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TRANSACTIONS OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH COUNCIL.

From July 1, 1916, to June 30, 1917.

The first meeting of the Public Health Council for the new fiscal year was held at Hotel Waldo, Clarksburg, on July 12th, all of the members being present. A conference was held with representatives of a number of railroad companies for the purpose of perfecting our regulations governing railroad and street-car sanitation. The rules were read seriatim

and in their amended form are as follows:

RULES GOVERNING RAILROAD AND STREET CAR SANITATION.

Coaches.

No. 1. All railroad coaches used by passengers shall be provided with toilet facilities, which shall at all times be kept in clean and sanitary condition. The floors of all toilets shall be of impervious material and shall be washed with an approved disinfectant solution at the end of every run. The seat, hopper and woodwork of these toilets shall be cleaned and washed with a disinfectant solution at the end of every 24 hours. Every closet shall be provided with proper ventilation sufficient to maintain purity of the atmosphere.

Dusting and Cleaning.

No. 2. No railroad coach or street car shall be swept or dusted while Occupied by passengers. All railroad coaches and street cars shall at all times be kept in a clean and sanitary condition. Necessary cleaning may be done with a hand brush and dustpan if no dust is raised thereby.

Special Cleaning and Disinfection.

No. 3. All coaches shall be thoroughly cleaned, dusted, sunned and aired at least once each month. Cleaning shall include the removal from the car of everything moveable, thoroughly wiping down all wood work, scrubbing the floors, dusting the carpets and seats, and fumigating the interior of the car with formaldehyde gas once in three months.

Expectoration.

No. 4. Spitting upon the floor, walls, steps, stairways, sides of platform, or stations of any railroad, steam, electric or street car, steam boat or ferry boat, or elevator car is hereby prohibited; and the conductors, brakemen, porters and employees in authority shall call the attention of passengers to any violation of this rule, and any of such officials who fail to do so shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, upon conviction, be punished as provided by law.

Agency Stations.

Nc. 5. Waiting rooms, offices and other portions of such railroad stations shall at all times be kept in a clean and sanitary condition. Sweeping shall not be done in the presence of waiting passengers except in stations which are open continuously. In these stations sweeping shall be done only after sprinkling the floor with water or throwing on it damp

sawdust or other absorbent material to prevent dust. Wood work shall be wiped down with a damp cloth, and dry dusting with feathers or dry cloths shall not be practiced. All agency stations shall be thoroughly cleaned at least once each week, and all other stations are to be kept in a sanitary condition at all times.

Closets Required.

No. 6. Every company or person operating a railroad in this State shall provide and keep for the accommodation of travelers suitable closets at all agency stations. Where water and sewerage are available, there shall be water closets which shall be connected with the public sewerage. The closets shall at all times be kept in a clean and sanitary condition.

N. B. Any person, or persons, firm, cr corporation who violate any of the above regulations shall, upon conviction, be punished as provided by law.

The representatives of the different railroad companies expressed their entire satisfaction with the rules as amended, and promised cooperation in their enforcement.

The secretary announced that he had secured the services of Mr. Alton A. Cook of Massachusetts as laboratory chemist, stating that Mr. Cook had also experience as a bacteriologist. The appointment of Mr. Cook was confirmed and his salary was fixed at $1,500.00 per annum.

The secretary reported that seven persons in Wood county had been recently bitten by a rabid dog, and that he had authorized Dr. Davidson to secure the services of Dr. L. O. Rose to prepare and administer antirabic serum. Dr. Davidson made a detailed report of the services rendered by Dr. Rose and an assistant, the bill for which was $273.00. Dr. Davidson was directed to collect what he could from the patients who were willing to pay, and to secure from the Wood county court as much of the remainder as possible, the Council to be responsible for the remainder of the bill.

Fifty applicants appeared for examination with the result as shown on a later page.

Charleston, W. Va., July 25, 1916.

