Medical Interne (Male) for Government Hospital for the Insane, June 13-14, 1907. The United States Civil Service Commission announces an examination on June 13-14, 1907, at places mentioned in the list printed hereon, to secure eligibles from which to make certification. to fill at least five vacancies in the position of medical interne (male), at $600 per annum each, with maintenance, in the Government Hospital for the Insane, Washington, D. C., and vacancies as they may occur in any branch of the service requiring similar qualifications. The Department states that it reserves the right to continue or terminate appointments at the end of one year, or to promote the appointee at the expiration of that length of service. The examination will consist of the subjects mentioned below, weighted as indicated: Subjects. Weights. 1. Letter-writing (the subject-matter on a topic relative to the practice of medicine).... 2. Anatomy and physiology (general questions in inorganic and histologic or minute anatomy). 3. Chemistry, materia medica, and therapeutics (elementary 4. Surgery and surgical pathology (general surgery, surgical 7. Obstetrics and gynecology (the general practice of obstet- Total. 5 15 10 20 25 10 15 100 Two days will be required for this examination. Men only will be admitted. Age limit, 20 years or over on the date of the examination. This examination is open to all citizens of the United States who comply with the requirements. Applicants must indicate, in answer to question 15 of the application form, that they are graduates of reputable medical colleges. This announcement contains all information which is communicated to applicants regarding the scope of the examination, the vacancy or vacancies to be filled, and the qualifications required. Applicants should at once apply either to the United States Civil Service Commission, Washington, D. C., or to the secretary of the board of examiners at any place mentioned in the list printed hereon, for application Form 1312. No application will be accepted unless properly executed and filed with the Commission at Washington. In applying for this examination the exact title as given at the head of this announcement should be used in the application. As examination papers are shipped direct from the Commission to the places of examination, it is necessary that applications be received in ample time to arrange for the examination desired at the place indicated by the applicant. The Commission will therefore arrange to examine any applicant whose application is received in time to permit the shipment of the necessary papers. The examination may be taken on the date mentioned therein at Austin, Brownsville (C. H.), Dallas, El Paso (C. H.), Houston, San Antonio, and Waco. No request will be granted for an examination otherwise than as scheduled. Application blanks may be secured from the secretary of the board at the postoffice at any of the above-named places, except where the letters “C. H.” occur, which refer to the custom house. The Dr. Nathan Smith Davis Memorial. I desire to call the attention of the members of the medical profession of Texas to the fact that a committee has been appointed by the American Medical Association to collect a fund to be devoted to establishing a suitable memorial to the late Dr. N. S. Davis, one of the founders of the American Medical Association, one of the authors of the original code of ethics, founder and first editor of the Association Journal. It seems appropriate that the memory of a man who did so much for medical organization and for the progress of American medicine should be perpetuated in a suitable way. The undersigned having been appointed a member of the committee from Texas, with authority to add the names of other members to the Texas division, begs leave to state that he has requested the councillors of Texas to serve on this committee, believing it most appropriate to form the committee of these gentlemen with authority to aid in collecting for this fund. A number of county societies have already contributed. It is hoped that good progress can be made in this worthy cause in time for a creditable report to be made to the American Medical Association at its annual meeting on June 4th, when it is desired to formulate plans for beginning the work. This is a subject that appeals to the pride and pleasure of members of the profession. Any amount that any member feels disposed to contribute will be received with thanks, and no member need consider himself debarred from the privilege of contributing because he does not feel able to give a large sum, as it matters not how small the contribution. It is much more desirable to have a large number identified in establishing this memorial than a few. Hoping the profession will be interested in this movement, I am, Very Respectfully, J. T. WILSON, SHERMAN, TEXAS. Remarks of Mr. Grinstead on House Bill No. 439, the Tuberculosis Sanitarium Bill. MR. SPEAKER AND GENTLEMEN OF THE HOUSE: It is not my desire to retard the work of this body by making a long speech at this time. I merely wish to lay before you as best I can, the merits of a measure that I consider one of the most important, upon which the Thirtieth Legislature has been, or will be called upon to act. I refer to the bill providing for the establishment and maintenance of a State Sanitarium for the care and treatment of persons with tuberculosis or consumption. It would be useless for me to take up your time discussing the provisions of the bill. You are equally as well aware of them as I am, so I shall spend my