water closet, passage, stairway, yard, etc., before securing the exits so as to avoid locking children in; to distribute the mail; to care for the clocks; to report in writing damage to school property; to keep an inventory of school furniture, and to observe four or five pages more of other rules laid down for him. Some principals suggest that the legislative end of the janitor service has been overdone and the executive part neglected. They intimate that if the same authorities that make the rules would attempt to oversee the janitors' observance of them the situation would be clarified. It is possible that some principals add unnecessary loads to the burdens already proposed for the guardians of the buildings. But all agree that the situation is bad and the problem urgent.

The Civil Service Commission is going over it again. It is serving summonses on principals, janitors, janitors' helpers, employes of the Building Department and members of the Board of Education. The counsel of the Janitors' Association has asked permission to cross-examine the witnesses, and is keeping things interesting. Whether the commission intends to try again to require the cleaners to be selected from an approved list and to be paid at known and regular wages by the city, it does not say. The dangers we, as parents, most fear are the dangers of dirt. It would be possible for a Civil Service Commission to increase them. Miles O'Brien and Abraham Stern told the commission that to cut down the janitors' pay would result in a refusal of janitors to serve. The delay in getting others from the list would throw the schools into chaos. School No. 33, in this borough, was without a janitor from August to January last year. The opponents of the civil service scheme claimed that the civil service rules prevented the more speedy appointment of a caretaker. The rooms became notoriously filthy and the place was finally closed and 1.500 children sent home until the matter was settled.

Various Ways of Cleaning Up.

We do not want chances of such action increased. But we do want something better than we have now. Douglas Stewart says the present system compels children to pass their time in such wretched places that it ruins their health and dwarfs their minds. He says a good part of the next generation of New Yorkers will be nearsighted, crooked and hysterical. He wants a department of window cleaning organized so that the squads may go from

The

school to school to let in the light. He thinks the apathy and indifference of the public to dirty school houses is terrible. A writer in the "Eagle" of last Monday wants the local school boards to take the matter up. The charter says they shall visit each building at least four times a year and inspect the same in respect to cleanliness, safety, warming, ventilation and comfort. principals say that the service of the local boards in this respect would be a hundred times more valuable than the attempts to estimate the scholastic intricacies of the course of study. One principal suggests that the schoolmasters themselves should ask for a committee consisting of an elementary school principal from each borough, one high school principal from the greater city, one district superintendent, one associate superintendent, one member of a district board, one member of the school board, one physician or sanitary expert and one manager of a large office building. This committee should invite all interested or able persons to speak before it; this committee should investigate the janitor work in other cities, in schools and large buildings, and should devise and present to the Board of Education a report of what constitutes adequate janitor work and what constitutes a fit school from cellar to garret. The committee on buildings should then be asked to draw up rules to require such work. The principal and the local boards should be given report blanks on which they should be required to record at stated intervals the evidence of compliance or non-compliance with each rule. These reports should be sent to the Building Department and deductions from the janitor's salary made for each violation. That reverses the present system which puts a premium on neglect and discourages complaint from interested parties.

I myself have a plan different from all of these. The present scheme gives the janitor a lump sum and lets him hire his help. Why not carry this further? Syndicate the whole thing. Make a janitor trust; give me the half a million a year, as general manager, and let me hire my workmen and clean up what I can (for myself).

MILO.

[The Editor of THE SANITARIAN recognizing in "Milo" a whilom contemporary in the Brooklyn Board of Education and active co-operator in the adoption of resolutions for the appointment of a standing committee on hygiene and other sanitary measures.]

AMERICAN PUBLIC HEALTH ASSOCIATION.

THIRTIETH ANNUAL MEETING, NEW ORLEANS, LA., DECEMBER 8-12, 1902—ABSTRACT OF PROCEEDINGS.

As usual, the Bacteriological Section met the day before the sessions of the Association began. The Section met in Gibson Hall, Tulane University, Dr. F. W. Westbrook, of Minneapolis, chairman, who, in his opening address, paid tribute to the late Dr. Wyatt Johnson, of Toronto, former chairman of the Section. At its conclusion, resolutions memorializing Dr. Johnson and Major Walter Reed, of the Medical Corps of the Army, deceased members, touching upon their ennobling efforts for humanity, were adopted.

Dr. J. M. Lindsey, of Havana, was introduced to the Section and made a brief address on the progress of sanitation in Havana.

Dr. E. A. Alderman, president of Tulane University, was introduced, and gave a welcoming address. He touched upon the importance of the efforts of the Section, paying tribute to the work that had been accomplished.

The chairman responded in behalf of the Section, which then proceeded to business. Report of committee on standard methods of water analysis was submitted. Papers on: "The Colon Bacillus," by Dr. Veranus A. Moore; "Notes on Bacillus Coli and Related Forms, with Special Reference to the Neutral Red Reaction," by Stephen deM. Gage and Earle B. Phelps, of Lawrence Experimental Station, Massachusetts; "Certain Precautions Required in the Interpretation of the Colon Test of Drinking Water," by S. C. Prescott, of Boston; "Bacillus Coli in Ground Waters," by Dr. E. G. Horton; "The Practical Value of Presumptive Tests for the Presence of B. Coli in Public Water Supplies,' by Geo. C. Whipple; "Experiments with the Neutral Red Test for Bacillus Coli in the Examination of Water," by Dr. Frederick S. Hollis; "Immune Serum in the Separation of B. Typhi and B. Coli," by Dr. Adolph Gehrmann.-Adjourned for lunch.

