Smart, Dr. Chas., Pollution of Water Supplies, Smith, Herbert E., M.D., Chemical Analyses, 259 Smith, Dr. Theo., Disease Germs, Origin and Sources of, 231 205 Town Hygiene, Addresses on, by Profs. Lindsley and Brewer, 56 Treasurer's Report, 354 Treasurer's Report, Pollution of Streams Investigation, Tucker, R. H., Clerk Board of Health, Report of Small Pox in Water, Chemical and Bacteriological Analyses of, in: 355 293 20, 27, 43, 55, 219 269 Williston, S. W., M.D., Letter to Daily Democrat, Williston, S. W., M.D., Report of Small Pox in New Haven, 272 272 276 277 20 GENERAL REPORT. To His Excellency, the Governor of Connecticut : In conformity with the requirements of the Statutes the Eleventh Annual Report of the State Board of Health of Connecticut is herewith respectfully presented. THE PERSONNEL OF THE BOARD. The membership and the officers of the Board remain the same as in the last report; indeed there have been no changes in these respects since 1885. The four regular quarterly meetings were held, three of which were at Hartford, and one, by reason of the temporary disability of the Secretary, at New Haven. Every meeting was fully attended by all the members of the Board, except in a single instance, one member was unavoidably absent from a meeting at Hartford. There has been no occasion to call a special meeting during the year. WORK OF THE BOARD. The Secretary, as the executive officer of the Board, has been frequently called upon to visit various parts of the State, and advise with the local health authorities, in reference to outbreaks of disease, impurities of water supply, drainage, unsanitary conditions of locations, public buildings, etc., and in some instances has been accompanied by another member of the Board. The correspondence of the Secretary with many towns in the State, in respect to epidemics, water pollution, the sources of infectious disease, and especially asking information and advice concerning the duties and powers of local boards, in particular instances and peculiar local conditions, has been steadily increasing. This is justly mentioned as an encouraging fact, illustrative of the growing interests in public hygiene, and the practical applications of sanitary laws to the general welfare. The office work of the Board, aside from its duties in superin tending and tabulating the registration of vital statistics, may, in a general way, be classified under three heads, to wit: 1st. Obtaining information from official and other reliable sources relating to "the interests of health and life among the people of this State." 2d. The analyzing, elaborating, and utilizing of such information, and 3d. The diffusion of such practical sanitary information among local health authorities and the people of the commonwealth from time to time, as occasion demands. In the first of these objects the Board has been always retarded by the want of official relations with all parts of the State. This difficulty has heretofore been in some degree relieved, although quite imperfectly, by soliciting information from voluntary correspondents. But now through these in a limited way, and through the monthly mortality reports, which by a recent law the Registrars of towns are required to make to the Secretary, as well as by the reports of epidemics which the clerks of local health boards give, tolerably full and prompt information of the sickness, and the extent of mortality and causes of death is obtained. From these sources of information the Board has been kept acquainted during the past year to a much greater degree than ever before, of fresh outbreaks of infectious diseases; and in many instances instructive statements are given by the informants of the origin of such outbreaks and the causes of their spread, as well as the success attending the prompt application of means adopted to restrict them. It has been enabled through the information so obtained to render prompt assistance in many cases by the immediate supply for distribution among families of printed circulars relating to the prevention and restriction of the diseases, as well as by direct correspondence with the local health authorities and in some instances by a personal visit to the locality. During the year the Secretary has had the pleasure of many personal interviews with the health officers and other members of local boards of health, at the office of the Board at New Haven. An outbreak of disease in a distant town will often bring some member of the health board of that town to consult with the Secretary respecting the powers and duties of the local authorities in controlling it. These interviews have been always very agreeable and mutually profitable. |