The Public Health Council convened as a school of instruction at 9:30 A. M. in the assembly room of Hotel Kanawha. In addition to all of the members of the council, the following local health officers were present: Drs. H. F. Stiltner, Wyoming county; C. H. McLane, Monongalia county; E. W. Crooks, Wood county; L. N. Yost, Marion county; C. R. Weirich, Brooke county; H. C. Kincaid, Nicholas county; O. L. Aultz, Kanawha county; W. T. W. Dye, Calhoun county; D. W. Snuffer, Raleigh county; J. W. Shull, Hampshire county; S. L. Cline, Lincoln county; E. J. Grose, Fayette county; J. C. Frazier, Putnam county; A. P. Jones, Ritchie county; A. G. Rutherford, Mingo county; O. B. Beer, Buckhannon; U. G. Arnett, Pt. Pleasant; W. C. Kelly, Morgantown; E. Vermillion, Athens; J. R. Vermillion, Princeton; Wm. J. Walker, Mabscott; H. C. Whistler, Smithfield; M. R. Stone, Parkersburg; A. C. Vandine, Clendenin; J. W. Hopkins, Fayetteville.

Following visitors were also present:

Dr. John S. Fulton, Secretary Maryland State Board of Health.
Surgeon John McMullen, U. S. Public Health Service.

Dr. John N. Simpson, director laboratory, Morgantown.

Mr. John C. App, city chemist, Charleston.

After a short address by President Golden, a paper was read by Dr. C. R. Weirich, head of the department of Preventable Diseases, entitled "The Health Officer and His Relation to the Municipal Government." After a general discussion of this paper, Dr. Harold B. Wood, assistant health commissioner, presented a paper entitled "Practical Public Health Work," which was followed by very free discussion. Mr. Mayo Tolman, head of the department of sanitary engineering, then read a paper entitled "Safe Water Supplies At Low Cost." He exhibited a machine of his own invention for the emergency chlorination of water in municipal water plants. Mr. E. S. Tisdale, assistant sanitary engineer, followed with a brief paper on the value of the chemical examination of water.

After an intermission Dr. McMullen gave a lecture on "Trachoma As a Public Health Froblem," with stereopticon demonstration. Dr. Jepson then presented a paper on "The Value of Morbidity and Vital Statistics." After discussion of this paper Dr. O. L. Aultz, health officer of Kanawha county, read a paper on "Anterior Poliomyelitis." Dr. Fulton of the Maryland board then gave a very interesting address on public health work. On mction of Dr. Stevens a vote of thanks was tendered to Surgeon McMullen and Secretary Fulton for their very entertaining and valuable addresses. School of instruction adjourned.

At 8 P. M. the Fublic Health Council convened for the examination of the grades of those who were recently examined for licensure. The re

sults show that the following were successful in making the required grade of 80 per cent: Geo. A. Banks, H. L. Akridge, B. H. Biddle, J. Nelson Bell, Benj. F. Brugh, L. J. Butler, Orva Conley, R. W. Daley, Jr., R. L. Devereux, D. L. Farber, Z. B. Ferrell, Paul A. Ford, A. J. Goodwin, H. W. Grimm, W. P. Hammer, W. O. Hearn, B. H. Hildreth, J. J. Hopkins. John H. Hoskins, L. H. Howard, Chas. R. Irving, Milton E. Jones, T. W. Keith. Robt. A. Knox, W. R. Laird, Jr., J. H. Luikart, V. L. Mahoney, T. G. Matney, Alvin McClung, Jas. C. McConaughey, A. P. Meador (osteopath), Emerson Megrail, R. M. Musick (eclectic), E. P. Norfleet, Geo. K. Nutting, Owen Poling, Guy R. Pcst, Roy Ray, W. F. Shirkey, Noah H. Short. L. E. Shrewsbury, W. C. Spaulding, C. N. Sprinkle, Floyd C. Turner, Byron W. Seele, James E. Stewart, T. G. Tickle, James F. Van Pelt. A lengthy report was presented by the committee on laboratory, from which the following is extracted:

"1. There was evidence of insufficient care in the laboratory. For instance, $700 worth of platinum was not under even an ordinary lock. 2. A number of articles previously purchased had never been used

at all.

3. Confusion and a lack of order were striking. This was in part, no doubt, due to lack of sufficient space.

4. We found an appreciable amount of material and apparatus included on our bills and presumably paid for by us, which were entirely for the use of the University.

