ternal sanitary police of the city must be so regulated and supervised that exotic pestilences cannot gain admittance to the city, either through the cargo or the passenger and his effects. 2. Persons suffering from contagious and infectious diseases must be rigidly isolated from the well. 3. The contagious or infectious principle outside of the person must be absolutely destroyed. 4. Excretal matters and filth of every kind must be removed and rendered innocuous, whether found in the dwelling, the house drains, the sewer, the street, or public place, and cleanliness must be everywhere secured. 5. Trades and business of every kind and character which cause special forms of disease among operatives or among the people must be placed under such regulations as will effectually remove all causes and sources of sickness. agement of the public schools, the adequate supply and maintenance of public baths and public parks, the suppression of intemperance, the control of vagrants, &c. Finally, boards of health should be sources of instruc tion of the people in all branches of domestic as well as public hygiene. This most important duty in the promotion of the public health is far too much neglected by existing health organizations. It is impossible to estimate the value of tracts on hygiene, prepared expressly for the masses and issued under the sanction of the central sanitary authority. Such publications are generally read with avidity, and if timely issued with reference to prevailing diseases, the simple rules are faithfully followed, and sickness and death are prevented. SHIRE) ORDINANCES. OF HEALTH OFFICERS FOR THE HARBOR OF THE PISCATAQUA (AP- SECTION 1. The mayor and aldermen of the city of Portsmouth shall have full and exclusive power to appoint annually a board of In the promotion of the public health, the end sought THE STATE LAW AND CITY OF PORTSMOUTH (NEW HAMPto be attained is both the removal of every condition, matter, or thing which tends to cause ill-health among the people, or in any way to abbreviate the natural life of the individual in every rank and grade of society, and the creation of all those conditions which will secure the most perfect type of physical development and the long est and most active life of which each individual is capa-health, who shall have jurisdiction over all the harbor of the Pisble. These duties may be grouped as follows: 1. Drain cataqua which lies up the said harbor, below the most westerly and northerly line of said Portsmouth, and thence down said harbor to age. One of the first external conditions of health of a the ocean, so far as the jurisdiction of this State extends seaward, or city is dryness and purity of soil. This can only be ef over said harbor below said westerly and northerly line of said Portsfected by deep drainage and the permanent opening of mouth, and said jurisdiction shall be exclusive; and no health offinatural water courses. Such drainage can be satisfacto-cers of any other town in this State shall have jurisdiction over the waters of said harbor within said limits. rily directed only by the sanitary engineer. 2. Dwellings.SEC. 2. The powers and duties of said health officers shall be such It would be vain to attempt to estimate the amount and as are prescribed by the laws of this State or by the ordinances of kinds of ill-health which result from defective house con- said city of Portsmouth; and the city council of said Portsmouth are struction in cities. The methods of excluding fresh air hereby empowered to pass all such ordinances and regulations, with and generating and husbanding foul air are surprisingly such fines and penalties for the breach thereof as they shall think fit, great and ingenious. The proper construction of dwell-in reference to said harbor, and in regard to quarantine, and place for quarantine ground within the waters of said harbor, and for the ings will never be secured in any city until the plans of due government of said harbor in reference to the preservation of the every house are submitted to and approved by the sani-health of the citizens of this State, with such fees and compensation tary architect of the board of health. And especially is as they shall deem fit and proper; and said health officers shall see this true of dwellings intended for the poorer classes. that said ordinances, rules, and regulations are properly carried out 3. Food supply.—In order to secure good and wholesome and enforced over the whole of said harbor within said limits. SEC. 3. One at least of said board of health shall be a regular physifood, vigilant sanitary inspection is absolutely required cian, and said board shall not consist of less than three persons, but in cities. Nor is it suflicient merely to provide good food a majority may act. in the public markets; measures should be adopted in large cities to secure its easy distribution among the poor. This class will not go long distances to market, but will buy the stale articles which the hucksters hawk about the streets. The country producer with his fresh material should be brought in direct and personal contact with the poorest consumer. 