MILFORD, N. H., Apr. 10, 1882. Irving A. Watson, M. D., Secretary State Board of Health:Sir: Yours of even date is received, and I hasten to answer that I have a case of varioloid at Amherst. Mrs. Emma P. Lord came from Nashua, where she has been employed in one of the mills, on Wednesday of last week. She had been for a week or ten days not well, suffering from severe pain in the head and back, with some disturbance of the stomach. On Wednesday evening she came to her father's in Amherst. The next day a

suspicious eruption caused them to send for a physician, when I found her in the eruption stage of varioloid. Mrs. L. informed me that she had two or three vesicles on the forehead when she came from Nashua, but thought nothing of it until more came out; so I think it quite probable that others have been exposed to the contagion.

I immediately notified the local board of health (the selectmen), who have taken the necessary precautions. The case is well isolated, and progressing well. There is no connection between this case and that of Dr. Dearborn's.

Should you desire any particulars that may have been omitted, I shall be pleased to furnish them. Perhaps I should say that the case is a very mild one, and I have no apprehension as to the result.

Very truly yours,

W. H. W. HINDS.

The Secretary made a visit to Milford and consulted the attending physicians in the matter.

As to whether the Milford case was varioloid or not Dr. Dearborn entertained some doubts, and still later asserted that in his opinion the case bore no relation to the disease mentioned. On the other hand, Dr. Hinds, who saw the case in consultation, regarded it as an undoubted case of varioloid, though the type was not a marked one. However, as a matter of safety the patient was quarantined, and no additional case followed.

The case at Amherst was well isolated and cared for. The letter above quoted is sufficiently explicit concerning the history of the case. No other case came from the mills at Nashua, and no case, so far as could be learned, existed in that city.

Vaccination was thoroughly and efficiently performed in all these localities.

The following gives the concluding chapter in the Amherst

cases:

Dear Doctor :

MILFORD, N. H., May 5, 1882.

Yours at hand. In reply I have to say that the case of varioloid at Amherst has recovered. It was followed by one case with the exanthemata, and two without any eruption; i. e., two of the cases had all of the premonitory symptoms, but no pustules appeared. One of these last cases was vaccinated at the time of my first visit, and the other was not. They were all taken about ten days after the first case came to Amherst. The case with the eruption has completely recovered, and the house was thoroughly disinfected on Wednesday, and the board of health removed the "embargo" yesterday. As to the case at Milford, I only know that the patient is out and about town.

*

Truly and fraternally yours,

*

*

W. H. W. HINDS.

SMALL-POX AT MONROE.

In reply to a letter asking information relative to a report that the disease had appeared at Monroe, the Secretary received the following:

I. A. Watson :—

MONROE, N. H., April 24, 1882.

I

Dear Sir::Yours received. In reply am sorry to say we have a case of small-pox as reported. A young man by the name of Henry Thayer, a former resident of this town, came home to visit his father and sister after being away over five years at sea. learn he is second mate on a merchant vessel. He came from Liverpool on a steamer, landed at Philadelphia, thence came to Boston, then home. He had been home about one week when he was taken sick. His father and sister lived in about the centre of our village. Several of his old friends called to see him when he was first taken sick, but none after the doctors pronounced it small-pox. The doctors say he was not in a condition to give it to others when his friends called upon him. When we found out what he had we moved him to a house away from the village, about fifty rods from the highway, and more than one hundred rods from any other inhabitants. His father and sister went with him, and a man and woman who had had the small-pox, to take care of them. The young man is well cared for and is doing well, so the doctor says. He thinks he is out of danger. His father and sister we expect will have it. They have been vaccinated, and nearly all the other people in this vicinity. The doctor attending the case is Dr. H. J. Hazeltine, of Barnet, Vt. We hope there will be no further spread of the disease. We

shall try to make all necessary efforts to prevent its spread. Many of the people have been very much frightened, and business almost stopped. We should be thankful for any information you can give us in relation to the matter.

