DEPARTMENT OF VITAL STATISTICS.

GEORGE D. LESLIE, STATISTICIAN.

Marriages. The marriages reported for December number 2,189, as compared with 1,977 for the same month the year before. For an estimated State population of 2,037,929, the December total represents an annual rate of 12.6, against 12.4 for November.

The December totals were highest for the following counties: Los Angeles, 475; San Francisco, 383; Alameda, 249; Sacramento, 92; Santa Clara, 87; Orange, 76; Fresno, 74; San Joaquin, 60; and Marin, 56.

The aggregate for San Francisco and the other bay counties (Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, and San Mateo) was 728.

Births. For December there were reported 3,011 living births, representing an annual birth-rate of 17.4 per 1,000 population, as compared with 15.4 for the preceding month. The corresponding total for the same month the year before was 2,639.

The totals were highest for the following counties: Los Angeles, 613; San Francisco, 537; Alameda, 309; Santa Clara, 144; Fresno, 111; Sacramento, 106; San Bernardino, 92; Orange and San Joaquin, each 67; Butte, 59; Siskiyou, 58; Fresno, 54; Sonoma, 51; and Stanislaus, 50.

Altogether, 1,675 births were registered in the twenty-six freeholders' charter cities, the leading cities being as follows: San Francisco, 537; Los Angeles, 388; Oakland, 168; Berkeley, 76; Sacramento, 65; San Jose, 47; Pasadena and San Diego, each 43; Alameda, 41; Stockton, 39; Fresno, 28; and Long Beach, 27.

The aggregate for San Francisco and the transbay cities (Alameda, Berkeley, and Oakland) was 822, and for San Francisco and the other bay counties was 949. Similarly, the total for Los Angeles and neighboring chartered cities (Long Beach, Pasadena, and Santa Monica) was 468, and for the entire county was 613.

Deaths. Exclusive of stillbirths, altogether 2,980 deaths were reported for December, this number including 192 delayed certificates for deaths in November or earlier months. The 2,980 deaths give an annual death rate of 17.2 for December, against 15.6 for the month before. The corresponding total for the same month in the preceding year was 2,856.

The December death totals were highest for the following counties: Los Angeles, 628; San Francisco, 569; Alameda, 282; Sacramento, 117: Santa Clara, 100; San Bernardino, 98; San Joaquin, 94; Fresno, 88; San Diego, 70; Sonoma, 61; Shasta, 56; and Riverside, 52.

There were altogether 1,726 deaths in the twenty-six chartered cities. the highest totals being as follows: San Francisco, 569; Los Angeles, 403; Oakland, 149; Sacramento, 74; San Diego, 65: Stockton, 58; Pasa

dena, 51; Berkeley, 40; Alameda, 36; Fresno, 35; Riverside, 34; and San Bernardino and San Jose, each 30.

The aggregate for the urban district (San Francisco and the transbay cities) was 794, and for the entire metropolitan area (San Francisco and the other bay counties) was 932. Similarly, the total for Los Angeles and neighboring chartered cities was 487, and for the whole county was 628.

Causes of Death.-For December there were reported 519 deaths, or 17.4 per cent of all, from diseases of the circulatory system, and 421, or 14.1 per cent, from various forms of tuberculosis, heart disease thus leading tuberculosis as in recent months.

Other notable causes of death in December were as follows: Diseases of the respiratory system, 381; violence, 283; diseases of the nervous system, 278; diseases of the digestive system, 245; cancer, 190; Bright's disease and nephritis. 173; and epidemic diseases, 141.

Typhoid fever, as usual, led among epidemic diseases with 52 deaths, against 25 for diphtheria and croup, 17 for whooping cough, 12 for malaria fever, 11 for influenza, and 24 for all other epidemic diseases.

The 52 deaths from typhoid fever occurred in the following counties: Los Angeles, 7; San Bernardino, 6; Fresno and San Francisco, each 4; Sacramento, San Joaquin, and Shasta, each 3; Kern, Lake, Orange, Santa Clara, and Tulare, each 2; and Alameda, Butte, Humboldt, Kings, Mariposa, Mendocino, San Mateo, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, Stanislaus, Tuolumne, and Ventura, 1 each.

Further particulars appear in the following table:

Deaths from Certain Principal Causes, with Proportion per 1,000 Total Deaths for Current and Preceding Month, for California: December.

Geographic Divisions.-Data for geographic divisions, including the metropolitan area, or "Greater San Francisco," are as follows:

Deaths from Main Classes of Diseases, for Geographic Divisions: December.

DEPARTMENT OF BACTERIOLOGY.

DR. A. R. WARD, DIRECTOR.

DEPARTMENT OF PURE FOODS AND DRUGS.

PROFESSOR M. E. JAFFA, DIRECTOR.

VINEGAR AND THE PURE FOOD LAW.

There has recently been received at the Laboratory, from manufacturers of vinegars, statements to the effect that the manufacturers have been told that merchants are not allowed to buy the vinegar unless it has "pure food law" stamped on the barrel. In accordance therewith, this Laboratory has been in receipt of requests for such stamps.

In answer to the above, it may be said that the Pure Food Law of California does not require any stamps to be placed on any food containers. The law requires that vinegar shall, when exposed or offered for sale, meet the requirements of the standards for the respective vinegars sold. The standards for vinegar may be had upon application to the Director of the State Food and Drug Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, Cal.

