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where dangerous machines are in use, and the means of securing their safety, Dr. G. F. Witter.

On the Preservation of the Water Supply of the State, Prof. W. W. Daniells.

On the Preventable Non-Contagious Diseases prevalent in Wisconsin, their causes and prevention, Dr. B. O. Reynolds.

It is with much satisfaction that I again report a year of continued good health for the people of our state as a whole. While pestilential disease of serious form has taxed the energies of the boards of health in several of our sister commonwealths, Wisconsin has happily been spared anything at all approaching an epidemic outbreak. Nor is this all that can fairly be said; the reports from local boards of health and their executive officers have quite generally been to the effect, that the graver forms of contagious disease from which our people have suffered, have of late shown.a marked decline in both the frequency of their occurence and the severity of their type. These favorable reports are confirmed to a great extent by the local press: directly or indirectly, newspapers from all parts of the state come under the observation of this office from time to time, and from their columns much of value in connection with the health interests of the state is gathered. By means of this general review of the press of Wisconsin this office is able to check and supplement the information received from local boards or officers, the result during the past year having been to confirm in a large majority of instances the information derived from the official returns.

DISTRIBUTION OF DISEASE BY COUNTIES.

In some of my previous reports tables were printed by means of which an attempt was made to show the distribution of certain forms of disease with reference to the density of our population; it seems desirable to present a similar table in this report, that the range of special prevalent forms of

Secretary's Report.

sickness may be as clearly seen as possible.

The figures

that follow show to the best of our ability the distribution of Diphtheria, Scarlet Fever, Typhoid Fever, Measles, Whooping Cough and Diarrhoeal Diseases, including in the last term Diarrhoea, Dysentery, Cholera-Morbus and Cholera Infantum. It will be noted that the returns from certain counties are very incomplete; concerning this incompleteness some thing will be said in connection with the organization of local boards of health and the appointment of health officers. Each disease, moreover, together with points of interest or importance in connection with its occurrence will be further discussed in later pages. The cases of Small Pox that occurred during the year were so few in number as to have had no appreciable effect on the general health of the commor wealth, and are therefor omitted in the table that follows. A full history of all of them will, however, be given in subsequent pages.

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TABLE.-Showing the number of cases of contagious disease reported from each county during the year, with the population of each county as shown by the state census of 1885.

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TABLE.-Showing the number of cases of contagious disease reported during the year.- Continued.

*From the counties thus marked no returns were made concerning the special form of sickness.

+ From the counties in connection with which this mark appears the returns were either too indefinite for compilation, or where the mark appears in connection with figures, additional but indefinite returns were made. Thus in Washington county the number of cases of Diphtheria was reported fully from several townships, while from other places only the fact that Diphtheria had occurred was reported, but no definite numbers were given; "few, several, many," or some like indefinite returns being made. From Waupaca county all the returns concerning Diarrhoeal forms of disease were of this character, and so elsewhere. ** For Milwaukee county the returns in the above table are exclusive of the city of Milwaukee, from which only returns of deaths are made.

Examination of the foregoing table will make clear the fact that it is not always the sections of the state from which the largest number of case of any disease has been reported that has suffered the most severely therefrom. Dane county, for example, makes report of 153 cases of Diphtheria, a greater number than that returned from any other one county in the state; but Dane county has a population of 58,400, while Ozaukee county, though reporting a smaller number of cases of the same disease, has in reality suffered much more severely from its visitations, and the proportionate frequency with which Diphtheria has occurred in Sawyer county is, as near as possible, double that of its occurrence in Dane county.

A similar record might be made up for Scarlet Fever, although in the case of this disease, the proportionate occurrence is much more nearly that of the figures given than in the case of Diphtheria. Chippewa and Oconto counties

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have been those in which Scarlet Fever occurred with the greatest frequency; Marinette county comes next, Marathon and Sauk following in the order named.

The death-rates of the more important forms of diseases represented in the foregoing table, computed for the state as a whole, are given here.

Comparing these figures with those of former years, it will be seen that Diphtheria has been of about the average fatality; Scarlet Fever has been somewhat less fatal than the average, though the death-rate has been a little higher than for the year immediately preceding. Typhoid Fever has been of less than average fatality, and both Measles and Whooping Cough have been of very slightly lower fatality than that of average years in Wisconsin.

Nothing definite can be said concerning the death-rate of Diarrhoeal diseases, for the reason that few of the reports contained figures from which conclusions of any value could be drawn. Many reporters said that only such cases as came under their own personal professional care were noted at all, and although they were cognizant of the existence of many others, they had no means of getting at their number. Others made return to the effect that cases were numerous, but that only the most severe came under professional notice. There is no doubt that many more cases occurred than were reported, but the most that can be said is that