and other organs. The proportions for pneumonia and tuberculosis were each higher than in the preceding month. Third in order, as before, are diseases of the circulatory system, heart disease, etc., causing 352 deaths, or 14.2 per cent of all.

Typhoid fever, as usual, was the most fatal epidemic disease, causing 46 deaths against 20 for diphtheria and croup, 15 for measles, 13 for influenza, and 25 for various other epidemic diseases. However, the per cent of all deaths due to typhoid fever was only 1.9 for January, against 3.5 for December, 4.5 for November, and 4.4 for October.

Detailed figures on causes of death in California appear in the table below, which shows the number of deaths due to certain principal causes in January, as well as the proportion from each cause per 1,000 total deaths for both January and December:

CALIFORNIA PUBLIC HEALTH ASSOCIATION.

The annual meeting of the California Public Health Association will be held at Del Monte, Monterey, Monday, April 15th, at 2:00 P. M., the day preceding the meeting of the State Medical Society. "Child's Work in the Public Schools" will be the main question for discussion. Other subjects will be brought out by the "question box," and plenty of time given for discussion. The effect of the public school, either for good or bad, is a vital question to the State. It is not everything that the child becomes greatly learned. Education is good, but if secured at the expense of health it is a poor bargain. It is entirely possible to get the one and retain the other, but are we doing it at present? If you think not, come to the meeting and tell us about it. If you think we are, still come and show those who think otherwise the error of their views. It is a question of such broad interest and one on which any

one can talk, as it is not scientific, that the meeting should be well attended.

There will be a paper on "Formation of Springs and a Stretch of the Underground Waters," which will be of exceptional interest. Disease is often water-borne, and the idea is prevalent that all water from the earth is pure. This phase of the question will be discussed.

The California Public Health Association doors are open to all. No dues are charged, and every one who is interested in the public health is welcome. The program will be published next month.

DR. J. F. KENNEDY.

It is with regret we note the retirement of Dr. J. F. Kennedy from the position of Secretary of the Iowa State Board of Health, and editor of the Iowa Health Bulletin. He had held the secretaryship for twentytwo years, and had edited the Bulletin since its start, twenty years ago. In keeping him in these responsible positions so long the State exercised good judgment, and in return he honored and greatly aided the State. Scholarly, earnest and able, and always a gentleman, the California Bulletin feels a sense of personal loss in his retirement.

While Dr. Kennedy may not be, as in the past, one of the active leaders in the cause of sanitation, we are sure that his interest in the cause will not lessen, and that not only his State, but the others, may receive occasional feasts from his storehouse of knowledge.

PURE FOOD.

It seems probable that the Legislature which is now in session will enact a Pure Food and also a Pure Drug law. Indeed, these bills have already passed the Senate. The features of the bills are exactly those of the National law, the definitions, requirements, and standards being copied from it. While the National bill may not be all that could be wished, it is a far step in advance, and by following it we will have the advantage, in the enforcement of the State law, of decisions rendered in the National.

It would be a great misfortune to the State if the Legislature should not enact some stringent laws on these subjects. The National law deals only with interstate commerce, and leaves the State to take care of its own food affairs. It simply says no other State shall send you adulterated or impure food. Shall we, as a State, have less interest in ourselves than the United States has in us? We hope not.

The State law should be, as the bills before the Legislature are, as near as possible in conformity with National law. Two years' experience will show defects, and it will be easy to remedy them then. If the Legislature should adjourn without action, the people of the State will be served more than in the past with a poor quality of food, oftentimes preserved with injurious chemicals, and sometimes with a very material decrease in weight or measure, and with drugs that are responsible in no small degree for the increased population of our State institutions. The members of the Legislature owe it to their constituents to enact these laws which will protect them from the grasping avarice of unprincipled manufacturers.

DIPHTHERIA.

"LODI (San Joaquin County), February 12.-The case of the Edwards children, living in West Lodi, and supposed by some physicians to have diphtheria, is being seriously considered. The Edwards children, five

and other organs. The proportions for pneumonia and tuberculosis were each higher than in the preceding month. Third in order, as before, are diseases of the circulatory system, heart disease, etc., causing 352 deaths, or 14.2 per cent of all.

Typhoid fever, as usual, was the most fatal epidemic disease, causing 46 deaths against 20 for diphtheria and croup, 15 for measles, 13 for influenza, and 25 for various other epidemic diseases. However, the per cent of all deaths due to typhoid fever was only 1.9 for January, against 3.5 for December, 4.5 for November, and 4.4 for October.

Detailed figures on causes of death in California appear in the table below, which shows the number of deaths due to certain principal causes in January, as well as the proportion from each cause per 1,000 total deaths for both January and December:

CALIFORNIA PUBLIC HEALTH ASSOCIATION.

The annual meeting of the California Public Health Association will be held at Del Monte, Monterey, Monday, April 15th, at 2:00 P. M., the day preceding the meeting of the State Medical Society. "Child's Work in the Public Schools" will be the main question for discussion. Other subjects will be brought out by the "question box," and plenty of time given for discussion. The effect of the public school, either for good or bad, is a vital question to the State. It is not everything that the child becomes greatly learned. Education is good, but if secured at the expense of health it is a poor bargain. It is entirely possible to get the one and retain the other, but are we doing it at present? If you think not, come to the meeting and tell us about it. If you think we are, still come and show those who think otherwise the error of their views. It is a question of such broad interest and one on which any

one can talk, as it is not scientific, that the meeting should be well attended.

