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Lorsque Ie document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul clich6, il est filmA d partir de I'angle supArieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant Ie nombre d'images ndcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mAthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 \ .1- .>..,' ' ,1 ABSTRACT OF THE PROCEEDINGS Of TUB INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF iT HELD m LOIDON, AUaUST, 1891, AND mxt ,^>*i?i^tit'ifivS ./ ( ./ 3^? INTERNATIONAL HEALTH CONGRESS. DR. FARRELL'S REPORT. Honorable W. S. Fielding, Provincial Secretary, Sir : — In accordance with instructions from the Honorable the Executive Council I proceeded to the meetintr of the Seventh Inter- national Congress of Hy(i[iene and Demography, held in London in the month of August, 1891. The object of this large and widely representative association is simply to make a universal crusade against preventable diseases. It is only within the past quarter of a century that Sanitary Science has taken its present prominent position as a department of medicine, and it is within a much shorter period that governments have begun to recognize its importance — the importance of avoiding disea.se and preventing unnecessary death. The vast co;=t of disease to the people, and the immense loss which unnecessary mortality causes not only to the family but to the State, is almost incalculable. It remains yet for the future to place Hygiene among the departments of government with the same executive power that obtains in other branches of the public service. In these days, when all the discoveries of modern .science are quickly utilized to minister to the comfort and convenience of the people, it must be but a very short time before progressive govern- ments will recognize the true position of sanitary science, and have a Minister of Public Health, as they have now a Minister of Justice or a Minister of Public Works, The first of these Health Congresses was held in Brussels in 1876. This was followed by the meetinof in Paris in 1878, which was such a brilliant success that the International Health Congress became a permanent institution. Then came subsequent meetings at Turin, Geneva, the Hague, and Vienna, each one more successful than its predecessor, both in the intere.st and value of its discussions and in the number of countries represented. It is a pleasure to note that Canada was ahead of many older countries in her recognition of the importance of sanitary progress, as will be seen by the following extract from the account of the second Congress held in Geneva in 1882, in the London Lancet of that year : " The Board of Health of Ontario (Canada) was represented by Dr. G. W. Covernton, but not a single English town or administration sent a representative." I might also point with pride to the fact that in 1876, the year the first congress was held in Europe, the House of Assembly in our own Province had a special committee on public health, the result of whose ! i, labors in regard to the causes of preventable diseases will bo found in the proceedings of the Legislature of that year. The opening meeting of the Seventh Congress was held in St. Jairies' Hall, London, Monday, August 10th, 1891. The official journal of the Congre^^s says : — " Never have .so many eminent Hygienists from all countries collected."' (Then follows a long list uf tho.se piesent — dis- tinguished uien prominent in Church and State, and men of eminence in science from almost all parts of tb.e world ) The distinguished President, His Royal Highness the Princn of Wales, opened the meeting with an excellent speech, which is reported as follows: — " The Prince of Wales, who was loudly cheered on rising, said : — " Sir Douglas Galton, Ladies and Gentlemen, — It gives me great pleasure to open the proceedings of this congress, and ofler a hearty greeting to all its members, especiall}' lo those whom it has induced to come from distant countries. Many as have been the meetings for good purposes over which it has been my good fortune to |>reside, there has very rarely, if ever, been one of which thts object has been approved by a greater weight of authority (cheers). The im- portance of our congress is proved, not only by the large number of members who have assembled here to-day, but by the names of those who are on the list of it." officers, both honorary and active. Under the Queen'.s patronage this list includes, together with several mem- bers of my family, some of the principal members of Her Majesty's Government, the presidents of nearly all the medical corporations, representatives of the Universities, and of the chief medical and scientific societies in the United Kingdom, delegates from nearly every great country in the world, and froiii all our sanitary institu- tions and medical schools, man}' official representatives of our colonies and India, the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs of the City of London, the masters of several of the City Companies, and a great majority of those