SEWER CONTRACT TENDERS FOR MONTEVIDEO.-Consul A. W. Swalm reports from Montevideo, July 26, 1902:

The Department of Fomento has published the official call for tenders for the construction of the new sanitary works for Montevideo, which will comprise a tunnel cut in the rock, 1,278 meters (4,193 feet) long by 3.65 meters (11.9 feet) high and 3 meters (9.9 feet) wide; a principal collector of about 4,000 feet and a second collector of nearly equal size, together with several auxiliaries, as set forth in the plans and specifications, which may be obtained by application to the Minister of Fomento here, or to the Uruguayan legations in London, Paris and Berlin. The work is estimated to cost something over $3,000,000.

BUBONIC PLAGUE IN MAZATLAN.

Mazatlan, Mexico, Jan. 1.-There is no longer the slightest doubt that the disease now afflicting this city is genuine Asiatic plague, for microscopic investigation proves that bubonic pest bacilli are in the blood of those afflicted with the disease. The plague has grown virulent within the last forty-eight hours, and the alarm, which had begun in some measure to abate, has returned with increased strength.

The people are fleeing from the city at the rate of 300 per day, and some 5,000 persons have gone already.

It is a remarkable fact that more than 50 per cent. of the persons attacked are women.

The news of the recrudescence of the plague at this port has reached the interior towns of the State, and is causing a panic. Sanitary cordons of armed men have been placed around the towns. to prevent the entrance of any one from this place.

AN INTERNATIONAL QUARANTINE LEAGUE.

As a result of the recent meeting of the American Public Health Association at New Orleans, the International Quarantine League has been formed with Dr. J. M. Lindsey as president, and a membership of 150 medical men of the United States, Cuba, Mexico and South America. The league accepts the doctrine that the mosquito is the only means by which yellow fever is transmitted, and that the proper protection against an epidemic of yellow fever is the destruction of mosquitoes or preventing them from gaining access to persons ill with the fever. The object of the league is to secure a modification of quarantine against yellow fever, in con

formity with the resolutions adopted by the International Sanitary Congress at Havana last February.

MALARIA ON THE CAMPAGNA.

Malaria in the Italian Campagna has remarkably diminished of late. It appears from the report of the British Consul at Rome that in 1888 the percentage of the population who were feverstricken was 21.6. In 1897 the lessons of the mosquito theory began to be applied, and the rate fell to 6.54. Since then more vigorous measures have been enforced, and the percentage has fallen to 3.73. In this matter British science has scored a distinct triumph.-London Telegraph.

MORTALITY AND MORBIDITY REPORTS AND
REVIEWS.

NEW YORK.-Monthly Bulletin of the State Department of Health for October reports the percentage of deaths under five years of age in the districts into which the State is divided, severally, was, for the Maritime District, 32.5; Hudson Valley, 17.2; Adirondack and Northern, 21.7; Mohawk Valley, 21.0; Southern Tier, 19.0; East Central, 15.3; West Central, 14.1; Lake Ontario and Western, 22.5; entire State, 27.0.

The death rates, respectively, were: Maritime District, 16.3; Hudson Valley, 14.5; Adirondack and Northern, 12.5; Mohawk Valley, 15.0; Southern Tier, 13.5; East Central, 14.0; West Central, 12.8; Lake Ontario and Western, 13.0. Total number of deaths from all causes, 9,475. Death rate, 15.0.

The Second Annual Conference of Sanitary Officers, which was held in Albany, October 30 and 31, was in every way successful and satisfactory to the State Department of Health, under whose direction it was 'projected, and likewise to all its participants. There was a registered attendance of 200, and every county in the State was represented except Allegany, Cortland, Livingston, Putnam, Schuyler, Sullivan, Tioga, Warren and Yates, and from many of them a considerable number of the towns and villages had representatives, as well as from 23 cities. The meeting was favored by the presence of the secretaries of the State Boards of Health of Minnesota and Michigan, Drs. Bracken and Baker, and of Dr. Peter H. Bryce, of the Province of Ontario.

At the opening session Deputy Attorney-General E. D. Warner spoke on the legal aspects of the work of health officers. The various phases of the health officers' relation to the law were extensively discussed. Other papers presented were those of Dr. Peter H. Bryce, on "The Ethical Value of Education in Preventive Medicine"; of Dr. Herbert D. Pease, director of the Antitoxin Laboratory of the Department, on "Antitoxin as a Therapeutic and Prophylactic in Diphtheria and Tetanus," in which he showed that the diphtheria death rate has been reduced almost one-half during the seven years of antitoxin treatment; of Dr. Willis G. Tucker, director of the Bureau of Chemistry of the Department, on "The Use and Abuse of Food Preservatives." Illustrations by means of lantern slides of small-pox in its various cutaneous manifestations were exhibited by Dr. George Henry Fox, of New York; and the "Technique of Vaccination" was a subject presented by Dr. F. C. Curtis. "Garbage Disposal" had able presentation by Rudolph Hering, C. E., on which no one is better qualified to speak, with illustrations of destructors of the type providing for drying and incinerating which was spoken of with favor. These and other papers by Prof. Olin H. Landreth, Consulting Engineer of the Department, on "The Present Status of Laws for Protection of the Purity of Streams"; on "Disinfectants," by Dr. A. H. Doty, Health Officer of the Port of New York; on "The Liberty to be Allowed the Tuberculosis Patient," by Dr. E. R. Baldwin, of Saranac Lake; and on "Vital Statistics," with advo

cacy

of the universal adoption of the Bertillon system of classification of causes of death. The conference ended with a reception. at the Bender Hygienic Laboratory, where matters of interest connected with the work done there were exhibited, especially in the manufacture of antitoxin, which is prepared for free distribution to health officers throughout the State.

