NOTE TO THE LAST EDITION. THE first edition of this Circular was published in March, 1881, since which time some 75,000 copies have been printed and distributed throughout the State. The fifth and last edition-that of May, 1882- contains some allusions which are now out of date, those, for example, to the "past winter"-to the "mild and favorable weather"-and to the "proposed sanitary inspection of immigrants." Aside from these, the comments, advice and instructions of this edition are as applicable now as when originally published. Their practical test in numerous instances, has proven their sufficiency, and the remainder of this edition is now being distributed, as occasion requires, with no other change or addition than as contained in this Note. With reference to the rights, duties and powers of health authorities in the matters of Vaccination, Isolation and Quarantine (see Rules 1 and 2.) it may be noted that in the early part of December. 1882, a suit was tried in the Mercer County Circuit Court, in which the plaintiff charged the Board of Health of Cable with trespass and false imprisonment-damages $10,000. The damages were alleged to have been sustained by the enforcement of the quarantine rules and regulations of the local board, which were based upon the rules and regulations of the STATE BOARD, contained in this Circular. During the trial the question arose as to the authority to make and enforce such rules and regulations. The verdict of the jury was rendered in favor of the local board, thus sustaining its authority to enforce such measures as, in the exercise of a wise discretion, were deemed necessary for the protection of the public health. Still more recently, in charging the Grand Jury at Paterson, N. J., Judge Dixon called attention to the case of a man employed as nurse in a small-pox hospital, and who without proper precautions, visited his family, communicating the disease to his children, one of whom died therefrom. Hereupon Judge Dixon says: "If a man, conscious that he carries about with him the germs of a contagious disease, recklessly exposes the health and lives of others, he is a public nuisance and a criminal, and may be held answerable for the results of his conduct. If death occurs through his recklessness he may be indicted for manslaughter. It is held that where a person knowingly communicates a contagious disease to another, and death results, the crime is manslaughter." Applying the law to the nurse's case, the judge instructed the jury that the man might be indicted for manslaughter, if it was found that there had been criminal negligence on his part; and that he might be indicted for spreading the disease by conscious exposure of others thereto, by his presence in public places, as on the streets, in halls, etc.-and this even though no evil consequences had followed, on the charge of being a public nuisance endangering the public health. "The law provides some penalty for such offense against the public safety." In other and older phrase: THE WELL-BEING OF THE PEOPLE IS THE SUPREME LAW. These instances are cited in answer to frequent inquiries addressed to the BOARD, as to the extent to which courts and juries will sustain health authorities in their efforts to prevent the spread of epidemic contagion or infection. *The plaintiff appealed from the judgment in the Circuit Court; but at the May, 1883, term of the Appellate Court of the Second District, the judgment was affirmed. See ante, pp. 279-282. FOURTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE SANITARY COUNCIL OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. THE Fourth Annual Meeting of the SANITARY COUNCIL OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY was held in Cairo, Ill., April 19-20, 1882, representatives from the following organizations being present: STATE BOARDS OF HEALTH. Arkansas-J. A. DIBRELL, Jr., M. D., Secretary. LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS. Keokuk, Ia., City Board of Health-D. B. HILLIS, M. D., President. Memphis, Tenn., City Board of Health-G. B. THORNTON, M. D., President. Hon. DAVID P. HADDEN, President Legislative Council, and ex officio Member. New Orleans Auxiliary Sanitary Association-GUSTAVUS DEVRON, M. D., Sanitary Director. New Orleans Medical and Surgical Association-L. F. SALOMON, M. D., Member. NATIONAL BOARD OF HEALTH. HOSMER A. JOHNSON, M. D., Resident Member, Chicago, Ill. ROBERT W. MITCHELL, M. D., Resident Member, Memphis, Tenn. OFFICERS OF THE COUNCIL PRESENT. JOHN J. SPEED, M. D., Louisville, Ky., President. JOHN H. RAUCH, M. D., Chicago, Ill., Secretary and Treasurer. Endorsement of the "Harris Bill”: The regular order of business was suspended at the forenoon session on the 16th, in order to consider what action, if any, should be taken by the COUNCIL with reference to the passage of U. S. Senate Bill No. 1049, which the Secretary stated he was informed would be reported back from the committee to the Senate during the day. After some remarks upon the importance of the measure, which is designed to render more directly operative the provisions of the Act of June 2, 1879, in preventing the introduction of contagious and infectious diseases into the United States, the Secretary submitted the following: Resolved, That the SANITARY COUNCIL OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY earnestly urges the immediate passage of Senate Bill No. 1049, as amended March 22, 1882, and known as the "Harris Bill." believing that it offers speedy and certain relief from the evils of imported contagion now causing widespread sickness, death and material losses in the interior States. On motion of Dr. Thornton the resolution as read was unanimously adopted, and the Secretary was authorized to telegraph its purport to Senator Harris in Washington. Under the suspension of the rules Dr. Devron announced the recent death of Dr. C. B. White of New Orleans. After remarks by various members, the Chair appointed Drs. Devron, Johnson and Baker a committee to draft and present appropriate resolutions, and the COUNCIL adjourned until 2 o'clock p. m. AT the afternoon session, April 19th, the regular order of business being resumed, the Secretary read the minutes of the Third Annual Meeting of the COUNCIL, held at Evansville, Ind., April 2122, 1881, and which were approved as read. Under the call for the election of new members, the Secretary presented the credentials of Dr. L. F. Salomon as a delegate from the New Orleans Medical and Surgical Association, and the question being duly put, Dr. Salomon was declared elected. Dr. C. B. White, in Memoriam: Dr. Devron, of the committee on resolutions, in memory of Dr. C. B. White, submitted the following: WHEREAS, This COUNCIL has learned of the recent death of CHARLES BRAHMAN WHITE. M. D., one of its most valued and honored members; one of the first members of the American Public Health Association and its late President; for seven years President of the Louisiana State Board of Health; and for the past three years Medical Director of the New Orleans Auxiliary Sanitary Association; an able and accomplished practical sanitarian, whose labors for the protection of human life in New Orleans, his adopted home, and in the Valley of the Mississippi, have been crowned with an unusual meed of success; and WHEREAS, Many of the members of this COUNCIL have held intimate personal and official relations with the deceased, through which they had come to respect his judgment and methods as an administrative sanitarian in the larger questions of the whole country, as well as in those of his immediate environment; therefore, be it Resolved, That in the death of Dr. C. B. White, not only does New Orleans lose a gifted and useful citizen, but Louisiana and her sister States of the Mississippi Valley are thereby deprived of the services of a vigilant and valiant guardian of their health interests, and the cause of sanitary science is bereft of one of its most steadfast workers and illustrious exponents. Resolved. That we, the individual members of the SANITARY COUNCIL OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY, sincerely deplore the demise of our friend, co-worker and brother-member; and do hereby direct that a page in the Book of the Minutes of this COUNCIL be inscribed with the initials C. B. W.; that these resolutions be spread thereunder; and that a suitably engrossed copy of the same, signed by the President and Secretary, be transmitted to his relatives. On motion of Dr. Rauch, the preamble and resolutions were unanimously adopted. |