In Memoriam. WISCONSIN STATE BOARD OF HEALTH, EXECUTIVE OFFICE, Milwaukee, 1898. WHEREAS, It has pleased an all wise Providence to remove from our number our associate, Dr. F. H. Bodenius, who departed this life on the 21st day of July, A. D. 1898; be it therefore Resolved, That we have lost the counsel of a wise, skillful and learned physician and sanitarian; that he was ever active and efficient in the performance of his professional duties; that he always took a most earnest interest in all that pertained to his official station, and that his presence will be sadly missed at the meetings of our Board. Resolved, That we sympathize with his family in the loss of a devoted husband, and a tender and affectionate father, and that the public among whom he labored to relieve human suffering and to prevent death, has lost a physician and friend whose place it will be difficult if not impossible to fill. Resolved, That we spread this preamble and these resolutions on our minutes, send a copy to his family, and furnish a copy to the daily press for publication. (Signed) SOLON MARKS, M. D., President. Prof. H. L. RUSSELL, Ph. D., Consulting Bacteriologist, Madison. Prof. Wm. S. MILLER, M. D., Consulting Pathologist, Madison. TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAGE. 5 Law relating to Vital Statistics Law pertaining to the Transportation of the Dead... Law relating to the Adulteration of Foods and Drugs Law relating to the Menominee and Kinnickinnic Valley... . . . . REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF THE AMERICAN PUBLIC HEALTH 48 REPORT OF THE BOARD. In submitting this, the seventeenth Report of the State Board of Health, attention is called to a new feature in presenting the Report as provided by chapter 195, laws of 1897, which provides as follows: SECTION 1. The State Board of Health is hereby authorized to print its reports in four parts for each biennial period, the first part being published July 1, 1897, and thereafter one part each six months, each part not to exceed fifty pages, and at the end of the biennial period ending September 30, 1899, and thereafter at the end of each biennial period, copies to be bound in cloth as now provided by law, shall be so bound that each volume shall consist of the four parts, constituting the biennial period next prior to the date of such biennial period; these copies so bound shall be distributed to the several state officers and departments, public libraries, and in such other manner as the board may determine. The parts so published shall take the same course as is now required by law.” It is hoped that by issuing the report in this form it may be more useful to local boards of health, and others interested in sanitation, and to all who receive it. It will be the aim of the Board to present such matter in each part as will be of interest and value. The Board desires to hereby express its congratulations to the citizens of the state upon the continued good health of the Commonwealth that prevails at the present time, a condition due largely to the efficient services of health boards throughout the state, and to also express its obligations to the local boards for their uniform and continued co-operation with the State Board, as well as their general courtesy and good fellowship. In order to be free from epidemics of disease it is necessary for all boards of health to General Report of the Board. be so equipped that they can act promptly, and often together, in harmony, and expense and labor expended on the first cases of an outbreak invariably proves to be good economy in the end, for prevention is much cheaper than cure. The Board desires to call attention to the need of legislation relative to preventing the pollution of public water supplies in the state, and for the disposal of sewage. the last session of the legislature, a bill was introduced patterned after laws existing in some of the other states, providing that all plans for public water supplies, and sewage disposal, be submitted to the State Board for approval before adoption; such provisions have been of inestimable benefit in other states, but for some unknown reason such a measure failed to pass our legislature. It is hereby strongly urged that some such measure be adopted in our state in the near future. The pollution of public water supplies is perhaps the most dangerous condition that exists at the present time, and it is often the result of a lack of knowledge of the danger that results from faulty systems which are often adopted; if all systems of water supply and sewage disposal were obliged to receive the approval of the State Board of Health before being put into operation, not only would many lives now sacrificed to typhoid fever be saved, but much expense would often be avoided. The following law, relating to vital statistics, which was enacted at the last legislature, it is hoped will prove to be of great value to the state, for if it is strictly enforced, as it is hoped it will be, the Board will soon be able to record statistics of very great value to all our citizens. Vital statistics is history, and it behooves every well enlightened commonwealth to preserve carefully its statistics in order that it may be fully familiar with its growth and decay. |