for reference, the board is in position to direct operations for keeping the district free from refuse materials, the laws in this State being well adapted to the enforcement of all necessary ordinances for the prevention of accumulations of unhealthful substances. The membership of local boards of health in New Jersey undergoes but slight changes from year to year, and a policy once adopted is not liable to suffer sudden reversal because of the introduction of a new element in the board. There is, therefore, an assurance in our laws that a plan of procedure once firmly established can be continued until the public benefits to be derived from its employment shall have been fully enjoyed. In some of the rural districts of the State a condition of sanitary stagnation has long prevailed, and instead of anticipating and preventing the pollution of domestic wells and the accumulation of refuse materials near dwellings, the local board often fails to take any measures whatever for the protection of the inhabitants against contamination of soil and water. If such boards could really understand and fully comprehend that every case of typhoid fever occurring upon a farm is probably due to the use of water from a contaminated well, we should straightway see the enforced abandonment of hundreds of wells which are daily receiving waste liquids, either from slops cast upon the ground, from washings under the pump-spout, from a leaky drain or cesspool, or from some other neighboring source of soil pollution. To retain the soil in the vicinity of dwellings in its natural condition of purity, or, if it has been polluted, to restore it as nearly as possible to its original freedom from defilement, is the most useful routine service which can be rendered by a rural board of health. Any board which will thoroughly perform the duty of keeping the ground-surface near dwellings clean and the watersupply of every dwelling pure, may be confidently relied upon to make rapid advances along all of the numerous other lines of public health protection which the interests of the community demand, for one good act leads to another, and popular approval invariably sustains judicious application of reasonable measures for preventing contamination of soil and water, and a local sanitary authority which successfully secures these blessings for its constituents may confidently expect support when its efforts are extended to the restriction of the spread of preventable diseases by preventing the adulteration of foods, regulating of the construction of drains and sewers, securing the isolation of infected persons, regulating the burial and disinterment of human bodies, and in the performance of all of the other forms of sanitary service which experience and good judgment dictate. Among the numerous duties which almost invariably suffer neglect at the hands of local boards of health is the requirement of the law that all births shall be reported. An estimate made in 1898 showed that not more than 90 per cent. of births which occur in the State are reported, and from a number of districts no returns of births are ever made. The entire responsibility for the enforcement of the law providing for reports of births, marriages and deaths is placed (chapter 39, laws of 1888) upon local boards of health, and if they fail to insist that clergymen, physicians, midwives and others shall make reports, the only relief to be found will consist in a change in the law, and the interests of citizens in this particular will of necessity be safeguarded by some other department of the State or local government. Notification of Communicable Diseases.-Attention has been called in previous reports of this board to the failure of some of the local sanitary authorities to enforce the provisions of chapter 260 of the laws of 1895, requiring reports of communicable diseases. In one city of about 8,000 inhabitants the neglect to conform to the requirements of this act has become general among the physicians of the locality, and the following letter was sent to these practitioners: DEAR SIR-Information has reached this board showing that many of the physicians of the city of fail to report to the local board of health cases of communicable diseases which occur in their practice. Your attention is called to the act approved March 22, 1895, printed on pages 6 and 7 of circular 87, a copy of which is enclosed. We trust that your co-operation with the board of health to secure protection against the spread of these diseases will be cheerfully given, and that all cases of infectious or contagious diseases which may come under your professional care will be promptly reported in accordance with the requirement of the law. Very respectfully, HENRY MITCHELL, Secretary. Following is a copy of a letter sent to the local board of health of the same city: OFFICE OF THE BOARD OF HEALTH OF THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY, To the Board of Health,.........N. J.: GENTLEMEN-This board is informed that many of the physicians of your city do not report communicable diseases in accordance with the requirement contained in section 1 of the act approved March 22, 1895. Your attention is called to the provision in the said act which requires that physicians failing to report cases of infectious or contagious disease within 12 hours shall suffer a penalty of fifty dollars, and you are urged to immediately proceed to enforce the payment of this penalty by all persons who fail to obey the law, for stringent enforcement of this act will do more to enable your body to prevent the spread of the dangerous infectious diseases than any other means at your command. The safety of the public health of the adjoining communities, and in fact in all other parts of the State, is to some extent dependent upon the thorough execution of this law by your board. To the enforcement of this act should be added prompt isolation of all persons affected by the diseases which are reported. Very respectfully, HENRY MITCHELL, Secretary. The following table shows the number of cases of communicable diseases which were reported under the provisions of the act above referred to: TABLE 18.-COMMUNICABLE DISEASES REPORTED FOR EACH QUARTER DURING THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 30TH, 1899. TABLE 18.-COMMUNICABLE DISEASES REPORTED FOR EACH QUARTER DURING THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 30TH, 1899.-Continued. :ཁངྐ ::ཌ :ཊལམ:།སྒྲ 10 10 Total cases reported by quarters.. 426 1211 616 710 265 735 701 722 196 355 485 241 8 12 26 Total cases reported for year...... 2963 2423 1277 46 Total deaths for year.... Bacteriological Laboratory.-During the past year the laboratory service has been extended, the total number of depots for mailing-cases now being seventy-nine, as follows: Marcy & Mecray, Cape May. Geo. M. Beringer, J. S. Bair, Geo. J. B. W. Hoagland, Woodbridge. Dr. J. T. Moorhouse, A. Mosler, Dr. F. W. Flagge, Rockaway. Dr. Geo. M. Swain, Chatham. W. E. Honeyman, North Plainfield. F. G. Stroud, Moorestown. Dr. E. K. Fee, Lawrenceville. Board of Health, James Harron, City Dr. J. E. Pratt, Dumont. Dr. Chas. M. Williams, Washington. F. W. Bissett, South River. S. W. Cochran & Co., Lambertville. Plainfield Board of Health, J. H. Dr. J. T. Robinson, South Bound Wm. Rush & Sons, J. H. Van Deur- Geo. M. Wood, Bloomfield. zen, New Brunswick. Trenton Board of Health, Trenton. Dr. Wm. H. Shipps, Bordentown. Vineland. D. Evans Smith, Millville. L. Rockfeller & Co., Englewood. Dr. J. A. Exton, Arlington. Faust Bros., Belvidere. Wm. Killiger, Secretary Board of R. Willard, Haddonfield. Board of Health, Rutherford. Henry C. Elsing, Ridgefield Park. Geo. B. Beakey, Gloucester. J. J. McGaluck, East Rutherford. Chas. A. Minton & Co., Red Bank. Berlin Pharmacy, W. W. Miller, Dr. W. C. Parry, Hainesport. Berlin. Board of Health, Asbury Park. W. S. Briner, Marsh & Burke, Prince ton. |