4. Water supply.-Next to food, pure, undefiled water is of the greatest importance to the public health. The closing of low-lying wells and springs and securing water from sources above contamination rests with boards of health, for no other branch of the municipal government properly appreciates the neces sity. Without dwelling in detail upon the branches of inves tigation and administration which boards of health must pursue that fully perform their duties in promoting the pub lic health, we may remark that, among innumerable minor matters, it includes the practice of pharmacy, the man SEC. 4. Said board of health, when appointed, are not to be subject to the control of said board of mayor and aldermen, but shall be independent thereof, so long as they shall continue to hold said office; and said board shall continue each year in office until a new board is chosen and qualified in their stead, unless one or more are removed for due cause, shown on due notice and hearing, or by death, in which case others shall be appointed to take the place or places of those thus removed. SEC. 5. The power of removal for due cause shown shall be by a vote of a majority of the board of mayor and aldermen present at a meeting duly called, after a hearing of the case on due notice. OF THE HEALTH OFFICERS AND THE PUBLIC HEALTH. SECTION 1. There shall be chosen annually, at the commencement of each municipal year, three or more persons to be denominated health officers or health committee, one of whom shall be a physician of regular standing; who shall hold their offices for one year and until others shall be chosen and qualified in their stead, unless sooner removed by the city councils. Whenever any vacancy shall occur in said committee, by death, resignation or otherwise, such vacancy shall be supplied in the manner herein prescribed. SEC. 2. It shall be the duty of said health officers-subject always to the direction, authority and control of the mayor and aldermento carry into execution all the ordinances and rules made by the city councils relative to causes of sickness, nuisances and sources of filth, that may be injurious to the health or may affect the comfort of the inhabitants of the city existing within the limits thereof; and to cause all such nuisances, sources of filth and causes of sickness to be removed, destroyed or prevented, as the case may require, comformably to such ordinances and rules and the laws of the State. SEC. 3. All waste water of houses, yards, cellars, sinks, pumps, &c., shall be conveyed by their owners or occupiers to the common sewers, or to such places as the health officers may direct. SEC. 4. No person shall be allowed to throw any vegetable or dead animal substance, or any other matter capable of producing infection, into any street, lane, alley or dock, or upon any wharf, but shall bury them or throw them into the river below low-water mark. SEC. 5. The contents of vaults and privies shall not be permitted to rise within one foot of the surface of the earth. And all owners or occupiers of buildings having such vaults or privies as may require it, shall cause them to be emptied within ten days from the promulgation of this ordinance, and in future on or before the 1st day of May in each year. And any such owner or occupier neglecting so to do, shall forfeit and pay for every such neglect a sum not less than three nor more than twenty dollars, and a like sum for every week's neglect after the time above specified. SEC. 6. No vendor of meat at the stalls shall be permitted to leave any stale meat, heads, feet, or offal of any kind about their stalls or stores over night, or suffer them to be thrown into any street, lane, or alley of the city. Nor shall any sellers of fish be permitted to throw any offals of fish into any street, lane, or alley of the city, or upon any wharf, but shall either bury them or throw them into the river beyond low-water mark. SEC. 7. If any dead animal or decaying vegetable substance, or any other nuisance, shall be found in any part of the city, the owners or occupiers of the premises where such nuisances shall be found shall cause the same to be removed within twenty-four hours after being notified so to do by one or more of the health officers. SEC. 8. In the location of all new slaughter-houses, application must first be made to the mayor, who, in co-operation with the board | of health, or such other committee as the city councils may hereafter select, shall decide whether the site proposed is such as shall not be an annoyance to any dwelling or public thoroughfare; and no offensive matter shall be suffered to remain over night in or about any slaughter-house. SEC. 12. When any householder shall know that any person within his family is taken sick of the small-pox, or