a second edition. In view of the importance of the subject, and of the fact that some changes were made in the circular as re-issued, it is again presented. OFFICE WISCONSIN STATE BOArd of Health, SMALL POX. During the last fifteen months small pox has appeared in 39 different localities in this state, and has caused the death of more than 425 persons, out of a total of over 1,600 cases of the disease. These facts call for a renewal of words of advice, and of emphatic warning, from the State Board of Health. That such an amount of suffering, and the loss of so many valuable lives should have been caused by a disease so absolutely preventable, is a great reproach to the state, and fixes a grave responsibility both upon the individual citizen and upon the legally constituted local health boards. We reiterate our matured conviction as set forth in our circular on this disease, dated December 16, 1876, that SMALL POX IS PREEMINENTLY A PREVENTABLE DISEASE, That we possess the means by which we may confidently expect to keep it from our homes, and from our communities, and that it never comes to either, except as the means known to be able to prevent it, have been neglected. It can maintain a continued existence anywhere, only through the ignorance or obstinacy of the people, or the inefficiency or criminal negligence of the local health authorities. Fully impressed with this belief, we therefore urge upon the physicians and upon all good citizens of Wisconsin that they give to the lawful authorities such moral and material support as will enable them and compel them, in deference to public opinion, to institute such measures as will serve to arrest the progress of the disease and eradicate it from the state. These measures are the thorough isolation of every case that may occur, and the careful VACCINATION AND RE-VACCINATION of all who are exposed. The undersigned have unqualified confidence in the protective power of thorough vaccination, believing that it can render in all persons, PERFECT protection against any form of variolous disease but to secure this protection, THREE conditions must be carefully observed: 1. The Virus used must be vigorous and pure. Enfeebled or deteriorated or improperly selected virus may produce spurious and wholly unprotecting sores. At best they give but an imperfect development of the vaccine disease, hence lead to a feeling of false security, and not unfrequently bring discredit upon the operation. We recommend the use of Bovine Virus as being free from all objections, safe in all cases, producing the maximum of protective influence, and being always available in any quantity needed. 2. The operation must be skillfully and properly performed. The careless and imperfect manner in which vaccination is often performed, and the utter lack of watchfulness of the result, or knowledge as to whether there has resulted a genuine, typical vesicle, is a grevious mistake. The operation should be conscientiously performed, and the development thereof carefully observed until it is KNOWN to be protective. 3. Revaccination should be frequently practiced to test the returning susceptibility of the system to the small pox contagion. By a strict and universal observance of these rules we believe that small pox might be stamped out of existence. To neglect such rules is to endanger not only the life of him who neglects them, but also the lives of those with whom he associates. We believe there is no valid excuse for such neglect. With regard to revaccination the facts are, that a certain number of persons are protected for life by one vaccination, while the protection of others extends to but a limited and variable period. Hence, as we are without the power to distinguish between these classes, revaccination is as essential as a primary operation, and should be performed at least every five years. It should also be performed at every season of an epidemic diffusion of the disease. We recommend that local boards of health throughout the state take measures to secure the vaccination of all children in attendance upon the public schools, who have not been vaccinated within five years, and that they use their influence to impress this duty upon all citizens. Should small pox unfortunately appear in any community, we earnestly recommend the adoption of the following rules: ISOLATION. Thoroughly isolate every case that may occur, and keep it so isolated until all danger that the disease can be communicated is past. If the patients be kept in a private house, it is better that the uppermost rooms of the house be used for the purpose; every person in the vicinity should at once be vaccinated without regard to any previous operation. In case of death, the funeral and burial should be conducted with the strictest privacy, and should be under the direction of the health officer. DISINFECTION. At the close of the disease, articles which can be so treated, should be disinfected by being subjected to the action of boiling water, or may be baked in an oven at a temperature of not less than 212 degrees. Heat effectually destroys the poison germ. Such articles as cannot be so treated should remain in the room after the removal of the patient and be subjected to SULPHUIOUS FUMIGATION which is effected by placing about three pounds of sulphur in a safe and convenient vessel in the room with the doors, windows and chimney flues closed, and ignite it. The room should remain closed ten or twelve hours, after which, prolonged VENTILATION scrubbing the floor, and painting the wood work, with whitewashing and re-papering the walls, will complete the process and fit the rooms for re-habitation. E. L. GRIFFIN, M. D., Fond du Lac, P. S. Health officers or others desiring copies of this circular for distribution, or copies of the circular on "Scarlet Fever and Diphtheria," or "on the Treatment of the apparently Drowned," can obtain them in any desired quantity, by addressing the secretary, at Appleton. The demand which has been made for these circulars has of late been a very large one, and the good influence they are exciting is illustrated by the following extract from a recent letter: "DEAR SIR: I received the circulars on small-pox, and scarlet fever and diphtheria, and posted them in conspicuous places in this village. The placards have had a good effect, for my family have noticed open windows and cleaning up in many houses unused to such rough treatment." This may, I think, be fairly considered as one of the means by which