214 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE * Off. Doc. 



In the Republic of Mexico, it is the Superior Board of Health which 

 sustains a like relation to the Boards of Health of the several 

 slates, while they, in turn, exercise supervision over the municipal 

 boards. In the I>omini()u of Canada, we find Provincial Boards. 

 In the United States, very few of the states and territories are 

 without a State Board of Health. In some of the states they 

 possess executive powers more or less absolute. In others they 

 are simply advisory. In many they have the supervision of the 

 registration of vital statistics, a very important branch of state 

 administration, and without wliidi it is impossible to achieve the 

 best results for the health of every portion of the state. In the 

 majority of the states, the State Board is in direct relation with the 

 municipal boards, both of cities and of townships. In a few there 

 are couutv boards of health or couutv health officers, which form 

 an intermediary body between the two. 



This would seem to be the ideal plan; but in every state the genius 

 of The people, and their traditional forms of government, often 

 widely diverse, must be considered if the ready acquiescence of the 

 ])eople is to be obtained. In some states the township seems to 

 be the natural unit of political organization; in others, the county. 

 At one time there also existed in the United States a National 

 Board of Health, whose chief function was the investigation of the 

 cause of disease, and between which and the various state boards 

 a loose relationship existed, principally of an advisory and consult- 

 ing nature. This board fell to pieces through the influence of state 

 jealousies, mismanagement and the lack of natural cohesiveness. 

 The necessity of some such central body to co-ordinate the diilerent 

 state boards, harmonize contlicting interest, diminish the incon- 

 veniences and annoyances of inter-state quarantine, and render 

 seaboard quarantine's uniform in their methods of administration, 

 in addition to investigating the great problems of the causation 

 of disease on a scale which the national treasury alone could pro- 

 vide for, has, however, been thoroughly comprehended both by the 

 medical profession at large and by practical sanitarians, who have 

 been untiring in their elTorts to secure legislation from Congress 

 to that end. Such an act has at h'ngtli been passed, and became 

 a law, by receiving the signature of llie I'residenl of the United 

 States, on the lirst dav of Julv, 1!!U2. Its title is "An act to in 

 crease the Efficiency and change the Name of tin- United States 

 Marine Hospital Service." The name of that service is changed 

 to 'Tublic Health and Marine Hospital Service of the United 

 States." The title of the ''Supervising Surgeon-General" is changed 

 to "Surgeon-General" and his salary is increased to |5,()()0.()() per 

 annum. Provision is made for the appointment of a permanent 

 advisory board for the hygienic laboratory already in existence, 



