Recent Developments in Public Hygiene. xxi 



tute a new and interesting chapter in the history of 

 living organisms. 



Much light has been thrown on many more general 

 questions. The mode of formation of barrier reefs and of 

 atolls, the constitution of the abyssal oozes and their slow 

 increase in depth, the nature of the red clay, the ways and 

 means of geographical distribution, have been carefully 

 studied, and our knowledge of them greatly extended. 



Here I must close, but not without recording my pleasure 

 that we have two Challenofer workers amone'st us — Dr. 

 Wild, who accompanied the Expedition, and Mr. Dendy, 

 who described the Monaxonid sponges. It will also, 1 

 think, be of interest to members to know that several of tlie 

 specialists who wrote for the Challenger, are assisting us in 

 the identification of the forms obtained by jonv Port Phillip 

 Biological Survey Committee. 



SHORT ADDRESS ON THE RECENT DEVELOP- 

 MENTS IN PUBLIC HYGIENE. 



By James Jamieson, M.D. 



In the limited time at my disposal, it is most desirable 

 that I should confine my remarks on recent hygienic 

 progress, to one or two matters of large general interest. 



Perhaps no fact, in connection with modern sanitation 

 and its results, is more striking than the great improvement 

 which has taken place of late years in the death rate in the 

 great towns of England. In the ten years 1871-80, the 

 mortality averaged 24 per 1000 of the population, while in 

 the years 1881-87 it averaged only 21-4 per 1000, and in 

 1887 was as low as 208. A remarkable contrast is to be 