who, here or elsewhere, have gained the hightst renown in the study of public health or of the sciences most nearly allied to it (cheers). All these approve the design of the Congress, and they may well do so, for in .so far as its objects can be fulfilled, it will every- where bring good to all classes of society. As one looks through our programme, it is impossible not to feel distress and even horror at the multitude of dangers to health in the midst of which we have to live. Some of them appear at present to be inevitable, but the great majority may certainly with due care be avertetl. (Cheers.) I can- not pretend to be able to judge of many of these dangers, but I would take as examples those to which my attention was especially drawn when I was a member of the Royal Commission on the dwellings of the working classes. I learned much there of the dangers to health which may be ascribed to the constant increase of our great manu- factories, and to other industries, from which especially come the overcrowding of our towns, the building of huge factories, the pollu- tion of our atmosphere, the accumulation of refuse, the fouling of rivers, the impurities of earth and air and water. I learned not only these dangers, but the immense difficulty of increasing or even main- taining our activity in all branches of trade without incurring heavy risk to health, more particularly in our chief centres of population. .8 ....... ^ , The task of averting them might have appeared hopeless, but I have rejoiced to see how mucli has ah-eady been done in diniinishini» them, and to observe how our registers bear witness to the decreasing inortaUty in our large towns, to tlie increasing average length of life in the whole population, and of many facts proving the good influence ot our sanitary institutions. But on them I do not now propose to dwell. I will only concluing knowledge of the whole subject, may make us sure that much more good may slill bo attained, and that neither this nor any other nation should be content until prosperity in business and all other things desirable for the national welfare are made consistent with national good health. How the many dangers which our programme indicates may best be dealt with will, of course, be discussed in the several sections It will be no trivial work if their sources and jirobablo remedies can be clearly pointed out, and especially if this can be done, as in a Congress such as this it should be, in a strictly scientific manner, calndy and dispassionately, without any reference to either general or municipal politics, or for any other purpose than the promotion of health. (Cheers). It is only on con- viction such as may thus be produced that the appginted sanitary authorities can compel the changes necessary to be made ; for such changes are almost always inconvenient or injurious to some, and might even seem unjust to them, unless it be made quite clear that they would be very beneficial to the community. But my hope is that the work of this Congress may not be limited to the influence which it may exercise on sanitary authorities. It will have a still better influence if it will teach all people in all classes of society how much everyone may do for the improvement of the sanitary condi- tions among which Ye has to live. I say distinctly "all classes," for although the heaviest penalties of insanitary arrangements fall on the poor, who are themselves least able to prevent or bear them, yet no class is free from their dangers or suflSciently careful to avert them. Where could one find a family which has not in some of its members suffered from typhoid fever or diphtheria, or others of those illnesses which are especially called " preventable diseases" ? Where is there a family in which it might not be asked, "If preventable, why not prevented ?" I would add that the questions before the Congress, and in which all should toUe a personal interest, do not "elate only to the prevention of death or of serious diseases, but to the maintenance of the conditions in which the greatest working power may be sustained. In this I include both mental and bodily power, for the highest possi- ble prosperity must be when men and women of all classes, rich and poor alike, can safely do such good and useful work as they are fit for, and for which they are responsible to those among whom they live. To this end it is essent,lal that they should enjoy the best possible health and vigor, and to obtain these it is necessary that everything possible should h^^ done for the promotion and maintenance of the national health. Such then is to be your work ; let me say our work, for though I cannot further contribute to the proceedings of the (Con- gress, I shall watch them with much interest, and shall always strive to promote whatever may be here plainly shown to be useful for the public health. (Loud cheers.) A^^Ti I The work of the Congress was divided into ten sections, as follows : — I.— PilEVENTIVE MEDICINE. II. — HACTEUIOLOOY. III. — KELATION OF THE DISEASES OF ANIMALS TO THOSE OF MAN. IV.