watched, and if any garbage drops on the street it is an easy matter to detect the party who is responsible therefor. The refuse of a city has in it most valuable materials, and it is but right that its removal should prove rather a source of revenue than an expense upon the community. New York wastes many thousands of dollars annually by dumping its garbage into the lower bay, to say nothing of the extreme sanitary dangers involved in this barbarous and offensive practice. .FOOD IN ITS RELATION TO HEALTH. Americans eat more than is required for the maintenance of health, was the pith of the paper read by Prof. W. O. Atwater, of the Department of Agriculture at Washington. The paper was a most exhaustive and admirable scientific dissertation on this important subject. SULPHUR AS A DISINFECTANT. If any man ought to have a practical acquaintance with the merits of various disinfectants, that man, surely, is Dr. Cyrus Edson, for he holds, and has held for some time, the position of Chief Inspector of the New York City Health Department. Dr. Edson believes in the efficacy of sulphur as a disinfectant, and his statement of this fact gave rise to a useless discussion that consumed much of the valuable time of the Association. A useless discussion, we say, because this subject has been already thoroughly investigated and officially reported upon by a most efficient committee of which Dr. George M. Sternberg was chairman. The facts seem to be that sulphur may be relied upon to destroy the germs of scarlet fever, measles and small-pox, but not those of diphtheria. Dr. Durgin, the Health Officer of Boston, stated that he had used sulphur as a disinfectant for twenty-two years and he was em phatic in his endorsement of it. Dr. Sternberg says that sulphur will not destroy the germ of erysipelas. In New York city, the method now pursued by Dr. Edson, consists in burning a mixture of flowers of sulphur and stick sulphur for about six hours to disinfect a room after a contagious disease, while the clothing and all removable articles that have been exposed to the poison of the disease are removed to be disinfected by dry heat. The proper way to use sulphur is to place it in a receptacle which shall be placed in a tub of water and the sulphur ignited by means of hot coals or having saturated it with alcohol, it can be fired with a match. The water in the tub will add to the efficacy of the sulphur, but if woolen fabrics about the room happen to be wet, they will be ruined by the fumes of the sulphur not so if they are dry. We should burn three pounds of sulphur for each 1,000 cubic feet of space in the room to be disinfected. Dr. Edson likes to leave all furniture and hangings just as they have been during the sickness so that the disinfection may reach them just as the infection has done. SANITARY ENTOMBMENT. Rev. Charles R. Treat, of New York city, not only presented a valuable and interesting paper on this subject, but he set an example to all sanitarians and sanitary associations who would interest the public, by the way in which he handled his subject. Naturally, a fluent and pleasing speaker, Mr. Treat called to his aid the stereopticon, the combination making an address which no one who heard it will ever forget. The speaker while earnest and uncompromising in his condemnation of earth burial, whereby the soil is poisoned, yet was mindful of the sentimental objections to cremation. His plan recommends the erection of handsome, imposing, solemn and suitable buildings, wherein` little recesses or spaces are provided for the reception of bodies. Then a current of air is made to pass over the body so that it is dessicated or dried up, as it were, thus artificially bringing about the condition that is naturally produced by the peculiar atmosphere of certain portions of the world. A building 200 by 300 feet could be made to provide accommodation for 30,000 bodies. There is absolutely nothing revolting about Mr. Treat's suggestion. The funeral can take place in the usual way and the body laid to rest in a handsome sepulchre that will prove but pleasant to the feelings of the survivors. No possible pollution of the soil can, in this way, take place. This idea meets all the objections to earth burial and has none of the features that have been urged against cremation. THE SANITARY NECESSITY FOR THE ANNEXATION OF CUBA. We all know that yellow fever is continually menacing the southern sections of our country and that this danger is because of our proximity to Cuba, where, owing to frightfully insanitary conditions this disease is, practically, always present: but we are not so familiar with the facts brought out at this meeting by Dr. Benjamin Lee that from this same cause Cuba is the cradle from which small-pox and, (horrible to say) leprosy are being introduced into our country. The conclusions reached in Dr. Lee's paper, may be thus summarized: 1. The exigencies of traffic and travel, render rapid and constant communication between the United States and Havana a necessity. 2. Havana is one of the most notorious breeding places of yellow fever, and is never free from its presence. 3. The only means by which the germs of this disease can be eradicated, are a proper system of sewerage and drainage, which shall deliver the filth of the city at a distant point into the waters of the ocean, and the removal of all the feculent soil. 4. There is no hope that the Spanish Government will ever undertake a work of this magnitude for a dependency. 5. The introduction of yellow fever into the United States through both legitimate and illegal channels of trade must be of frequent occurrence, so long as this condition of things continues. 