One question:-At what stage of the disease will one person give it to another? If we knew this fact, we could judge better whether others have been exposed to it and will be likely to have it. Any particulars you wish to have me answer, I will try and inform you as well as I can.

Very respectfully yours,

ALEXANDER WARDEN,

Selectman of Monroe, N. H.

The above indicated that the town authorities had promptly and efficiently acted in the matter, and the Secretary did not deem it necessary to visit the locality, but offered any assistance desired, and requested immediate notification if the disease appeared elsewhere in that vicinity. Subsequently the following letter was received, which would indicate that no more trouble in the matter is to be expected:

I. A. Watson, Esq.:

MONROE, N. H., May 8, 1882.

Yours received. In reply I can say we have no new cases outside of the family. The brother and sister that have had it are doing well. We think we will have no more cases. Shall try and avoid it, if possible.

Very respectfully yours,

ALEXANDER WARDEN.

The fact that New Hampshire had so few cases of small-pox during the epidemic of the past winter, which extended over the entire country, is due to a cause without which localities in this state would undoubtedly have severely suffered, as in other sections. The epidemic at Holland, Vt., was a forcible illustration of the necessity of every community keeping well vaccinated. Some very instructive facts concerning the same, kindly furnished by Dr. A. G. Bugbee, of Derby Line, Vt., are here inserted for an illustration:

SMALL-POX AT HOLLAND, VT.

The disease was imported from New York about the fifth of December, by a young man, who supposed he was suffering from

chicken-pox. He visited neighbors, attended a Christmas-eve gathering, school-meeting, etc., exposing a large number of people. From this wholesale exposure several cases were developed. The disease spread generally through the sparsely settled town, and reached in all thirty-nine cases.

Total number of cases, 26. Recovered, 26. Deaths, none.

But little comment is necessary. Had these persons been protected by vaccination, they would, most probably, have been living to-day. Yet, in the face of such facts, vaccination is met with opposition! It is not probable that our state was ever so well protected by vaccination as at the present time; and that, too, with bovine virus of undoubted purity. The inauguration, and its great advancement towards completion, in our larger places, of the work early in the winter, before the general epidemic was at its height, may have been a blessing that can only be inferred from negative results. We believe we shall not be charged with supererogation in assuming that the work accomplished by our Board has kept the disease from localities that otherwise would have received the infection.

RIVER POLLUTION.

Early in February last the attention of the Board was called to the pollution of the Ammonoosuc river, as follows:

DR. I. A. WATSON,

LISBON, N. H., Feb. 2, 1882.

Secretary State Board of Health,

Concord, N. H.:

Dear Sir-As chairman of the board of health of this town, I desire to call the attention of the State Board of Health to what I have regarded for quite a long time as a public nuisance in this section. I refer to the filthy condition of the Ammonoosuc river in consequence of filth and débris of all kinds being thrown into the river in towns north of us, but more particularly in the town of Littleton, where there is a large amount of glove-making done, and the hides are tanned there for that purpose. For a time, I am told, it was their custom to cart this waste material away to the compost heap; but for several years, as I am informed, they have practised throwing it all in the river; and the amount of it is very large in the aggregate. I took the trouble several times during last summer to examine the water in the river, and found an abundance of hair in it every time. In the various processes of tanning with the chemicals used, you can hardly estimate the amount of filth which comes down the river. Manufacturers complain of its sticking to the racks of their flumes and obstructing the flow of water, but I have never examined them myself. Some of our citizens are packing ice from the river in which hair is plainly seen frozen into it. Such ice, I think, is entirely unfit for use.

Another source of pollution is in summer, when the water is usually low. The town or village of Bethlehem, and many of the large mountain houses, run their sewerage into this river—at least I am told that such is the case. This, of course, would be a sensitive question for the Board of Health to approach, but I think it is one worthy of consideration, at least; for I think the time. will come when those living near the river will demand that something shall be done.