City of New York.-Dr. Ernest J. Lederle, President of the City Board of Health, made his annual report to the Mayor for 1902, December 31, in part, as follows:

"I am gratified to be able to report that the death rate of New York City for 1902 was 18.74 per 1,000, which is considerably the lowest ever reported in this city. The total number of deaths was 68,082, as compared with 70,803, and a death rate of 20.02 per 1,000 for 1901, which is a decrease in the rate of 1.28 per 1,000, and indicates a saving for 1902 of 4,619 lives. The death rate in each of the five boroughs is also the lowest on record. The an

nual death rates of the city since consolidation have been as follows: 1898, 20.26; 1899, 19.47; 1900, 25.97; 1901, 20.02; 1902, 18.74."

The report goes on to say that the rate for the old city, or rather the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx, for 1902, is 19.49, the lowest ever reported for that section, the lowest previous record being in 1899, when the death rate was 19.81.

The epidemic of measles in the first four months of the year, the report continues, caused an increase in the number of deaths over the year 1901 for the same months of 1,100. A decrease in the number of deaths from sunstroke over the previous year— there being 1,244 less this year-brought things out about even. The usual visitation of influenza was of short duration and few deaths resulted.

Regarding consumption, now classed under the head of infectious diseases, the report says that there were 582 deaths less than in the year 1901. The report declares that the decrease in the death rate from this disease is due to scientific measures, and states that "the control of the white plague and its ultimate eradication" is being brought about.

There was a slight increase in the deaths from typhoid fever for last year, but a decrease of 100 deaths from small-pox evened things again. Dr. Lederle says that over 800,000 persons were vaccinated by the Board of Health physicians alone. In scarlet fever, there was a slight increase in the number of deaths, but in diphtheria there was a decrease of 35 per cent.

The report states that for the first time in twelve years there was a decrease in the death rate from cancer.

There were 4.907 more births and 2,653 more marriages in 1902 than there were in the year previous.

CALIFORNIA. No official reports, but according to latest reports through other sources, bubonic plague still lurks in San Francisco: three cases, all fatal, occurred in November.

COLORADO.-Denver, 150,000. Bureau of Health report for October: Total number of deaths, 210-39 under 5 years; deaths from phthisis, 43: diphtheria, 5; scarlet fever, 1; typhoid fever, 12; erysipelas, 1; cancer, 5; death rate per 1,000 per annum is reported to have been 16.80. Infectious diseases reported: diphtheria, 50; scarlet fever, 42; typhoid fever, 52; small-pox, 7; erysipelas, 3.

CONNECTICUT.-Mortality reports for November, 1,083—50 less than in October, and 21 less than in November of last year, and 32 more than the average number of deaths in November for the five years preceding.

The death-rate was 14.6 for the large towns, for the small towns 13.2, and for the whole State, 14.3. The deaths reported from infectious diseases, including diarrhoeal, were 220, being 20.3 per cent. of the total mortality.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, 292,367-89,632 colored. Weekly report, December 27, 1902: The deaths during the past week numbered III, the death rate being 19.7. In the previous week they amounted to 113, representing a death rate of 20.1, and in the corresponding period of last year 105, death rate 19.03. Of the decedents last week 64 were white (death rate 16.3), and 47 colored (death rate 27.3). Mortality from disorders of the brain declined from 17 to 13, diseases of the heart from 14 to 12, kidney from 10 to 6, consumption from 14 to 13, and those among children under five years of age from 33 to 28, and under 1 year old from 25 to 20. There were 2 fatal cases of typhoid fever, 3 of whooping cough, and I of measles.

Cases of typhoid fever were carried forward from the previous week to the number of 253. During the week 17 new cases developed and 23 were discharged, leaving 247 cases under medical care at the close of the week. Of scarlet fever 25 cases were in quarantine at the end of the week. New cases to the number of 5 were reported and 7 were discharged, leaving 23 cases, with warning cards in 17 premises. There were 28 cases of diphtheria in quarantine at the close of the week. New cases numbering 9 developed and 17 were discharged, leaving 20 cases under supervision in 13 premises. There was one case of small-pox, the first since November 19.

ILLINOIS.-Chicago, 1,820.000. Statement of mortality for the week ended December 27, 1902, compared with the preceding week, and with the corresponding week of 1901. Death rates. computed on estimated populations of 1,820,000 for 1902; of 1,758.000 for 1901: Total deaths, all causes, December 27, 1902, 598; December 20, 1902, 625: December 28, 1901, 507; respective death rates, 17.12. 17.98, 15.03. Principal causes of death for the same weeks, respectively, were: bronchitis, 22, 30, 24; cancer,