MINUTES OF THE SECTION

ON

STATE MEDICINE.

TUESDAY, May 3, 1881.

THE Section on State Medicine met at Wilkinson Hall, Richmond, Virginia, at 3 o'clock P. M.

The Chairman, Dr. J. T. REEVE, of Wisconsin, was unable to be present. Letters were received from him by the Chairman of the Committee on Arrangements, and by the Secretary of the Section, containing expressions of regret at his unavoidable. absence, and his desire for active and profitable work by the Section.

The attendance upon the Section this day was limited to three or four members of the Association, and after waiting threequarters of an hour, the Secretary called the meeting to order, and upon motion of Dr. J. S. BILLINGS, U. S. A., the Section adjourned until 3 o'clock to-morrow.

The scientific communications announced in the programme for the day were: The Relations of the State to the Insane, Dr. C. F. FOLSOM, of Massachusetts. Some of the Results of the Tenth Census as regards Mortality Statistics, Dr. J. S. BILLINGS, U. S. A. The Necessity and Means of Removing Putrescible Matters from Inhabited Places, Dr. O. W. WIGHT, of Wisconsin.

Dr. J. S. BILLINGS being the only author present, and no one to listen to his paper, the Section was adjourned over without perfecting its organization.

WEDNESDAY, May 4, 1881.

The Section convened at the hour of adjournment.

The Secretary called the meeting to order, and nominated Dr. J. S. BILLINGS Chairman. The motion prevailed, and Dr. BILLINGS took the chair.

The regular order of business for the day, as given in the pro

gramme, was: The National Board of Health and the International Sanitary Conference of 1881, Dr. J. L. CABELL, of Virginia.

This very interesting paper was listened to with much interest, by those present, and upon motion of Dr. ROBINSON, was referred to the Committee of Publication.

Cellars, Dr. A. N. BELL, of New York. Dr. BELL being absent, the paper was not read.

(Title to a paper not given.) Dr. F. A. ATCHINSON, of TenNeither Dr. ATCHINSON nor his paper were present.

nessee.

Dr. C. F. FOLSOM, of Massachusetts, who had but recently arrived, read his paper, entitled The Relation of the State to the Insane. This paper was announced for the first day. It elicited quite extended remarks from Drs. EUGENE GRISSOM, of North Carolina, and C. H. HUGHES, of Missouri, gentlemen directly connected with the management of the insane. Upon motion of Dr. GRISSOM, the paper of Dr. FOLSOM was referred to the Committee of Publication.

6.

The Chairman, in compliance with a communication from the Secretary of the Association, calling his attention to the changes in the By-Laws, relative to Prize Essays, page 1113, vol. for 1880, making it his duty to appoint a committee of selection, who shall, within thirty days after adjournment, select and publicly announce for competitive investigation and report, a subject to one or other of the branches of medicine included. in the title of the Section," appointed Dr. C. F. FOLSOM, Dr. JAMES R. CHADWICK, and Dr. H. I. BOW DITCH, of Massachusetts, as the Committee of Selection.

Also, as Committee of Award, "whose duty shall be to carefully examine the essays offered for competition, and, if any one shall be found worthy of the Prize, as a substantial contribution to medical knowledge, to recommend the same to the Association."

The Chairman appointed Dr. J. T. REEVE, of Wisconsin, Dr. HENRY F. LYSTER, of Michigan, and Dr. HOSMER A. JOHNSON, of Illinois, a Committee of Award.

The Section then, upon motion of Dr. GRISSOM, adjourned till to-morrow at 3 o'clock P. M.

The Section had from fifteen to eighteen members of the Association in attendance this day.

As the attendance upon the Section had been so very limited, the paper of Dr. J. S. BILLINGS, entitled Some of the Results of

the Tenth Census as regards Mortuary Statistics, was read before the Association, in the place of the intended address of the Chairman elect, Dr. J. T. REEVE.

THURSDAY, May 5, 1881.

The Secretary was on time in attendance upon the Section, according to adjournment.

The programme for this day stated that a paper (the title of which was not given), would be read by Dr. H. A. JOHNSON, of Illinois. Also, Medical Legislation in Indiana, by Dr. E. S. ELDER, of Indiana. Neither of the individuals or papers was present.

After waiting an hour, and no person attending, the Secretary adjourned the Section sine die.

Remarks.-The interest in this Section seems to have become paralyzed. Only one day was it possible to obtain a respectable audience, sufficient to justify the reading of scientific papers.

It is possible that the absence of the Chairman elect contributed somewhat to this seeming indifference to this Section.

The Secretary, however, is inclined to the belief that, as the past year was exempt from the ravages of an epidemic, the great incentive to public feeling and action through sanitarians, humanitarians, philanthropists, and others interested in kindred labors, caused this Section to languish, from the lack of this vis a tergo.

Perhaps this power, if not practically realized, may exert an influence that will stimulate action as well as interest in this department of medical science. Then we can expect a better attendance, and greater zeal in this Section.

The other Sections are far more fascinating, and hence will necessarily detract largely from this.

If the next annual meeting of the Section is not better supported, and more zeal and interest manifested in the work, the Secretary would certainly recommend that the Section on State Medicine be discontinued, and the entire subject left with the American Public Health Association.

R. G. JENNINGS, M.D.,
Secretary.

THE MORTALITY STATISTICS OF THE TENTH

CENSUS.

By J. S. BILLINGS, M.D.,

SURGEON, U. S. A.

AT the meeting of the American Medical Association in Atlanta, in 1879, in my address as Chairman of the Section on Hygiene, attention was called to the opportunity presented by the coming census for obtaining more satisfactory mortality statistics for the whole country than have heretofore been collected, and a letter from the superintendent of the census was read, in which he requested the co-operation of the medical profession of the country, both as to general influence and technical assistance in obtaining the records desired. I have thought that it might be of interest to the Association to know, in a general way, what was the result of this effort, and, for this purpose, the following statement has been prepared, with General Walker's consent and assistance.

Early in the census year, forms were arranged for a small register of deaths to be kept by physicians. A specimen of this form is shown on the following page.

Each register contained twenty-four such slips, and a copy of the register, with a stamped envelope for its return at the end of the census year, was sent to every one in the United States who was reported by his or her postmaster to be a physician, or to be addressed as such. The table on page 299 shows by States the number of these registers issued, and the number returned to the Census Office at the close of the year.

VOL. XXXII.-20