— HVGIENE OF INFANCY AND (HILDHOOD. V. — CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS IN UKLATION TO HYGIENE. VI. — AHCHITECTURE IN RELATIO.N TO HYGIENE. VII. — ENGINEERING IN RELATION TO HYGIENE. VIII. — NAVAL AND MILITARY HYGIENE. IX.— STATE HYGIENE. X. — DEMOGRAPHY, HEALTH STATISTICS, AND INDUSTRIAL H^'GIENE. Some idea may be gained ot the wide range of subjects discussed in the various sections by giving a list of some of them. SECTION I. — PREVENTIVE MEDICINE. This was one of the most impoitant sections of the Congress and attracted a larger general audience than any other. • The first subject di.^cussed was Quarantine. The following papers were read : — " 1. The mode of preventing the spread of epidemic disease from one county to another. — Surgeon General J. N. Cunningham, C.S.I. 2. " Mesures a prendre a I'egard des navires provenant de regions contaminees ou suspectes pour empecher I'importation en Europe des maladies exotiques transmissibles." — Professor Proust, Paris. 3. The Communicability of cholera from country to country. — Inspector General Lawson. 4. Quarantine in Australasia, Theory and Practice. — Dr. Ash- burton Thompson, New South Wales. The discussion on the foregoing papers was carried on by Dr. Rochard, of Paris; Felkin, of Edinburgh; Simpson, of Calcutta; Hewitt, of Minnesota ; Le due de Nantes ; Dr. Thome Thome ; Brigade Surgeon McCann ; the great French Scientist, Prof. Brouar- del ; and Dr. Stokois, of Amsterdam. It was most interesting and instructive. The point brought out most prominently was the in- efficiency of quarantine as it is generally understood by governments and the public. Some went so far as to speak of the " uselessness of the Quarantine System." There was a consensus of opinion that quarantine could not prevent the transmission of disease. Portable diseases were carried in so many ways that effective quarantine was almost impossible. Their spread was dependent upon the fact that the propagation of such disea.ses as Asiatic cholera, diphtheria, and the like required not only the presence of the germ of the disease but the proper soil for its growth and development, and that insanitary conditions furnished such a soil. The true method for the prevention of the carriage of disease from one country to another was the application of sanitp.ry laws both at the port of departure as well as at the port of destina- tion of the ship. Thorough cleanliness, isolation, and disinfection, must be rigidly enforced. There were present at this meeting, in which great interest was taken. Dr. Wickwire, the Inspecting Physi- cian of the Port of Halifax, and Dr. M. A. Curry of Halifax, who were spending some time in London during the Session of the Con- gress. - DlPIlTIIEUIA. This section next took up the question of diphtheria, and I regret to say that among the papers read, those which snowed the widest knowledge of the disease came from this side of the Atlantic where this disease has prevailed since about 1858 to a greater extent than in Europe. The following papers were read : — " Sur les modes de contagion de la Diphtherite." Dr. Schrevens, of Tournai. Diphtheria in Minnesota, Dr. Hewitt, of Minnesota. Diphtheria in Massachusetts from ^871 to 1888. Dr. Abbott, of Boston, U. S. A. " The relationship between the occurrence of Diphtheria and the movement of the subsoil Water." Mr. M. A. Adams. F. R. C. S., of Maidstone. " Memoire sur la Diphtherite au Havre." Dr. Gibert, of Havre. " The difference of susceptibility to Diphtheria between old and new residents." Mr. Charles E. Paget, of Sal ford. Dr. Edw. Seaton, of London ; Bucharest ; Dr. D'Espine, of and others, the discussion that is not The discussion was taken part in by Dr. Bergeron, of Paris ; Dr. Felix, of Geneva ; Professor Hubert, of Louvain There was little brought out in already well-known to our medical men and boards of health. In Nova Scotia diphtheria has been by far the most pievalent and most fatal of the germ di-^eases, consequently it has received close attention and careful study from our practitioners. It is a fact with which those interested in the execution of our health laws are well ac- quainted that isolation and disinfection, if carried out effectively, will in a short time rid a community of this dread disease, or at least will so speedily lesson the number and malignancy of the cases as to justify the most radical measures on the part of the health authori- ties in carrying out these principles. This was proved in our own city during the prevalence of a severe type of diphtheria in 1889-90. The disease increased in regard to the number and severity of the cases until inspectioti with isolation and disinfection were thoroughly carried out, even to the extent of placing a guard upon the door of each infected house. In a short time under this management the virulence of the disease quickly le.ssened. As this is a subject of great importance to us, a few extracts from papers presented rnaj' be an advantage. Dr. Bergeron said, " Indeed, if I did not trust in future hygienic developments, and the good results to be obtained from such meet- incs as