5. The Sanitary condition of the Hygienic Laboratory was inexpressably bad."

The committee also reported that it "found all the men connected with the laboratory much interested in it, each one apparently doing all he could to promote its success. The following facts seem worthy of the notice of the council: 1. Bacteriological work constitutes by far the bulk of the laboratory work, and most of the execution of this is done by Mr. Bonar. 2. Mr. Bonar has done his work well, and he is also fairly well qualified to do chemical work. 3. He does not claim to be particularly competent to carry the entire responsibility for all the work which is done in the laboratory, and not being a physician, he could not fully satisfy the physicians of the state in their demands made on the laboratory. 4. Mr. Oudshoorn's work has been largely for the office of the Tax Commissioner, as will be seen from the appendix of the itemized statements by Mr. Oudshoorn. An appreciable amount of his time has also been utilized for teaching purposes by the University. During the regular terms he spent every Saturday forenoon in teaching, which, together with the necessary preparation before and cleaning up after his lectures, amounted to not less than one whole day in the week given to the University. During the summer term he taught three days in the week.

Your attention is called to the following report which was sent to the Commissioner April 14th by the laboratory committee:

The undersigned believe that the following ideas are for the best interest of the State Department of Health, in the matter of its hygienic laboratory:

1. The personnel of the laboratory should be entirely employed and controlled by the State Department of Health, and should be wholly separate from the State University or any of its departments.

2. For the present. the laboratory is to remain in Morgantown, and in consideration of suitable and sufficient quarters, heat, light, water and general janitor service furnished by the University, in its new medical department, the University should be given the privilege of using the laboratory equipments for teaching its students, but only insofar as this will not interfere in the least with the work of the State Department of Health. The liberty should also be given to the University to list any of the laboratory employees of the State Department of Health on its teaching force, provided the same is agreeable to these employees, and provided that such listing shall in no way imply or require duties to be performed, which would. in any way, encroach upon their time or duties belonging to the State Department of Health.

3. The personnel of the laboratory should consist as follows: At the head of the laboratory there should be a physician with special training in all the phases of public health laboratory work, whose opinion can be considered authoritative in the chemical analysis of water, food and drugs, as well as in bacteriology and pathology. To such a man the State Department of Health should not hesitate to pay a salary of $2,500.00 a year, if one can not be engaged at a smaller salary. Under him, as assistant, there should be a young man, able to do all the routine work of a public health laboratory, at a salary not to exceed much above $1,500.00. Mr. Bonar, who has been employed in the hygienic laboratory for some time, can fill the position of such an assistant in a highly satisfactory manner.

In addition to this technical skill, there should be added a half-time stenographer and a half-time general utility man.

W. W. GOLDEN,

J. E. ROBINS,

F. F. FARNSWORTH.

President Trotter of the University and Dr. Simpson, dean of the medical school, were heard in connection with the laboratory report. The Council then took a recess.

Office of the Commissioner, July 26th, 1916. The Council reconvened in executive session. The laboratory report was on motion received and approved, the recommendations to be put into operation as soon as practicable.

Dr. John N. Simpson was chosen as director of the laboratory on a salary of $25.00 per month. Martin L. Bonar was chosen as bacteriologist and A. A. Cook as laboratory chemist, each to receive a salary of $125.00 per month. The director was authorized to employ a stenographer at a salary not to exceed $50.00 per month.

Report of the committee on the tuberculosis sanitarium was read. The sanitarium was visited on April 15th, by Drs. Robins and Farnsworth of the committee. The committee reported that "all the new buildings have been completed and are now occupied, making the total capacity of a hundred and twenty patients. Only 101 were present, a number having recently gone home on a visit. The actual capacity for patients, however, is only about 110, as about one-half of one building is used for the housing of nurses. This makes the impression that a nurses' home is needed, but this is hardly the case, for all the nurses are tuberculous, and hence need the same sort of housing that the patients do, so that a more substantial home for nurses is scarcely necessary."

"An infirmary of some thirty or forty beds with an operating room is certainly badly needed. So far as we can see, everything is being done that can be expected, and Dr. Clovis is to be commended for his work. During the summer very few drugs were given, but during the winter months there has been considerable medication, mostly sedatives for cough and throat remedies. The cold weather has probably made this necessary. The work of attending patients is divided between Dr. Clovis and his assistant, Dr. Hinzman. Another assistant has been asked for at a salary of $60.00 per month which will scarcely secure a worthy man. The committee does not believe that a third physician is needed." Respectfully submitted,

(Signed) F. F. FARNSWORTH,
J. E. ROBINS.

On motion the report was accepted and the committee discharged. Dr. Clovis, superintendent, having reported that he receives very few cases of tuberculosis in the incipient stage, it was resolved that the physicians of the state be urged to send their tuberculosis cases to the sanitarium as early as possible.

Brief resumes of the work of the health department for the past year representing work done by Drs. Weirich and Wood, and Engineer Tolman,

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