There will be a paper on "Formation of Springs and a Stretch of the Underground Waters," which will be of exceptional interest. Disease is often water-borne, and the idea is prevalent that all water from the earth is pure. This phase of the question will be discussed.

The California Public Health Association doors are open to all. No dues are charged, and every one who is interested in the public health is welcome. The program will be published next month.

DR. J. F. KENNEDY.

It is with regret we note the retirement of Dr. J. F. Kennedy from the position of Secretary of the Iowa State Board of Health, and editor of the Iowa Health Bulletin. He had held the secretaryship for twentytwo years, and had edited the Bulletin since its start, twenty years ago. In keeping him in these responsible positions so long the State exercised good judgment, and in return he honored and greatly aided the State. Scholarly, earnest and able, and always a gentleman, the California Bulletin feels a sense of personal loss in his retirement.

While Dr. Kennedy may not be, as in the past, one of the active leaders in the cause of sanitation, we are sure that his interest in the cause will not lessen, and that not only his State, but the others, may receive occasional feasts from his storehouse of knowledge.

PURE FOOD.

It seems probable that the Legislature which is now in session will enact a Pure Food and also a Pure Drug law. Indeed, these bills have already passed the Senate. The features of the bills are exactly those of the National law, the definitions, requirements, and standards being copied from it. While the National bill may not be all that could be wished, it is a far step in advance, and by following it we will have the advantage, in the enforcement of the State law, of decisions rendered in the National.

It would be a great misfortune to the State if the Legislature should not enact some stringent laws on these subjects. The National law deals only with interstate commerce, and leaves the State to take care of its own food affairs. It simply says no other State shall send you adulterated or impure food. Shall we, as a State, have less interest in ourselves than the United States has in us? We hope not.

The State law should be, as the bills before the Legislature are, as near as possible in conformity with National law. Two years' experience will show defects, and it will be easy to remedy them then. If the Legislature should adjourn without action, the people of the State will be served more than in the past with a poor quality of food, oftentimes preserved with injurious chemicals, and sometimes with a very material decrease in weight or measure, and with drugs that are responsible in no small degree for the increased population of our State institutions. The members of the Legislature owe it to their constituents to enact these laws which will protect them from the grasping avarice of unprincipled manufacturers.

DIPHTHERIA.

"LODI (San Joaquin County), February 12.-The case of the Edwards children, living in West Lodi, and supposed by some physicians to have diphtheria, is being seriously considered. The Edwards children, five

Other

in number, were taken ill last week, and a few days ago one was buried privately, after the arrival of the father from Goldfield, Nevada, where he has been engaged in mining. Four physicians are in attendance on the children, two declaring the ailment to be a bad form of diphtheria, while the other two claim it is not. The city health officer has been notified, and even he cannot agree that it is that dreaded disease. physicians have been called into consultation, and they agree that it is diphtheria. The case, is a very serious one, on account of the disagreement of the physicians. The house is not quarantined, and if it should be diphtheria the town has a good chance for an epidemic. It is thought that the public schools will be closed."

The above is taken from a daily paper and is supposed to be approximately true. It is quoted to demonstrate the use to which the State Hygienic Laboratory can and should be put. Lodi is within one hundred and ten miles of the laboratory, with quick and frequent connection, and a swab from the child's throat could be in the laboratory in a few hours. Taken in the morning, it could be sent to the laboratory, a culture made and a reply could be returned the next, with no expense to the patient or health officer except postage and the telegram. If the reply was by mail, the postage on the package would be the only expense. Such an examination would clear up a doubtful diagnosis, and should always be made when that condition exists.

It is often impossible for a physician to be sure of a diagnosis from the appearance of the throat, or from general symptoms, but science has come to his relief in the bacterial examination, and the State has established a laboratory for just this purpose.

An early diagnosis means everything in diphtheria, for the use of plenty of antitoxin in the early stage of the disease will save nearly all, if not all, cases. Every health officer should write to Dr. A. R. Ward, Director of the State Hygienic Laboratory, Berkeley, and secure a supply of mailing cases and directions. They are sent free, and if properly used will lessen in a great degree the death-rate of diphtheria. In the last Bulletin we published a report of the work which was being done by the State Laboratory in connection with diphtheria in Berkeley. That work has gone steadily on, not, however, without some opposition from those whose children were being saved, and now the disease is practically stamped out. Two thousand five hundred separate examinations have been made, but no one can tell the number of lives saved. Some parents certainly have reason to offer thanks for the salvation of their little ones.

The following report from Dr. A. R. Ward, Director of the Laboratory, is of interest:

Diphtheria in Berkeley.-The work on diphtheria in the Lincoln School in Berkeley, as reported in the last issue of the Bulletin, has been continued vigorously. On January 10th cultures were made from the throat and nose of all of the pupils in the school-some five hundred and seventy-five. Twelve per cent of them showed diphtheria bacilli. Each of these children, together with all the other school children in the family, were excluded from school and placed under quarantine.

A corps of student inspectors has made it possible to take cultures from each family once a week. When a negative report has been obtained twice in succession from the person positive originally, and