CONTENTS The Unorganized Marine Hospital Service, 1798 to 1870 The Organized Marine Hospital Service, 1870 to 1902 Development of the Service from 1883 to 1889 Interstate Control of Diseases, 1890 Medical Inspection of Immigrants, 1890 and 1891 Growth of Service from 1898 to 1901 75 Prevention of Interstate Spread of Diseases Regulations Affecting Interstate Carriers Occupational Diseases and Industrial Hygiene Investigations of Specific Diseases THE PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE ITS HISTORY, ACTIVITIES AND ORGANIZATION CHAPTER I HISTORY NFORD The Public Health Service is a bureau of the Treasury Department engaged in the following general activities: The operation of hospitals and the furnishing of medical relief to.. specified beneficiaries; the medical inspection of immigrants; the administration of maritime and border quarantine; the prevention of the interstate spread of diseases; the examination of biologic products to determine purity and potency; the collection of morbidity and other statistics pertaining to health; and the study and investigation of the diseases of man and conditions influencing the propagation and spread of diseases, including sanitation and sewage and the pollution either directly or indirectly of the navigable streams and lakes of the United States. Its functions, therefore, fall into three classes: (1) medical relief for designated persons; (2) the prevention of the spread of disease by virtue of the powers exercised by the federal government over interstate and foreign commerce; and (3) making studies that will assist in controlling disease and furnishing a central agency for assisting state and municipal health officials in their work. The history of the Public Health Service may be divided into the following four well defined periods: (1) the unorganized Marine Hospital Service from 1798 to 1870; (2) the organized Marine Hospital Service from 1870 to 1902; (3) I |