Preparatory to Ri;snAR(;n Cari-i-r 83 



tion held at Lansing, in the a)urse of which he argiicd that soil 

 cleanliness, pure water supply, and adequate sewage disposal by 

 sewerage and proper drainage deter and reduce mortalities due to 

 especially cholera and typhoid fever. Curiously, not one reference 

 to Koch's proof of the comma bacillus of Asiatic cholera was 

 made. The principal presentation, entitled "The Influence of 

 Sewerage and Water-Supply on the Death Rate in Cities," ""' 

 occurred at Ypsilanti in July of that year. Neither at this sanitary 

 convention, in the main discourse, did Smith attempt to discuss the 

 etiology of any one of the diseases, although as to each some 

 attention was paid to the point. 



Sanitary News in 1883 published a preliminary announcement 

 of Koch's discovery of the cholera bacillus, in 1884 a full an- 

 nouncement, and in 1885 a summary. Smith had access to these 

 and the foreign literature. By this time, he probably had read 

 Koch's original reports. Part of Dr. Baker's recommendation of 

 Smith for future employment was based on the fact that he read 

 and wrote " French easily, and [was] a fair student in German. 

 He is a fine student in the natural sciences, having in Botany more 

 than a State reputation," also said Baker. " [W]hile here, he read 

 a great deal on sanitary science, and wrote a paper on ' The Influ- 

 ence of Sewerage and Water-Supply on the Death-Rate in Cities.' " 

 This would convince a reader of "Mr. Smith's carefulness and 

 true scientific spirit. I consider the paper a valuable contribution 

 to sanitary science. ... I know of no young man who gives so 

 large promise of valuable work in the field of science as Mr. 

 Smith." As late as 1894 Dr. G. L. Magruder, dean of the medical 

 department at Georgetown University, wrote Smith that he re- 

 garded it as a "most valuable paper." Further on, we shall see 

 that this paper became one of the reasons why Dr. William H. 

 Welch of Johns Hopkins Medical School interested himself in 

 Smith and his studies in plant bacteriolog}\ His paper was typical 

 of the sanitary science of that day. A need was evident for more 

 and better vital statistics on which to found study. Development 

 of the science was " the soundest social and financial economy "; 

 and it was " the coming science . . . most recently developed . . . 

 because," WTOte Smith, " it is based upon all the others. Mathe- 

 matics, physics, chemistry, biology, statistics are all tributary to it. 



^** Reprint no. 243, op. cit., 84 pp. 



