rights pertaining to said service are hereby made available for use, for like purposes and in like manner, under the Treasury Department, by the United States Health Service.

SEC. 2. That the salary and allowances of the Surgeon-General of the United States Health Service shall be the same as now allowed by law to be paid to the Surgeon-General of the Army.

SEC. 3. That commissioned medical officers, when detailed by the Surgeon-General for duty in the United States Health Bureau at Washington, District of Columbia, in charge of the administrative divisions thereof, namely, marine hospitals and relief, domestic quarantine, foreign and insular quarantine, personnel and accounts, sanitary reports and statistics, and scientific research, shall, while thus serving, be assistant surgeons-general, United States Health Service, but their pay and allowances shall be the same as now provided by regulations of the Marine-Hospital Service for officers in charge of said divisions; and the senior officer thus serving shall be the assistant within the meaning of section one hundred and seventy-eight, Revised Statutes of the United States.

SEC. 4. That the President is authorized, in his discretion, to utilize the United States Health Service in times of threatened or actual war, and the commissioned medical officers of said service, while thus serving, or while serving on boards or otherwise brought into official relations with medical officers of the Army or Navy, shall have rank as follows: The Surgeon-General ranking with and after the Surgeons-General of the Army and Navy; assistant surgeons-general ranking with and after assistant surgeons-general of the Army and medical directors of the Navy; surgeons with and after surgeons of the Army having rank of major, and of the Navy having rank of lieutenant-commander; passed assistant surgeons with and after assistant surgeons of the Army having rank of captain, and of the Navy having rank of lieutenant; assistant surgeons with and after assistant surgeons of the Army having rank of first lieutenant, and of the Navy having rank of junior lieutenant.

SEC. 5. That there shall be an advisory board for the Hygienic Laboratory provided by the Act of Congress approved March third, nineteen hundred and one, for the purpose of conferring with the Surgeon-General of the United States Health Service relative to the investigations conducted in said laboratory. Said board shall consist of the Surgeon-General of the Army, the Sur geon-General of the Navy, the Chief of the Bureau of Animal

Industry of the Department of Agriculture, and the director of the said laboratory, who shall be ex-officio members of the board and serve without additional compensation; and five other members, to be appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury on recommendation of the Surgeon-General of the United States Health Service, who shall be skilled in laboratory work in its relation to the public health and not in the regular employment of the Government. The said five members shall each receive compensation of ten dollars per diem while thus serving, together with allowance for actual and necessary traveling expenses and also hotel expenses while in conference, said conferences not to exceed ten days in any one fiscal year. The period of service of the first five of the members not in the regular employment of the Government shall be so arranged that one member shall retire each year, the appointments thereafter to be for a period of five years. Appointments to fill vacancies occurring in a manner other than as above provided, shall be made for the unexpired term of the member whose place has become vacant.

SEC. 6. That the President shall appoint and commission one chemist, one medical zoologist, and one pharmacologist whenever in the opinion of the Surgeon-General commissioned medical officers of the United States Health Service are not available for this duty by detail, who shall be in charge of the divisions, respectively, of chemistry, zoology, and pharmacology of the hygienic laboratory, and shall each have the pay and emoluments of a surgeon of the United States Health Service and be subject to the regulations of said service. The director of the said laboratory shall be an officer detailed from the corps of commissioned medical officers of the United States Health Service as now provided by the regulations for such detail from the Marine-Hospital Service, and while thus serving shall have the pay and emoluments of a surgeon.

SEC. 7. That when in the opinion of the Secretary of the Treasury the interests of the public health would be promoted by a conference with the State or Territorial boards of health or health authorities, the District of Columbia included, the Surgeon-General of the United States Health Service is hereby authorized, with the approval of the Secretary, to invite one or more of said boards of health or authorities to send delegates, not more than one from each State or Territory and District of Columbia, to said conference, and when thus convened said delegates shall be entitled to reimbursement for their necessary expenses of travel and

of maintenance not exceeding five days at the place of conference, in accordance with such regulations as may be made by the Secretary of the Treasury.

SEC. 8. That to provide uniformity in the registration of mortality, morbidity, and vital statistics, it shall be the duty of the Surgeon-General of the United States Health Service, after conference with the State boards of health, to prepare the necessary forms for the collection and compilation of said statistics, and said statistics, when transmitted to the United States Health Bureau on the approved forms, shall be compiled and published by the United States Health Service as a part of the health report published by said service.

SEC. 9. That the President shall from time to time prescribe rules for the conduct of the United States Health Service. He shall also prescribe regulations respecting its internal administration and discipline, and shall prescribe the uniforms of its officers and employees; and the Surgeon-General shall transmit annually to Congress, through the Secretary of the Treasury, a report of the transactions of said service.

MORTALITY AND MORBIDITY REPORTS AND
REVIEWS.

HEALTH OF THE NAVY.

Report of the Surgeon-General, United States Navy, for the Year 1900.

