August, 1918 C. U. C. P. ALUMNI JOURNAL 125 



Just \v licit attitude the department will take in passing upon a permit involv- 

 ing a drug-store laboratory, where dispensing of medicaments for the sick will go 

 on in company with diagnoses of communicable diseases, can best be imagined 

 from the terms of the regulation. In a great many cases it is likely that the aver- 

 age drug-store laboratory will come short of the requirements. But this will not 

 deter drug-stores from receiving specimens and transporting them in sealed ves- 

 sels to a centralized laboratory permitted to conduct such examinations. 



Apropos of the above resolution, some time later the following appeared in 

 the August, 19 1 7, number, page 207, of the Weekly Bulletin of the Department of 

 Health of the City of New York, entitled — 



REGULATING PRIVATE LABORATORIES. 



"For some time the need has been apparent of exercising some con- 

 trol of private laboratories offering facilities for the diagnosis of com- 

 municable diseases. In a number of instances physicians have presented 

 to the Department of Health evidence of incompetent or careless work 

 on the part of some of these laboratories. This, of course, constitutes a 

 distinct menace to health, especially when the specimen examined relates 

 to a communicable disease. 



"By the addition of a new section to the Sanitary Code the De- 

 partment of Health hopes to put an end to this evil. Hereafter, in ac- 

 cordance with Section 105, 'no laboratory oflfering facilities for the diag- 

 nosis of communicable diseases shall be conducted or maintained in the 

 City of New York without a permit therefor issued by the Board of 

 Health or otherwise than in accordance with the regulations of said 

 Board.' " 



Just what constitutes a communicable disease within the meaning of the regu- 

 lation may be best gleaned from the department's requirement for those infectious 

 diseases which are reportable. There are thirteen in number as follows: Tuber- 

 culosis, Diphtheria and croup. Measles, Scarlet Fever, Chicken-pox, Typhus Fever, 

 Smallpox, Typhoid Fever, Whooping-cough, Syphilis, Gonorrhoea, Poliomyelitis 

 (infantile paralysis), Cerebro-spinal Meningitis. 



Following in connection with the above resolution, an amendment to Regula- 

 tion 4, Sec. 105, was adopted by the Board of Health on Deo. 11/1917, which is as 

 follows and went into effect at once: 



AMENDMENT. 



Regulation 4 — Records to be Kept. The person in charge of the 

 laboratory shall cause a record to be kept wherein shall be entered the 

 following information : 



a — The laboratory number and date of the receipt of every speci- 

 men to be tested to determine the presence of a communicable 

 disease. 



b — The result of the laboratory test. 



The Department of Health may, in its discretion, require every such 

 laboratory to furnish a statistical report covering a stated period and 

 embodying the above specified information. 



The form to follow in making records would be something in this order : 

 Lab. No. Date. Spec. Examined for. Results. Dr. Address. Patient. 



Address. 



After passing favorably upon an application properly filled out, the following 



form of permit is issued to the applicant, as was done in the writer's case: 



