NOTES 199 



Which of the following conditions effecting public health at the present 

 time presents the most imperative demands for attention from the next 

 Congress and should command widespread popular justification? 



(a) The facts that the Ohio River represents a thousand miles of 

 typhoid fever, and the Hudson River a cloaca maxima from Albany to the 

 sea; the prevalence of deadly infection among millions of our people, aris- 

 ing from the contamination of drinking water, and of ice, and the rapid 

 increase of pollution of our rivers, the boundary lines between states, 

 which only federal authority can control; or 



(b) The facts, that out of 80,000,000 of our people, 8,000,000 must 

 perish from tuberculosis, the white scourge, which with proper regulation 

 enforced by the federal power can be exterminated as completely as the 

 once dreaded smallpox ; and that the uniform enforcement of national 

 health regulations in all states is absolutely imperative, because infected 

 persons travel from state to state spreading the disease ; or 



(c) The facts, that the public have no means of obtaining reliable 

 health information, and the thousand questions which anxious fathers and 

 mothers ask themselves go unanswered simply because there is no office at 

 Washington equipped for the purpose. If strawberries wilt in New Jersey 

 or lambs fall sick in Arizona the Department of Agriculture gives elaborate 

 instructions as to what should be done. But two millions of human beings 

 die each year, a large proportion, and literally because they cannot find 

 out how to live. 



American Egret. The April number of Bird Lore has an interesting 

 article on the home life of this bird by Dr. Chapman. The illustrations 

 from photographs are especially attractive. 



Alexander Wilson. The March number of the Wilson Bulletin, published 

 at Oberlin, Ohio, contains an interesting article on the famous ornithologist. 

 It especially discusses the famous misunderstanding between Audubon and 

 Wilson. 



Birds-Eye Maple. The cause of bird's eye appearance in maple has 

 never been satisfactorily explained by botanists. A recent writer believes 

 the eyes to be due to adventitious roots which do not continue to develop. 

 A possible objection to this theory is that maples rarely produce this kind 

 of roots. [American Botanist.] 



Double Flowers. It is interesting to note that certain double flowers are 

 not so much in demand as formerly and that there is a tendency towards 

 cultivating the single or natural varieties. [American Botanist] 



Hydrophobia. Recently great interest in the subject of hyrdophobia in 

 dogs and cats has been developed in the United States, particularly in and 

 near Xew York City. A recent circular of the Department of Agriculture 

 deals with the disease and points out that it is becoming increasingly pre- 

 valent. Reports of a society dealing with cruelty to animals have given the 

 impression that it is not a real disease, but a product of the imagination. 

 That this is not true in all cases has been demonstrated beyond doubt, but 

 it is equally clear that mad dog scares are very frequently caused by ani- 

 mals suffering from some temporary cause like indigestion or mistreatment. 

 For the real disease there is only one treatment, namely the Pasteur 