There is issued by the United States Department of Agriculture a serial number in connection with the filing of a general guaranty with the department. This serial number is used on labels with the words "Guaranteed by (here insert name of guarantor) under the Food and Drugs Act, June 30, 1906." This guaranty and serial number are not required by law, but are oftentimes considered quite desirable for a manufacturer to have. No guaranty will be filed by the State Board of Health or its Secretary, and no serial number will be given by this Board or its Secretary. All general guaranties must be filed with the Secretary of Agriculture, Washington, D. C.

Full particulars concerning the form of guaranty, etc., can also be had upon application to the State Laboratory.

A CAUTION TO BUTCHERS.

It has been ascertained by correspondence and personal interviews that butchers are using in good faith certain compounds for preserving meat, thinking that the said compounds are in conformity with the law. It is very necessary for butchers when buying any preserving material to get a guaranty in writing from the seller to the effect that the said preservative does not contain any compounds prohibited by the law. The use of a preservaline containing sulphur dioxide compound is prohibited by law from being used in meats intended for human consumption.

NOTICE OF JUDGMENTS.

No. 112. Misbranding of a drug product. (Quinine-whisky.) The facts in the case were as follows:

On or about December 16, 1908, an inspector of the Department of Agriculture found in the possession of Stein Brothers, 20 Michigan avenue, Chicago, Ill., a shipment of ten cases of "quinine-whisky" which had been shipped to the said Stein Brothers on December 16, 1908, by the Quinine-Whisky Company, from Louisville, Ky. A sample of this preparation was collected by the inspector and analyzed in the

Bureau of Chemistry, United States Department of Agriculture, and it was found that the preparation was misbranded within the meaning of section 8 of the act, as stated in the libel as follows:

1. That the said divers cases of quinine-whisky, to wit, to the number of ten, each containing one dozen bottles, contain a drug which is misbranded in violation of section 8, paragraph 2, of the Food and Drugs Act, 34 Statutes at Large, 769; that is to say, the label upon the wooden case and the cardboard carton (the latter enclosing each one of the twelve bottles in the aforesaid wooden case) bears no statement of the alcoholic content of the aforesaid product, to wit, quinine-whisky, and the aforesaid product, to wit, quinine-whisky, is further misbranded in that the label attached to each bottle declares that the medicine contains pure quinine, one and one-fourth grains per ounce, whereas in truth and in fact the medicine contains only one twentyfourth grain of alkaloidal material to the ounce, this material not being entirely quinine but mixed alkaloids and cinchona bark. And the aforesaid product, to wit, quinine-whisky, is further misbranded in violation of section 8 of the Food and Drugs Act in that the label bears misleading statements, among which are the following "The greatest preventative and remedy for all malarial complaints ever offered. "Prevents and cures a cold," "The greatest tonic for convalescents from typhus and typhoid fever," "An infallible cure for la grippe."

On December 19, 1908, the Secretary of Agriculture reported the facts to the United States attorney for the northern district of Illinois, who forthwith filed a libel for the seizure and condemnation of said goods.

No. 113. Misbranding of flour. (Underweight.)

The facts in the case were as follows:

On or about March 15, 1909, an inspector of the Department of Agriculture found in the possession of W. C. Brewer & Co., Wake Forest, N. C., 300 one-fourth barrels, 20 one-half barrels, and 120 one-eighth barrels of flour, which had been shipped to the said W. C. Brewer & Co. by the Riverton Mills Company, Riverton, Va., on February 6, 1909, the sacks containing the same being labeled, " barrel," "4 barrel," and "11⁄2 barrel." The inspector weighed the entire shipment and found the average weight of the one-eighth barrel sacks to be 24 pounds, of the one-fourth barrel sacks, 48 pounds, and of the one-half barrel sacks, 96.2 pounds, making a total shortage of approximately 2 per cent. The Secretary of Agriculture on March 15, 1909, reported these facts to the United States attorney for the eastern district of North Carolina, who filed a libel for seizure and condemnation of the flour under section 10 of the act.

No. 114. Misbranding of canned apricots. (Underweight.) The facts in the case were as follows:

On or about May 6, 1909, an inspector of the Department of Agriculture located in the possession of the Washington Grocery Company, Bellingham, Wash., 100 cases (each containing 12 packages) of apricots labeled "One dozen gallons Bayside Brand California Pie Apricots, Bayside Canning Company, Alviso, California.' A representative number of packages were measured in the Bureau of Chemistry, United States Department of Agriculture, and found to contain only three-fourths of 1 gallon each.

The facts were reported by the Secretary of Agriculture to the United States attorney for the western district of Washington on May 6, 1909, and a libel for seizure and condemnation was duly filed.

No. 115. Adulteration and misbranding of lemon extract. (Imitation colored with a coal-tar dye.)

The facts in the case were as follows:

On February 21, 1908. an inspector of the United States Department of Agriculture purchased from the firm of Van Cleave Brothers, Ocean Springs, Miss., a sample of lemon extract labeled "Momus N. B. Co. (Ltd.), Double Extract Lemon for Cakes, Pastry, etc. Nicholas Burke Co. (Ltd.), New Orleans, La.," which had been manufactured and shipped by the Nicholas Burke Company (Limited), from New Orleans, La., to the said firm on or about June 3, 1907. The sample was subjected to analysis in the Bureau of Chemistry of the United States Department of Agriculture, and the following results obtained and stated:

In the opinion of the Department of Agriculture, lemon extract is the flavoring extract prepared from oil of lemon or from lemon peel, or both, and contains not less than 5 per cent by volume of lemon oil. It was evident that the product was both adulterated and misbranded within the meaning of sections 7 and 8 of the act; adul