any other disease dangerous to the public health, he shall immediately give notice thereof to the health officers. SEC. 13. When any physician shall know that any person whom he is called to visit is infected with the small-pox, or any other disease dangerous to the public health, such physician shall immediately give notice thereof to the health officers. SEC. 14. If any such householder or physician shall refuse or neglect to give the notice required in the preceding sections, he shall for each refusal or neglect forfeit the sum of twenty dollars, to be recovered by either of the health officers in the name of the city. SEC. 15. The health officers, and each or either of them, shall inquire into all nuisances and other causes of danger to the public health; and whenever they shall know or have cause to suspect that any nuisance or other thing injurious to the public health is in any building, vessel, or inclosure, they shall make complaint, under oath, to the justice of the police court, who shall issue his warrant, directed to the city marshal, to proceed with the health officers to search such building, vessel, or inclosure; and they may, by virtue thereof, in the day-time, forcibly enter therein and make such search. SEC. 16. The health officers may give written notice to the owner or occupier of any building, vessel, or inclosure to remove or destroy any nuisance or other thing deemed by them, on examination, to be injurious to the public health, within a certain time limited therein; and in case such owner or occupier, the said notice having been given to him or left at his usual place of abode, shall neglect to comply therewith, the said health officers may, by direction of the mayor and accompanied by the city marshal, forcibly enter such building, vessel, or inclosure, and cause said nuisance or other thing aforesaid to be removed or destroyed. SEC. 17. And the health officers may employ such assistants and laborers as may be necessary; and if resisted, they and the city marshal may command assistance; and any person willfully resisting them or their assistants or laborers in making such search, or removing any nuisance or other thing aforesaid, shall be prosecuted by the city marshal, under the provisions of the fourth section of the one hundred and first chapter of the general statutes. SEC. 18. When the owner of any building, vessel, or inclosure shall be unknown to the health officers, or shall not reside in the city, and the same shall be unoccupied, or the occupant is, in the opinion of the health officers, unable to remove the nuisance or other thing as aforesaid, they may, without any previous notice, immediately cause any nuisance or other thing, by them deemed injurious to the public SEC. 9. It shall be the duty of said health officers or health committee SEC. 19. The owner or occupier of any building, vessel, or inclosure shall be liable to pay the expense of the removal or destruction of any such nuisance or other thing as aforesaid, including fees of the health officers who order or cause the same to be removed, and the same may be recovered by action to be brought in the name of the city. SEC. 20. No person shall use or occupy any building in the compact part of the city for a slaughter-house, or for trying tallow, or for currying leather, or for the deposit of green pelts or skins, unless under such restrictions and regulations as the health officers may impose. SEC. 21. No person shall erect, keep, or continue, or permit to be erected, kept, or continued, upon any land occupied by him, any pen for the keeping of swine, or privy, over either of the mill-ponds in this city, or so placed that offensive substances therefrom shall be SEC. 10. The health officers may remove any person infected with the small-pox, the malignant cholera, or other malignant pestilential disease, to some suitable house to be provided by the city for that purpose, provided the same can be done without endangering the life of such person; and may, under direction of the mayor and aldermen, make such regulations respecting such houses and for prevent-discharged or drained into either of said ponds, or into any creek, or ing unnecessary communication with such persons or their attendants as they may think proper; and if any person or persons shall willfully violate the same, it shall be the duty of the city marshal, on complaint of the health officers, forthwith to prosecute such person or persons under the second section of the one hundred and second chapter of the general statutes, that he or they may be fined accordingly. SEC. 11. In all cases where any disease named or alluded to in the preceding section shall arise or prevail, it shall be the duty of the health officers to perform all the services incidental thereto. cove, or drain leading thereto. And no person shall construct, keep, or continue any drain leading from any pen for the keeping of any swine, slaughter-house, privy-vault, or