the board may attain its highest usefulness, and it may likewise be accepted as an indication of the desire of the people for sanitary knowledge. If both state and local boards of health will co-operate in the dissemination of that, and that only, which will fully and truly represent what is known concerning the nature, causation and prevention of disease, they will do much to lead the people from a blind trust in the teachings of that charlatanism and ignorance which hitherto has been their chief guide. The press will be a willing co-operator in such work, and will cheerfully publish that which may be given to it on such authority, to the exclusion of much that is now found in its columns that is unreliable, injurious and demoralizing. LIBRARY. During the year, the president, while on a personal visit east, obtained a large donation to the library, chiefly from the secretary of the State Board of Health of Massachusetts, from Hon. C. D. Wright, chief of the Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics of Labor, from Sidney Andrews, Esq., secretary of the Massachusetts Board of State Charities, from Edward Jarvis, M. D., and from Col. Emmons Clark, secretary of the Board of Health of the city of New York. These donations embrace the following volumes, with a few duplicates, not here enumerated. Reports of the Registrar General of England, vols. 21 to 29 inclusive; 4th Report of the London Local Government Board; Report of the 4th National Sanitary Convention; Sanitary and Medical Reports of the United States Navy for the years 1873 and 1874; Massachusetts Registration Report, vols. 17 to 32 inclusive; Census of Massachusetts for 1875, in 3 volumes: Census System of Massachusetts; Report on Statistics of Labor for the years 1870 to 1876 inclusive; The History of the Bureau of Statistics of Labor; Public Charities of Massachusetts; Reports of the Massachusetts Board of Charities, vols. 3 to 13 inclusive; Report of the New York Board of Health for the years 1870 and 1871, and from H. I. Bowditch, M. D., one volume of Monographs from the pen of the donor, and the Report of the Massachusetts Commissioners, of a General Plan for the Promotion of Public and Personal Health. There have also been donated to the library the following vol umes: The Legislative Manual for 1877, and the Report of the Secretary of the State of Wisconsin for 1877, from Hon. Peter Doyle; the Report of the State Board of Charities, from the Secretary, T. W. Haight, Esq.; the Transactions of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, 3 volumes, from the Secretary, J. E. Davies, M. D.; the Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, from Hon. E. Searing; the Report of the School Board of Milwaukee for 1876, from J. MacAlister, Esq.; the 4th Report of the Michigan State Board of Health; the 2d Report of the Georgia State Board of Health; the 5th Report of the Minnesota State Board of Health, and the 1st Report of the Colorado State Board of Health, from the Secretaries of these several Boards; the 5th Report of the Board of Health of the District of Columbia, from D. W. Bliss, M. D., Registrar; 10th Report of the Milwaukee Board of Health, from James Johnson, M. D.; the Health Officer's Report of Philadelphia, for 1873, 1875 and 1876, and the Report of the Philadelphia Board of Health for 1875, from John E. Addicks, M. D., Health Officer; the 4th Annual Report of the Board of Health of Boston, the Digest of Statutes and Ordinances Relating to the Public Health of Boston, and the 34th Massachusetts Registration Report, from the Board of Health of Boston; the 21st Annual Report of Births, Marriages and Deaths of Providence, and the 23d Rhode Island Registration Report, from E. M. Snow, M. D.; 9th Annual Report of the Cincinnati Board of Health, from J. J. Quinn, M. D., Health Officer; the Report of the Mayor of Savannah, including the Health Officer's Report for the years 1873-4-5-6, and the 10th Annual Report of the Public Schools of Savannah, from E. A. Silva, Esq., Clerk of the Council; the Annual Reports of the Toledo Board of Health for 1875 and 1876, from A. W. Fisher, M. D.; the 9th Annual Report of the St. Louis Board of Health, from W. L. Barrett, M. D., Health Officer; 2d and 3d Annual Reports of the City Physician, Knoxville, from A. B. Tadlock, M. D.; the Reports of the Board of Health of Chicago for 1874 and 1875, and Rules of the Board of Health of Chicago, from the Health Officer; the Report of the Board of Health of Baltimore for 1876, from James A. Stewart, M. D.; the 4th Report of the Board of Health of New Haven, from C. A. Lindsay, M. D.; 2d and 3d Reports of the Board of Health of Mobile, from T. S. Scales, M. D.; 4th Report of the Board of Health of Reading, Pa., from W. Murray Weidman, M. D.; 10th Report of the Board of Health of Dayton, Ŏ., from T. L. Neal, M. D.; Report of the Board of Health of Elmira, N. Y., for 1875, from J. K. Stanchfield, M. D.; the 7th Annual Report of the Board of Health of Selma, Ala., from W. P. Reese, M. D.; the Annual Report of the Board of Health of San Francisco for 1876, from J. L. Meares, M. D.; the Annual Report of the Board of Health of Concord, N. H., for 1876, and Transactions N. H. Medical Society, 1877, from G. P. Conn, M. D.; the Annual Report of the City Officers, Patterson, N. J., for 1876, from J. C. Amiraux, M. D; the 6th Annual Report of the City Registrar, Albany, from A. D. Lansing, Registrar; Health Ordinances of Cleveland, from the Health Officer; Disinfection in Yellow Fever, from C. B. White, M. D.; the Report of Marriages, Births and Deaths of Richmond for 1876, from J. G. Caball, M. D.; Report of the Sanitary Commission of Atlanta for 1876, from V. H. Taliaferro, M. D.; the 8th Annual Report of the Massachusetts State Board of Health, from C. F. Folsom, M. D., Secretary; the Transactions of the Wisconsin Agricultural Society for the years 1869 to 1877 inclusive, from the Secretary; the Transactions of the Medical Society of California for 1876-7, from J. F. Montgomery, Secretary; 1 set, complete, of the Reports of the Northern Hospital for the Insane, from the Superintendent; 1 set nearly complete of the Reports of State Hospital for the Insane, from the Superintendent; Reports of the Secretary of War, volume 4, 1875, and volume 4, 1876, containing Reports of the Chief Signal Officer, from the Secretary of War; the Report of the Connecticut Board of Agriculture for 1875, from T. S. Gold, Esq., Secretary; 1st Biennial Report of the State |