20 STUDIES ON PATHOLOGIC OVA. 



of all products of conception no matter how early. Every still-birth should, according 

 to the law, be treated as a birth and a death; that is, there should be filed with the 

 registrar of vital statistics for each still-birth, no matter how early, a certificate of birth 

 and a certificate of death. 



"The Department has learned that Dr. Franklin P. Mall has been endeavoring to 

 collect embryological material for scientific purposes, and is particularly anxious to receive 

 fresh specimens. This, or a similar procedure, is a permissible disposition of the materials 

 in question, and physicians may forward that which comes into their possession to Dr. 

 Mall, corner Monument and Wolfe Streets, Baltimore, provided that as soon as they 

 have done so, they file a certificate of birth and death, in Baltimore City with Dr. John 

 D. Blake, and in the rural districts with the local registrar of the district in which the 

 birth occurred. The local registrar will issue a burial permit in receipt thereof, which 

 permit should be forwarded to Dr. Mall immediately. When material is preserved in 

 formalin or other hardening fluid before forwarding, or in instances when it is disposed 

 of locally, a certificate of birth and death should be filed and a burial permit 'received 

 thereon before it is disposed of. In any instance where a certificate of birth and death 

 is not filed for a still-birth it will be treated as a violation of the Registration Act." 



These instructions really make it easier for physicians to send specimens to 

 this laboratory than to dispose of them otherwise, and we have found that the 

 instructions of the State Board of Health have furthered our work greatly. All 

 that is necessary is to file the birth and death certificates as usual and send in the 

 burial permit, either with the specimen or shortly afterwards, and we file it. To 

 make this clear, Dr. Frederic V. Beitler, chief of bureau of vital statistics, wrote 

 us as follows : 



"In answer to your communication of December 7th will say that all that is necessary 

 for you to receive for a still-birth is a burial permit like the inclosed form, which you will 

 endorse on the back as having received the specimen. At the end of ten days all the 

 burial permits should be sent to this office. 



"Ordinarily, when a body is disposed of it is necessary to obtain this permit before 

 removing or disposing of it, but in order to facilitate the rapid transportation of speci- 

 mens to your office, we allow physicians to register the birth and death without this 

 permit. They should, however, register the still-birth as a birth and a death as soon as 

 possible after forwarding the specimen and then send the permit by mail to you." 



A specimen is of very little value, from a medical standpoint, unless accom- 

 panied by a comprehensive history. Hence, from the very beginning we have been 

 making every effort to get full data regarding each specimen, with the intention 

 of determining first its age, later the cause of the abortion. As will be noted in a 

 subsequent chapter, the former question is approaching solution, but as to the 

 latter we are still very much in the dark. The various histories given voluntarily 

 by physicians have served as a basis for a history blank, copies of which have been 

 sent out quite freely during the past five years. Since this blank has been in use 

 our histories have improved greatly in value, and as the editions of the blank have 

 been very small, we have been able to revise it once or twice a year. At the present 

 writing it comprises the following data: 