other unwholesome or offensive place, into either of said ponds, or to any flat or marsh adjoining the same. And no person shall throw, or suffer to be thrown, from his land into either of said ponds, or upon any of said flats or marshes, any dead, decaying, unwholesome, or offensive animal or vegetable substances. SEC. 22. Any person or persons who shall violate any rule or regulation, or commit any act forbidden in any section of this ordinance, to which no special penalty is annexed, shall forfeit and pay a sum not less than one dollar nor more than twenty dollars, to be recovered by complaint before the police court of this city. SEC. 23. The health officers shall be paid a reasonable compensation for their services, to be determined and regulated by the board of mayor and aldermen, and all reasonable expenses incurred by them in the execution of their duty shall also be paid by the city; and a true account, under oath, of all their receipts and disbursements, shall be laid before the board of aldermen once in six months, and oftener if required. OF QUARANTINE. eral statutes, unless such sum, either in whole or in part, shall be paid by the United States according to law. SEC. 7. No person shall come on shore from any vessel infected or justly suspected of being so, or subject to or ordered for quarantine, or performing it, nor shall leave the place appointed for the sick or purification, being employed or placed there by the health officers, without their permission. If any person shall, without permission from the health officers, go on board any vessel ordered for or performing quarantine, or go within limits appointed by them for the reception of infected persons and property on shore, he shall be considered as infected, and held to undergo purification in the same manner and under the same regulations and penalties as those who are SEC. 8. A red flag of at least six feet in length shall be hoisted and displayed, day and night, at the head of the mainmast of any vessel ordered for quarantine, until such vessel shall be entirely cleansed, and also on a flag-staff at the place appointed for the reception of the sick and for the purification of infected goods, so long as they shall remain there. SECTION 1, For the preservation of the public health, and to pre-perforining quarantine. vent the introduction of contagious and malignant diseases into this city, there shall be a regular system of quarantine established, and all vessels liable thereto, as designated in the succeeding section, shall perform said quarantine in that part of the harbor of Piscataqua lying within a line drawn from Fort Constitution to the northwardmost of the Fishing Islands and a line drawn due west from Wood Island; and all such vessels on entering the harbor shall be brought to anchor on said grounds, and there wait the orders of the health officers. SEC. 9. All pilots of the harbor of Piscataqua shall be duly notified of these regulations by the health officers, and said pilots shall make known these regulations to the masters of all vessels they shall board or to whom they shall have opportunity to communicate the same. And any pilot who shall pilot any vessel subject to quarantine to or near any wharf, shall be liable to prosecution therefor as pointed out in the statute. SEC. 10. And the health officers shall communicate a copy of this ordinance to the commander of Fort Constitution, and desire his cooperation in carrying it into effect, agreeably to the provisions of the thirteenth section of the one hundred and third chapter of the gen SEC. 2. A quarantine shall be performed by all vessels, officers, crews, passengers, and cargoes which shall arrive within the harbor of the river Piscataqua and port of Portsmouth, on and after the 31st day of May and until the 1st day of November in each year, from any port or place between the latitude of Georgetown, in South Carolina, and the tropic of Capricorn; or from any other port or place where the malignant cholera, malignant fever, or other malignant or contagious diseases shall prevail, and by all vessels on board of which any sickness may have prevailed during their homeward passages.eral statutes. But no quarantine will be exacted of vessels coming from beyond the SEC. 11. All fines and forfeitures for the violation of these reguCape of Good Hope or of vessels from the Cape de Verd Islands laden | lations shall, on complaint of the health officers, be recovered by wholly with salt, unless contagious diseases were known to have pre- prosecution against the offenders, by the city marshal under the provailed at those places at the time of their departure, or unless such visions of the above-named statute. vessels have had sickness on board during their voyage home. SEC. 3. The board of health shall from time to time appoint a suitable person, whose duty it shall be to board any vessel liable to perform quarantine, and to deliver to the master thereof a copy of the