these, I should be horrified at the spread of the disease during the past few years. I have taken these five large centres of popula- tion as examples, but a cursory glance over all the sanitary statistics of France and Algeria shows the disease to be greatly on the increase, tiKimteiemdl^f»vmf' 1 and, indeed, to constitute a veritable calamity for our country. To what rauses are wi- to attrihutt! this iiic» ssant pioj^ress? Has the disease become moditied ; Is it chanj,'ed in its type, and has it become more contagious? One must think so, because tlie disease spreads in these daj's mort' rapidly, wliile we now takt; so much moie precaution against its contagious nature. Diphlheria is we now know — leaving aside the questions of its germ origin — a specific and contagious disease, but wl- are unable to class it among what M. l^rouardel calls avoidable diseases, such as typ.iid fever or smallpox, because we know nothing as yet of its orij^in. Therefore, to combat it we are reduced to disinfecticm and isolation ; we cannot as yet take preven- tive measures. With regard to disinfection, if we believe that the virus exists in the false membrane, as I do, it follows that all the emanations should be destroyed, and all fomites most vigorously disinfected " "If we know that the germ resides in the di.scliarges, it is very clearly indicated that these tliscliarges shouhl Ije destioyod with all due precaution. It follows ai.so that the period of isolation .shoidd be dictated by the are not facts enough as yet to say definitely that tubercle taken by the intestine produce general tuberculosis, but ^ . r * in children tubercles of the intestine are followed by tubercle of the glands and the bonns, so that we may infer that the same may occur in the adult; but we are in great want of more pxperimontal research. More evidence is wanting as to the cause of tubercle in infancy. As re- gards Government administration, the reader advises a strict system of inspection extending over the whole country, acting equally in different parts. Tubercle should be included in the Infectious Diseases Prevention Act, We still want information as to the actual prevalence of tubercle. About five per 1,000 cattle are generally con- detnred as tuberculous. This involves compensation, which will require extra taxes (which would be very small) to be levied. Professor Bang (of Copenhagen) then read a paper on the alleged danger of consuuiing tlie apparently healthy meat and milk of tuber- culous animals : The great majority of investigators agree that the essential source of tuberculosis in a man is to be found in inan liunself ; and nearly all admit that man can contract the n^alady bv the ingestion of meat or milk from aninuils affected by tuberculosis. As to the extent of this danger opinions differ. In France, a Presidential decree has for- bidden the sale and use of milk from tuberculosis cows ; but Profes- sor Bang regards the application of these measures as impossible in countries where tuberculosis is prevalent; and moreover, they do not 8eem to him to be necessary. Professor Bang de.scribes a number of experiments which he has made on this subject with tuberculous cows. Of .')S cows whose milk was inoculated into rabbits and guinea- pigs, there were nine in which the milk proved virulent. On the whole he thinks the milk of a tuberculosis cow with udders appar- ently healthy is not in the great majority of cases dangerous, though it is undoubtedly .so sometimes, ami is always suspicious. As to meat. Professor Bang thinks the experiments by others show that the mus- cular tissue is so unfavourable a nidus i'oi' the tubercle baccilli that they do not multiply in it. The number of bacilli found in tlie meat of tubercitlous animals must always be verj' limited. Paper by Professor McFadyean and G. Sims Woodhead, M. D.,&c: " As the result of a large number of observations made on tubercu- losis in children, we think this questijn can piol)aV)ly be answered in the affirmative. Is the flesh of tube; culosis animals capable of setting up tuberculosis (a) when introduced en masse ; (b) When the ex- pressed juice is only exhi I lited ? Our experiments go to pf ve that the juice only, does not, in most cases, contain a sufficiently larije number of bacilli lo set up tubercle, even when inoculated into small rodenr.-s, but from the fact that we have observed tuberculosis masses in the muscles of the buttock of tuberculous cattle, we must accept the tact that tubercle bacilli may sometimes, perhayjs rarely, be present in considerable numbers in this position. Of three cows slaughtered on one day at one slaughter-house, well defined tubercle was found in the mu.scles of the buttocks of two animals ; in one of these there was tuberculosis in almo-> paper was cut short from want of time, but in the main he agreed with Dr. Bang, but he has not yet sufficient evidence to be decided on the question of total seizure of meat." SECTION IV. " Relation of diseases of animals to man." In this section thesame- subje^t was di.scussed under tho following heads : — " Relation of Milk Supply