The health of the Navy and Marine Corps for the calendar year 1900 is reported satisfactory, though the complete returns indicate a slight increase in the ratio of admissions to the sick list per 1,000 of strength as compared with that for the previous year. The ratio was, for 1900, 824.12; for 1899, 783.03.

The average strength of the active list for 1900 was 23,756, an increase of 2,937 over the previous year. Complete returns were received from a force of 22.977, the difference, 779, representing individuals on leave, waiting orders, special or detached duty, or

serving on small vessels from which medical returns in detail are not received.

The total number of admissions for all causes was 18.936; of these, 15,829 were for disease and 3,107 for injury, giving a ratio per 1,000 of strength of 688.90 and 135.22, respectively. The corresponding ratios for 1899 were 636.11 and 145.52.

The daily average of patients was 799.80, and the ratio per 1,000of strength 34.80, as compared with a daily average of 645.82 and a ratio per 1,000 of 32.11 for 1899. The number of persons invalided from the service (including retirements of officers for disability and transfers to the Government Hospital for the Insane). was 695, a ratio of 29.25 per 1,000 of force; the corresponding ratio for 1899 was 26.03. Of the total number discharged during 1900, 586 were for disease and 109 were for injury.

During the year there were 211 deaths, the death rate per 1,000 of force being 8.88, divided as follows: For disease, 5.01; for injury, 3.87. The mortality rate for 1899, including deaths from all causes, was 7.35 per 1,000, 4.56 for disease and 2.79 for injury. Thirty-four deaths occurred in the Navy and Marine Corps in China during the recent hostilities, while several others, occurring since, were directly attributable to those operations. If these cases of death were excluded in the comparison, it would be found that the mortality during 1900 was practically the same as in the previous year.

The admissions to the sick list during the year included 1,699 cases of epidemic catarrh, 983 of malarial diseases, 963 of wounds, 902 of diarrhoeal affections, 828 of rheumatic affections, 336 of dengue, 246 of alcoholism, 195 of dysentery, 175 of typhoid fever, 160 of measles, 132 of mumps, 128 of heat stroke, 117 of pulmonary tuberculosis, 100 of organic heart disease, 99 of pneumonia, 40 of nephritis, 37 of rubella, 10 of small-pox, 2 of yellow fever, and 1 of bubonic plague.

The number of cases of typhoid fever, 175, exceeded that for the previous year by 41, the difference being accounted for by a greater prevalence of the disease in the Tropics and an increase in the enlisted force of the navy. This disease was especially prevalent in Guam, L. I., 28 cases occurring there out of a total of 83 cases returned during the year from all shore stations; 27 cases occurred in the force afloat on the Asiatic station, and 19 aboard the vessels of the North Atlantic Squadron.

Diarrheal affections were somewhat less prevalent, relatively, than during the previous year, but dysentery caused a larger num

ber of admissions than in 1899, 40 cases occurring in Guam, L. I., 34 among the force ashore in China, and 33 in Cavite. There were also 6 admissions for dysentery in the North Atlantic Squadron and 32 in the force afloat on the Asiatic Station. Only 5 deaths were attributed to this disease.

Dengue was, as in previous years, especially prevalent in Cavite, P. I., nearly all persons on duty there being attacked shortly after their arrival. The only localities outside of the Asiatic station from which dengue was reported were at San Juan, P. R., where 18 cases occurred, and at the navy-yard, Pensacola, Fla., where there was I case.

Of ships, some continue to be employed in the service that have been constructed regardless of sanitary requirements. Notably in this respect, the "Brutus" and "Albany."

The "Brutus," as described by Surgeon Frederick A. Hesler, is a collier of about 6,000 tons displacement, detailed for duty as station ship for the island of Guam. The decks of the ship from the bow to the break of the poop are of iron. The poop has a wooden deck and is the only portion of the deck fitted with awnings. The effect of the sun's rays on an iron deck in this latitude is very objectionable.

The quarters provided for the crew are inadequate, and, with the exception of the engineer's force, are located in the bow just under the iron spar deck, in consequence of which the heat there is always extreme.

The engineer's force has quarters about amidships, on the same level as the after well deck, but immediately aft of, though above, the engine and fire rooms. These quarters are too crowded, and when the ship is at sea are usually wet.

The wardroom country is about 13 feet square, and the mess table occupies about one-third of this space.

The commanding officer's room occupies the starboard side of the wardroom, and there are two rooms for officers on the port side. These latter are fitted with upper and lower bunks and are occupied by two officers each. Just aft of the commanding officer's room is the officers' water closet, and immediately aft of this and adjoining it is the wardroom pantry. Just aft of the wardroom on the port side is a single room occupied by one officer.

On account of the excessive heat and lack of ventilation most of the officers sleep on the poop in chairs, hammocks, or folding cots; but as rain here is so frequent, their rest is very often disturbed during the night by having to remove their "makeshift" beds be