ordinances of this city relating to quarantine, and a flag to be carried by his vessel in case said vessel shall need to be cleansed, in which case he shall immediately notify the physician of the board of health; and in case said vessel shall not need to be cleansed, or there shall not be any malignant, contagious, or infectious disease on board, then said person shall give a permit to such vessel to proceed to any wharf or landing-place in this city, for which service or permit he shall be entitled to receive three dollars from the master of such vessel. SEC. 4. All vessels having on board any person infected with the small-pox, plague, pestilential, or malignant fever, or other malignant, infectious, or contagious disease, or who shall have been so infected during the voyage, or have on board any goods reasonably supposed to have any infection of such disease, shall perform quarantine at the place named in the first section of this chapter; and the master of any such vessel shall proceed with and anchor her at such place, there to be purified and cleansed, as the health officers may direct; and a suitable place on shore shall be prescribed and properly limited by the health officers for the purification of the cargo of such vessel. SEC. 5. The health officers may seize any goods landed from such vessel without their permission, and remove and keep the same until they have caused the same to be thoroughly cleansed. The expenses of such purification of the vessel and her cargo shall be paid by the master, owner, or consignee before the vessel is discharged from quarantine, and no vessel shall be discharged without a certificate from at least two of the health officers, one of whom shall be the physician. SEC. 6. Any person sick on board such vessel may be sent on shore by the said health officers, at some place by them appointed and limited for that purpose, to be there maintained and provided for at his own expense, or, if unable, at the expense of the city; the expense to be recovered by the city from the town or county that may be ohargeable for his support under the provisions of chapter 103 gen SEC. 12. The physician of the board of health shall be entitled to receive five dollars for each visit necessarily made to any vessel at quarantine needing to be cleansed, or on board of which shall be any person sick with any malignant, infectious, or contagious disease, and each of the other members of the board shall be entitled to receive three dollars for each such visit, to be paid by the master of such vessel; but no member shall receive pay for more than one visit on any one day. MISCELLANEOUS. NOTICE. All official communications to the National Board of Health should be addressed to the Secretary of the Board, Dr. T. J. Turner, U. S. N. Correspondents and others whose writing may be for publication are reminded that much inconvenience is caused by writing on both sides of the paper. NOTICE.-Extra copies of the BULLETIN will be furnished at this office at the rate of five cents per copy. Notice of at least one week should be given when a large number is required. NATIONAL BOARD OF HEALTH rooms are at 1410 G street, northwest. NOTICE. The populations of cities of the United States adopted in the tables of the BULLETIN are those furnished by the city authorities to the National Board of Health. They differ in some cases from the figures given in mortuary reports. *District of Columbia has 114,000 white, 56,000 colored; deaths, 43 white, 36 colored. Rate per 1,000, white, 19.7; colored, 33.5. Norfolk has 14.087 white, 9,913 colored; deaths, 9 white, 8 colored. Rate per 1,000, white, 33. 3; colored, 42.1. Richmond has 46,000 white, 34,000 colored; deaths, 8 white, 16 colored. Rate per 1,000, white, 9.1; colored, 24.5. Charleston has 25,000 white, 32,000 colored; deaths, 8 white, 18 colored. Rate per 1,000, white, 16.7; colored, 29.3. Savannah has 17,493 white, 15,163 colored; deaths, 6 white, 13 colored. Rate per 1,000, white, 17.9; colored, 44.7. Augusta has 15,246 white, 11,628 colored; deaths, 9 white, 4 colored. Rate per 1,000, white, 30.8; colored, 17.9. Atlanta has 25,373 white, 16,175 colored; deaths, 8 white, 4 colored. Rate per 1,000, white, 16.4; colored, 12.9. New Orleans has 155,000 white, 55,000 colored; deaths, 72 white, 28 colored. Rate per 1,000, white, 24.2; colored, 26.5. Nashville has 17,585 white, 9,500 colored; deaths, 7 whites, 4 colored. Rate per 1,000, white, 20.7; colored, 21.9. Chattanooga has 8,000 white, 4,000 colored; deaths, 2 white, 5 colored. Rate per 1,000, white, 13.0; colored, 65.2. THE following reports, for the week ending December 6, are from places requiring burial permits and having less than 5,000 population: Bridgewater, Mass., population 3,900; accident 1. Brunswick, Ga., 3,000; no deaths. Edgartown, Mass., 1,700; 2 deaths. Franklin, Ind., 4,000; 2 deaths. Murfreesborough, Tenn., 4,000; pneumonia, 1. Total population, 16,600; total deaths, 6; rate per 1,000, 