with reference to diseases transmi-ssible by milk." — By Dr. Ostertag of Berlin. " Meat infections and Food poisoning." — By Dr. Ballard, F. R S. " Infections of Meat and Milk." — By Victor C. Vaughan, U. S. A. The practical points brought out by these papers were as follows : — (1) The fac'Uty wi' h which meat and milk might become sources of disease and poisoning. (2) The importance of inspection. (3) The necessity of absolute cleanliness in slaughter houses, meat" curing and packing establishments, in dairies, and in all places (cellars) in private houses where food is kept. (4) The great danger of uncooked or half cooked meat together with the fact that the prolonged application of heat in the process of ooking destroyed all micro organisms. ! SECTIONS V, VI and VII included Chemistry and Physics, Archi- tecture and Engineering in relation to Hygiene. The following were among the subjects discussed : — Town fogs ; air of large towns ; means of preventing smoke from factories and dwellings ; sewage, its proper disposal ; sewage farms ; open spaces for health and recreation in cities and large towns, some insanitary superstitions in House Building, Water Supply, its source and purity, and exclusion of damp from dwellings. The foilowinw extracts from some of the principal paper.s will be found of interest: — , Open Spaces, by the Earl of Meath. Granted that fresh air and open spaces are needed for the health of the inhabitants of our larger towns, we will briefly consider the two ways of satisfying this need, namely : — 1st. A systematic acquisition and preservation of land for public recreation, in connection with the towns and in relation to their growth. 2. Increased facilities for taking people from the towns into the country. In the towns themselves the sovernins; bodies — the councils — should lay down and should carry out .some such rules as the following : — That public recreation grounds should be provided in each parish, in proportion in the number of its inhabitants. This would mean that there should be a fixed minimum of open space for a limited number of the population. Here and there the minimum would be exceeded, and so much the better for the people, but it should always be reached, either by securinf? existing open spaces for the people for ever or by acquiring new ones, and this, if need be by pulling down houses for the purpose. And for the infor- mation of those who are now well acquainted with the question of acquiring open spaces, I would mention that much may be done in the towns by securing and throwing open enclosed and deserted s'^^uares, disused graveyards, the remnants of village green (where such have become merged into the towns), vacant plots of railway land, abandoned wharves, market places, otc. etc. The Open Spaces Ac^ of 1887, amended in 1881, 1887, and 1890, the Disused Burial Grounds Act of 1884, with its amendments, and other measures give all the power that is needed to local bodies to carry out these im- provements. The Metropolitan Public Gardens Association, which has been at work in London since the close of the year 1882, has laid out, or assisted to lay out, 65 gardens and playgrounds, for the use of the public ; has given grants of seats for 31 other sites, either streets or open spaces ; has granted money towards the formation and main- tenance of 22 public gymnasia; has secured the opening of 166 play- grounds belonging to the London School Board (on Saturdays) ; and the laying out and throwing open of 19 recreation grounds ; has planted trees, and given grants for tree planting in 37 thoroughfares and other .sites ; has opposed encroachments on 18 disused burial grounds, commons, and open spaces ; and has in other ways assisted in the preservation ana formation of very many useful recreation grounds. What has been done in London (and it is very little com- '^ • 14 pared to what needs doing) can be done in the other large towns there is the f-ame opportunity for improving them by bringing greea grass, bright flowers, and shady trees into the dingy and monotonous streets. In the towns themselves there should be every effort made to have beautiful streets, with trees and seats in them, and beds of flowers and creepers planted on bare walls, instead of neglected and dirty corner-i. Every disused graveyard and deserted enclosure should be- come a bright garden, and every plot of unused land be made into a children's playground or an outduor cafe. Dr. Alfred Carpenter on "The duty of a locality to utilise the nitrogenous matter in its sewage for the benefit of the nation" : "The object of this paper is to show that localities have duties to the nation to which they belong. The cost of utilising sewage may exceed the financial returns from the cultivated lands and for the excess the locality utilising the sewage will have to pay, but the author contends that the increased production of crops tends to decreased price, which is a national advantage ; and he expresses the belief that density of population need not involve high priced pro- visions if the excreta of the population be properly