Diphtheria in Kansas. 



BY MARSHALL A. BARBER. 



With Map. 



In the preparation of this paper the following sources of infor- 

 mation from Kansas were used: The State Board of Health Reports 

 from 1886 to 1897 inclusive, the United States Census Report of 

 i8go, letters received from county and cit}' health officers in various 

 parts of the state, and special letters regarding certain outbreaks. 

 Data from other localities for the purpose of comparison were ob- 

 tained from the work of Dr. Thorne Thorne entitled "Diphtheria, 

 Its Natural History, etc.," treating of the disease in England and 

 Wales, the statistics of the United States Census of 1890, the pub- 

 lications of the Health Boards of Denver and Kansas City, Mo., 

 and the Board of Health Reports of various states, especially of 

 Massachusetts arid Michigan, and the Reports of the District of 

 Columbia. Other reports, correspondence and the like furnished 

 further information. I found the information given in the Kansas 

 Health Reports very meager, and in many of the reports so little 

 pains has been taken to classify and tabulate the data that it is 

 necessary to consult each county report separately. In the reports 

 of 1896 and 1897, for instance, the tables of vital statistics are 

 taken from the assessors' reports, and cover the years ending 

 March I, 1896, and March i, 1897, respectively, instead of the 

 years ending December 31, 1896, and December 31, 1897, which 

 the reports are supposed to cover, thus making the information 

 given useless for comparison with other years. Each year sev- 

 eral counties fail to report, and the reports when sent are often in- 

 complete; so that it is not safe to rely too much upon them. On the 

 whole, the statistics given in the State Reports are such that only 

 the most general conclusions can be founded on them. 



Letters were sent to all, or nearly all, of the organized county 

 boards of health, and to the city boards of a number of the largest 

 cities of the state, asking for information on phases of the question 

 not covered by the reports to the state board. A blank was en- 

 closed to be filled out asking the opinion of each health officer, 



(23) KAN. UNIV. QUAU., VOL. VIII. NO. 1, JAN., 18!)9. SERIES A. 