18.9. in ten of the chief towns south of that line. Scarlet fever is still extensively epidemic, but has declined, as noted above. The 87 deaths from this disease are nearly all above the latitude of North Carolina and 22 deaths are reported from the city of Providence, R. I., alone? In this city the disease has been epidemic for some time, and 54 deaths from it are reported for the month of November. The disease prevails at present in most of the large cities north of Washington and. from Massachusetts to the Mississippi. Typhoid fever has increased since last week from 1.63 to 1.90 per cent. of the general mortality; the States of New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland present nearly THE following reports, for the week ending December 6, are from places in which burial permits are not re-half of the 51 deaths, and the disease is not confined to cities, but quired: Allegheny, Pa., population 75,000; deaths 13; under 5 years 3; consumption 2, diphtheria 1, lung diseases 2. Bath, Me., 10,000; deaths 4; under 5 years 2; consumption 1, dysentery 1, scarlet fever 1. Battle Creek, Mich., 7,500; deaths 3. Benton County, Miss., 11,000; consumption 1. Calais, Me., 7,000; consumption 1, pneumonia 1. Carrollton, Miss., 600; no deaths. Davenport, Iowa, 25,000; deaths 5; under 5 years 2; consumption 1, diarrhoea 2, lung diseases 2. Decatur, Miss., 1,000; consumption 1. Dixon, Cal., 1,200; no deaths. Fayette, Miss., 300; no deaths. Flint, Mich., 10,000; pneumonia 1. Helena, Mont., 3,500; deaths 2. Jackson, Miss., 5,000; no deaths. Louisiana, Mo., 5,000; lung disease 1, puerperal fever 1. Mansfield, Ohio, 11,000; no deaths. Morton, Miss., 200; no deaths. Mount Pleasant, Iowa, 5,000; deaths 4; under 5 years 2; consumption 1. Niles, Mich., 4,630; scarlet fever 2, under 5 years. Painesville, Ohio, 5,000; no deaths. Ripley, Miss., 1,000; no deaths. Shelbyville, Tenn., 2,000; consumption 1. Tampa, Fla., 1,000; no deaths. Tuscaloosa, Ala., 4,000; one death under 5 years. Waterbury, Conn., 16,000; deaths 3; consumption 1. Winona, Minn., 11,786; typhoid fever 1. Youngstown, Ohio, 17,000; deaths 5; under 5 years 2; consumption 1, croup I, diarrhoea 1, typhoid fever 1. Total population, 241,716; total deaths, 49; under 5 years, 14. prevails extensively among the village and rural population, especially along the hill country of the Blue Ridge and Alleghany Mountains. Acute lung diseases show a small increase, which does not balance a reduction in the mortality from consumption, and the death rate from both combined has declined from 27.7 to 26.9 per cent. of the total mortality. Consumption in the United States must be studied with reference to the influence of race as well as of climate. The ten cities in which the colored population is a large element (see note to table of United States cities) should be compared with a corresponding aggregate population in the cities of New England. In illustration, it should be stated that the general rate of mortality is in favor of the latter, being 18.2 against 23.6 for the Southern cities. In these the colored people comprise 35.7 per cent. of the population; the annual rate of mortality among the whites is 20.5, while that of the colored people is 29.1 per 1,000. With this greater mortality among the colored population, it is to be observed that the deaths from consumption constitute in New England 14.9, and in the South 17.2 per cent. of the total mortality. On adding acute lung diseases, the rate becomes 24.9 for the North, and 31.5 in the South. In the absence of separate reports for the races, it is to be inferred from the above figures that the greater mortality from consumption and acute lung diseases in the Southern cities, as compared with New England, indicates great prevalence of those diseases among the colored people at the South. Small-pox has appeared in Philadelphia and in the District of Columbia, one death occurring in each place. During the week ending November 15 one death was reported in New York, being the only one recorded in the United States since August 30, excepting seven deaths in October at San Antonio, Tex., all of which were among the Mexican population. Monthly report of mortality in cities of the United States. WEEKLY SUMMARY OF MORTALITY. The tabulated reports for the week ending December 6, from places in which burial permits are required, represent a population of 7,632,108, and a total mortality of 2,652. The annual rate of mortality remains nearly the same as last week, having declined from 18.2 to 18.1 per 1,000; but the death rate under five years, which had suddenly risen to 41.5, has fallen to 37.7 per cent. of the total deaths. Coincident with this change, the rate for diarrheal diseases has decreased from 2.93 to 2.24, and for scarlet fever from 3.58 to 3.29 per cent. Diphtheria has increased from 6.07 to 6.15; it prevails in most of the large cities north of 37° latitude, only 7 deaths out of 159 occurring |