I desire the advice and coöperation of your committee in regard to proceeding against the consignees, owners or carriers of certain rags known as the Japanese rags which have been in due form pronounced a nuisance prejudical to the public health, and which are now being conveyed into this State in violation of a resolution and order of the State Board of Health. I submit herewith the resolutions of the Board of Health of the city of Philadelphia, declaring them a nuisance and ordering their disinfection, and subsequently permitting their removal by water without disinfection and without breaking bale; also the evidence showing that, in defiance of the resolution of the Board passed at its regular meeting at Harrisburg, they are being surreptitiously introduced into the State by a circuitous route from a neighboring State, which evidence was obtained by a special agent whom I employed for the purpose. The documents. herewith transmitted are:

A. The regulation of the Board in regard to the sanitary supervision of travel and traffic.

B. The notification of the State Board of Health to the Board of Health of Philadelphia of the approach of the cargo of rags with the subsequent action of the Board of Health of Philadelphia upon the

subject.

C. The resolution of the State Board forbidding their removal. D. The letter of instructions to the special agent to follow the rags to their destination; and

E. The report of the special agent.

I have the honor to be,

Yours respectfully,

BENJN. LEE,
Secretary.

A. Regulation in regard to the Sanitary Supervision of Travel and Traffic. Upon satisfactory information of the approach to,or the transit through, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, of infected persons or goods, it shall be the duty of the Secretary, as Executive officer of the Board, to cause the same to be stopped at the State line, or, if found within the limits of the State, to cause such person or goods to be removed from cars, stages, vessels, boats, or other conveyances, and securely isolated and disinfected; and he may, if, in his judment, the emergency is such as to demand it, call a meeting of the Committee on Travel and Traffic, to which his action shall be submitted, with his reasons. therefor, in writing. But, in cases coming under the jurisdiction of national or municipal quarantine authorities, he shall coöperate with said authorities in all such action.

B. Action of Philadelphia Board of Health.

October 24. Dr. Benjamin Lee writes the Board. Subject matter, Importation of suspicious Japanese Rags.

Lazaretto Committee report: recommend that, unless they, (the rags) be submitted to some process which in the opinion of the Board will render innocuous any disease-bearing germs or spores they may contain, the admission of these rags in Philadelphia be refused.

November 5. Resolved, That the bales of rags imported upon the vessel "Lucy A. Nickles," consisting of 4.910 bales, be permitted to be landed and be stored in Fitzpatrick & Pemberton's stores; that they shall not be opened or removed from said storehouses while they remain in Philadelphia, without the consent of the Board of Health, and that the consignees give their bond with surety or sureties, in the sum of five thousand ($5,000) dollars to the health officer to comply with the above conditions.

November 10. Resolved, That the chief inspector be directed to detail an inspector to make daily inspection of the rags, and report daily. November 24. Dr. Taylor was directed to make such report.

Resolutions from Joint Committee.

1. Resolved, That in the opinion of the Board of Health, the handling of rags without previous disinfection is a nuisance having a tendency to endanger the public health.

2. Resolved, That the rags imported from Japan in the ship "Lucy A. Nickles" must be disinfected before removal from or through the city of Philadelphia.

3. Resolved, That the rags must be disinfected in bulk, that is, without breaking the bale.

4. Resolved, That the process of disinfection must begin not later than December 15, 1885, and be completed by February 1, 1886.

5. Resolved, That the owners of said rags be notified of the above action and requested to present a plan of disinfecting for the rags to the Board within ten days.

December 8. Whereas, The importation of old rags into the United States has been the means of introducing small-pox and other contagious diseases; therefore be it

Resolved, By the Board of Health of the city of Philadelphia, that hereafter no rags from foreign ports shall be permitted to land at the port of Philadelphia until they shall have been disinfected to the entire satisfaction of this Board either at this port, or at the port from whence shipped.

Resolved, That the members of the American Public Health Association from Pennsylvania, now about to convene in Washington, be requested to urge upon the association the necessity of passing judg ment upon the matter of the importation of rags; and that this Board respectfully asks the association to recommend the thorough disinfection of imported rags in every port of the United States before they are distributed for manufacturing purposes.

Resolved, That the chief clerk be directed to forward a copy of these resolutions to the president of the American Public Health Association, attested by the seal of the Board.

December 15. Joint committee reported and offered the following: Resolved, That the plans for disinfecting the rags imported in the "Lucy A. Nickles," and now stored in Fitzpatrick & Pemberton's storehouses, submitted by the owners or consignees of said rags, are unsatisfactory, and are hereby disapproved.

Resolved, That the Board will approve of any plans by which all parts of the bales of rags shall be exposed to a temperature of not less than 300 degrees of Fahrenheit, or, by which all parts of the bales, placed in vacuo, shall be exposed to the action of a germicidal gas, i.e. or by which all parts of the rags while in the bales shall be exposed to the action of a germicidal gas after the withdrawal of the air.

January 19. Resolved, That in the judgment of this Board the said rags are, in their present condition, a nuisance, having a tendency to endanger the public health, and that the owners or agents thereof be notified to have the disinfection of the same by either of the abovementioned processes completed by the first day of February next, the