Afternoon Session.-Officers elected for the ensuing year: Chairman, Dr. H. L. Russel, Madison, Wis. ; vice-Chairman, Dr. Veranus A. Moore, Ithaca, N. Y.; Secretary, G. C. Whipple, Brooklyn, N. Y.; Recorder, Dr. H. B. Pease, Albany (N. Y.)

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Council; Dr. F. F. Westbrook, the retiring chairman, in place of Dr. Wyatt Johnson, deceased; all the rest of the old council, Drs. W. H. Park, New York City; M. J. Rosenau, Washington, D. C.; E. G. Horton, Columbus, O.; Angel Gaviño, Mexico, Mex., were re-elected. After which the reading of papers and discussion were proceeded with. "Laboratory Methods During the New Orleans Water Purification Experiments," by Robert Spur Weston; "A Study of the Methods Employed for Determining the Amount of Oxygen Consumed by the Impurities of Water and Sewage," by Henry C. Fuller; "The Occurrence of Tubercle Bacilli of Exalted Virulence in Human Beings," by Dr. M. P. Ravanel; "Tuberculosis in Cattle Induced by Subcutaneous Inoculation of Material Obtained from a Child," by Dr. E. A. de Schweinitz; "The Prevalence of Dysentery in New York and New Jersey," by Dr. W. H. Park; "An Investigation of the Morphology of the Diphtheroid Group," by Dr. Francis F. Denny; "Notes on General Morphology," by Dr. Hibbert W. Hill and B. R. Rickards; "An Examination of the Value of Certain Antiseptics Used for the Preservation of Antitoxic and Other Immune Serums," by Dr. Joseph McFarland; "Formaldehyde Disinfection," by Dr. Hibbert W. Hill and B. R. Rickards; "A Practical Method for Rapid and Accurate Weighing," by H. D. Williamson and Dr. E. G. Horton. There were, besides, several papers read in abstract or by title, for want of more time, on general subjects: altogether covering a wide field of scientific inquiry.

THE ASSOCIATION convened in Tulane Hall at 10 o'clock, December 9, was called to order by the President, Dr. Henry D. Holton, of Vermont, and an opening address of welcome made by the Rev. Max Heller, of New Orleans.

After the announcements of the business committees and the local committee of arrangements, the first paper read was an "Official Examination of the Water of the United States," by Marshall Leighton, Hydrographer in the U. S. Geographical Survey Service. He showed the necessity for a complete examination into the merits of the waters in the different localities, and drew the conclusion that in the hands of the United States officials the undertaking could be carried to a satisfactory conclusion.

The Secretary, in the absence of Rudolph Hering, C. E., chairman, read, in abstract, the report of the Committee on "Disposal of Refuse Materials"-summarizing the entire field of the subject.

Resolutions were adopted for action of the Association in recognition of the work done by the late Dr. Walter Reed, U. S. A., and asking Congress to take necessary action for the protection of the health of the operatives in the work contemplated on the Isthmian Canal. Dr. Heber Jones, of Memphis, Tenn., gave a short address on the modern methods of garbage cremation as practiced in Memphis. He said that, in his opinion, cremation was the only method approaching perfection in garbage disposal, and adduced figures showing that it was more economical and safer to so dispose of garbage than in any other way. The report of the committee on "Animal Diseases and Animal Food" was called for, and in the absence of Dr. Salmon, the chairman, was read by Dr. Ravanel. It comprehended the various theories advanced from different quarters in regard to the relative virulence and the relation of bovine and human bacilli. The committee agreed that both bovine and human bacilli were dangerous to human beings, and that, if possible, the former was more virulent than was the latter. The report takes direct issue with the contention of Professor Koch, of Berlin, for the non-transmissibility of bovine tubercle bacilli to man, and contends for continuous effort against communicability by tuberculous food. On the conclusion of the report, some discussion arose as to the relative degrees of accuracy in the reported experiments referred to.-Dr. Eduardo Licéaga, of Mexico, read a paper on "Proper Sanitary Measures Necessary to Prevent Tuberculosis Contagion from the Foul Air and Fittings in Railroad Cars," purporting to show that many deaths occurring in the City of Mexico, annually, were attributable to tuberculosis contracted in dirty cars. He stated that the health authorities of Mexico had presented a memorial to the companies of the railroads running through the country, designating and asking needful measures for the prevention of tuberculosis hitherto promoted by the unsanitary condition of the cars. Dr. Conn, of New Hampshire, who is well known to have devoted much attention to railroad-car sanitation, thanked Dr. Licéaga for his paper, and expressed gratification at the efforts undertaken for its promotion in Mexico.-Dr. John S. Fulton, of Maryland, read a paper on "Vital Statistics; a Plea for Actuarial Administration and Control of the Great Resources of Preventive Medicine," demonstrating the necessity and utility of complete tabulations of all statistics of births and deaths and conditions thereto related, in order to properly gauge the advance made by the different new