6. A single widespread epidemic of yellow fever would cost the United States more in money-to say nothing of the grief and misery which it would entail-than the purchase money of Cuba. 7. The precautions against the spread of small-pox in Cuba are entirely inadequate and are rendered ineffective by reason of the superstition of a large proportion of the inhabitants. Hence epidemics of that loathsome disease are of frequent occurrence. 8. Leprosy prevails in Havana and the Island of Cuba to a serious. and constantly increasing extent. While there is 9. Leprosy is absolutely unrestricted in this island. an immense and admirably administered Leper Hospital in Havana, its inmates go and come among the residents of the city and country at will, until locomotion is rendered impossible by mutilation. 10. The ravages of the disease are confined to no class or race. 11. Leprosy has already obtained a foot hold in the United States in the ports nearest to and in most constant communication with the Island of Cuba. 12. Leprosy has but one history, that of constant progression unless it is checked by isolation of the most absolute and unrelenting character. 13. No centre of leprosy has ever originated in the United States. The importation of the first case of a series can always be distinctly traced. In view of these dangers, which to us seem very real, Dr. Lee, offered a resolution to the effect that this association should respectfully urge upon the President of the United States the expediency of opening negotiations with the Spanish Government with the view of an amicable transfer of the island of Cuba to the United States. In this way, and in this way alone, does it seem that we might metamorphose this hotbed of disease into a delightful garden spot of health. This resolution was referred to the Executive Committee and received back from them with the report that it was not in the province of this association to make such a recommendation. Dr. Henry B. Baker, the Secretary of the Michigan State Board of Health was elected President of the association for the ensuing year; Dr. Frederick Montizembert, of Quebec, 1st Vice-President; Dr. J. H. Raymond, of Brooklyn, 2d Vice President Dr. Irving A. Watson, of New Hampshire, Secreatry; and Dr. J. Berrien Lindsley, of Tennessee, Treasurer. : The next meeting will be held in November, 1890, at Charleston, S. C. II. REPORT OF THE SANITARY CONVENTION HELD AT PITTSBURG, MAY 31st., AND JUNE 1st., 1889. 1. Organization. 2. Prayer. 3. Address of Major W. C. Moreland. 4. Reply of Benjamin Lee, M. D. 5. Cellar Air in Houses, by Rev. E. H. Supplee, Ph. D. 6. Discussion. 7. Soft Drinks, by Prof. Henry Leffmann, M. D. 8. An Instrument to show the Purity of the Air in the Sick Room. 9. Letters of Regret. 10. Rivers as Sources of Water Supply, by Col. T. B. Roberts. 11. The Selection and Treatment of Public Water Supplies, by Prof. Henry Leffmann, M. D. 12. Discussion. 13. The Proper Mode of Conducting Sanitary Inspections, by Prof. William B. At kinson, M. D. 14. Garbage Cremation. 15. Notification of Contagious Diseases. 16. The Annual Address, by Jackson Piper, M. D. 17. A Plea for Public Health Work in Villages, by Henry B. Baker, M. D. 18. Discussion. 19. Adulteration of Food and Drugs, by Percy F. Smith, Esq. 20. Discussion. 21. Railroad Sanitation, by Joseph F. Edwards, M. D. 22. Bread, by Samuel S. Marvin. 23. Discussion on Railroad Sanitation. 24. The Hygiene of the Teeth, by Dr. J. O. Flower. 25. Discussion. 26. Sanitary History of Pittsburgh, by Crosby Gray, Esq. 27. Discussion. 28. Contagious Diseases among Domestic Animals, by Charles McIntire, M. D. 29. Metal Workers' Occupation and his Health, by Pemberton Dudley, M. D. 30. Some of the Advantages of Modern City Buildings with Special Reference to the Respiratory Organs, by W. T. English, M. D. 31. Bovine Vaccination, by H. M. Alexander, M. D. 32. Dangers to Health in Suburban Districts, by J. H. McClelland, M. D. 33. The King's Evil, by George H. Rohé, M. D. 34. Hygiene of Public Institutions, by Selden H. Talcott. 35. Ventilation and Health, by M. B. Goff, L. L. D. 36. The Small-Pox at Nanticoke, by Lewis H. Taylor, M. D. The convention was called to order by Dr. J. H. McClelland, who on behalf of the State Board of Health, nominated the following officers who were unanimously elected: Hon. B. F. Jones, President, Mr. William Metcalf. Vice Presidents, Hon. Chas. W. Stone, The PRESIDENT. I appreciate fully the honor of being called upon to preside over this convention. It is not necessary for me to detain you with any remarks of my own and therefore we will go on with the business of the convention. Right Rev. Bishop Whitehead will now open the Convention with prayer. Right Rev. Bishop WHITEHEAD: Almighty God, Father of Jesus Christ, to whom the whole family of heaven and earth is bound, we commend to Thy continual care the families of Thy people and the homes in which they dwell; put afar from these the pride of life and every bitterness; endue them with faith, temperance, patience and kindliness; knit together in constant affection those who in holy wedlock have been made one flesh; turn the hearts of fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers; and sow kindly charity among us all that we may ever dwell kindly affectioned with brotherly love. As Thou lovest those who are broken in heart let thy fatherly kindliness be upon all that Thou hast made to suffer. Forgive us wherein we have failed to care for the sick and the helpless; and stir us up to good works. Give unto all men desire of industry and the pride of honest labor that they may dwell peaceably upon the earth. Lift up those who are cast down: befriend innocent sufferers and sanctify to them the endurance of their wrong, and early deliver them. Cheer with hope all discouraged and unhappy people, and by Thy grace preserve them from falling. Preserve from falling those whose penury tempteth them to sin. Prosper with Thy blessing we pray Thee these thy servants here. Give them wisdom and the sympathy and coöperation of those for |