share of the time in discussing the merits of the measure. The sanitarium this bill seeks to establish will be, if so established, an institution for which a most urgent need exists. As a means of bringing this fact the more forcibly to your minds, I desire to recite the following facts, which are taken from authentic statistical reports. I do not purpose to go into tiresome details of technicalities which I do not understand and you do not care, however well you may appreciate them, to consider at this time, but merely to give you a few facts as regards the prevalence of this disease and the frightful rate at which it is increasing in this State. Statistics show that in 1890 there were less than 1900 deaths in the State of Texas from tuberculosis. In 1900 there were 2965 deaths from the malady, showing an increase of 1069 deaths from tuberculosis for that year over the ten years preceding. In 1906 there were 5000 deaths from tuberculosis in Texas, showing an increase in the annual death rate from this disease in six years just passed to be 2035. Think of the enormity of it. Thus we see the remarkable and alarming increase in the death rate from this dreadful malady. Now, gentlemen, I want to call your attention to the fact that not nearly as large a percentage of the persons who die from consumption in Texas are health seekers, as you probably imagine. If you will go to the portions of the State most popular as a resort for people thus afflicted, you will be astonished at the number of people you find there from other parts of our own State. It is an assured fact that the disease is increasing in Texas in a ratio entirely out of proportion to the increase in population; and the question which confronts us now is what are you going to do about it? Are we going to let it go on menacing the public health until untold thousands of deaths have occurred from it and our people have become infected with the disease until it will require years of patient toil and the expenditure of millions of money to reduce it to even its present direful prevalence? We all know that disease is an aggressive enemy to mankind and we likewise know that this aggressive enemy does not stand still long at a time, but keeps constantly pushing forward, until having taken the outworks of the system it scales the walls and storms the very citadel of human life. When the cry goes out that smallpox or yellow fever is rife in the land, our people blanch with horror, the State health department is instantly notified and every precaution taken against the spread of the fell disease. This is right and proper, but should the custodians of the public welfare stop at the suppression of these violently contagious diseases? Does it seem to you to be a full discharge of your duty as legislators, public servants, that you have provided a means through the State health department by which contagious diseases can be guarded against and yet failed to provide that department a means by which it can successfully combat an enemy to public health that is gradually sapping the very foundation of the physical welfare of our people? I believe that the real facts of the case are that the great majority of the people and their representatives do not realize the extent and magnitude of the danger threatened by this "Great White Plague." It passes us silently on the street day by day and rides with us about the country wherever we go. It does not claim it victims by the hundreds in a single day, and then, like some voracious monster, when surfeited, desist from slaying. This malady is a dread, relentless foe, who, stalking silently through the land, bearing a snow white flag, knows no assuaging of his lust for human life. That the disease is contagious there can no longer be a reasonable doubt. Learned scientists and physicians who have spent their lives in the study of the malady declare it to be so. Every civilized country has some provision for the prevention of the spread of diseases known to be contagious, and it is the height of folly for the world to stand idly waiting for further evidence that consumption is contagious. Texas is young, but that it not sufficient reason for her to wait for the balance of the world to show her what to do in a case where the "writing on the wall" is already too obvious. We guard against the spread of smallpox, the mortality in which, under modern methods of treatment, does not exceed 10 per cent, and yet we close our eyes to a disease known to be contagious, and which is ever present among our people and is increasing in prevalence every day. Six other States of the Union have established such institutions as this bill provides for, and every one of them is a success. In addition to these, the Federal government has two such institutions in Mexico, for the care and treatment of the soldiers and civil service employes. The Legislature of the State of Alabama is right now wrestling with the same problem that confronts us, and I trust will succeed in doing for that State just what I am imploring you to do for Texas. This solution of the problem must come sooner or later and the longer we put it off, the more dreadful will be the result of its ravages and the greater the expense of erecting our defenses against it. This bill provides for the establishment and maintenance of a State Sanitarium for the treatment of tuberculosis. It is designed to be a haven for indigent persons suffering from the great "White Plague," where such persons can go and be treated, and can be taught the rules of hygiene, sanitation, and right living, and the |