used in agricul- ture, and that it is the duty of a nation to produce a sufficient amount of food for the people, so as to be independent of the foreigner in the event of war. He contends that the non-utilisation of .sewage leads to conditions which allow of the production of disease germs and the multiplication of epidemics. He supports his arguments by the results which have been attained in Croydon, at the expense of a two penny late, and shows that, for this, there has been a diminished death-rate, illness correspondingly reduced five-fold, production of crops on the land, giving employment to many people in the open country, in this wa}' withdrawing thorn from the crowded towns; and a great production of meat and milk ; thus, to some extent, ensuring the nation against the fear of famine if war should break out, and supplies from abroad be stopped. The author strongly pro- tests against any measure being taken to destroy the agricultural value of S'.wage as being opposed to national interests ; and, compar- ing the sewage of London with that of Croydon is utilised, and that the nation -A'ould be recouped for this expenditure if the interest on the amount expended were guaranteed by the state. Dr. (Carpenter also reiid a second paper upon, " The Power of Soil and Vegetation comliiiiod to destroy Disease Cerms, and so Pre- vent the possiliility of the Spread of Enthetic Disease in conse(]uence of Sewage Farming." The author refers to the InterMutioual Medical Congress of LSSl, when he submitted a serious of projiositioiis tending to prove that sewage farming was safe. He now reproduces five of th.s. J)r (iiliert asked if a lai'ge ([uantity of the solid matter was not g\)t rid of before going on the farm ? Mr. Fiaechling rojilied in tlie iiegativ(>. Dr. Gibert said tliat under certain conditions there was no (piestion that organic matter from sewage could be removed Iiy the soil. He could not go so far as Dr. Carpenter in condemning intermittent filtration, as there were towns where it wouM bo impossildu to treat the sewage otherwise. Neither did iie e(jnsider that sufficient f(jod mic'iit be orown for oiu' own consumi)ti. '"' "'"^"'o-t lull VIS 'it'on.s tile •■""' 'I /uti, '"' 'in.so,.,, t'lO VV(,l.,st "■'^"M not ■''-^•ent i'^ tills, I •■^^''i at ' to t/ie VM t'av 't ((Ofifcj ^' ''nt OC.S of tilCJJ), 't/l a ^' the ■' the V I'eiit thnt oof, U](/ rt ht af 0- •»> f where no cleansinff hainl can evfr 0(tiiu'. Baths ancl water eloset liasins are siirnnuided witli these foolish fences of joinery ; whited sepulchres, which indeed aiipear neat outwardly, h»it within they are full of — no one knows what, foi" no one ever hmks. Let hoth watei*- elost't and hath stand open to inspection all round, instead of liein^ cased in. In tlie matter of the tath, the money spent on panelled casing,' and " pijlished " hay wood or maho^mny top" would S!t() when an efi'ort was made to Itrin^' this suhject [irominently forwanl, the following resolution was moved : — "That, in the opinion of this H(aise, the time has come when the Federal (lovernment should estahlish a Health Department with a responsible heanormous body of educated men in the school masters. Those men woulil, , s a matter of ciairse, be ava'Iab'.e, and would be ouly too glad, \ have no doubt, to aid in this important and humane ol)ject. The Federal (iovernmcnt, on the other hand, have spread throughout the ccamtry only a few Custom H(Hise offleers, excisemen, and .such officers, and if the responsibility of attending to this .sul)ject were thrown upon the Federal (iovernmentonly, it would be ab.s(jlutely neces.sary to appoint a staff" of .special health fjfficers at 21 an ciinniKHi.s cxpniiHc, wlio wrMiM imt In; iildc t<> ilo th(! work no well Hs till- I'it)\ iiiciiil ( Jovi'iiiiin'iits with their cxteiiNive iimchiin'rv. It has owurn-'l t<» iiif, alter liNteiiiii;,' to the very uhle NpeecheH of tho hoii. ;,'eiitleiii(Mi who have Mpokeii, that the hest plan would he, ami I woiilil ,sii^';,'eMt it to iiiy lion, irienil liefore u.skin^f him to witlnlraw his resolution, aFter havin;,'' fully ini|ire,sse(| Parliament with the mib- jeet, to have a convcntiia), to which the Federal (iovernment would ask the various I'rovineial (Joverrniients to send representatives, for the |)ur])ose of endeavoring to frame some united plan for exercising the various powers conferred upon them hy the constitution in sucn a manntir that they couhl \niite in one system and carry it out as etliciently and inexpensively us possilile. It has occurred to me only since I have heard this discussion, that the fact that evervthinif that ministei's to our comfort or convenience makes its imprnit upon our Leu'islation, except the important subject considered in this report. I think, however, I can fairly .say that each year sees ^^reater attention j^dven to .sanitary science and the application of its teachings to the Pu'.i'.c Health, and we can hopefully look foi-ward to the time v hon a health depart- ment will take its j)lace with the other de))artmentH of State in this Dominion. All of which is respectfully submitte