296 ILLINOIS STATE ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



rell in 1914, there were but three full-time health officers 

 in the United States. At the present time there are close 

 to 250, and the figure is being added to rather rapidly. 

 In Illinois the County Health Officer Bill failed of pass- 

 age in the last Legislature. In spite of that we now have 

 two, Morgan and Jacksonville combined and Cook 

 County. There are only three full-time municipal health 

 officers, exclusive of Chicago, in the state. These figures 

 taken collectively prove that the sentiment in favor of 

 full-time men is being rapidly appreciated. 



The trend of medicine today is toward prevention, and 

 it depends upon the trained hygienist and sanitarian to 

 spread the knowledge that is necessary in this preven- 

 tive work. What was formerly considered the ravages 

 of time we now know are the ravages of bacteria and an 

 unphysiological manner of living. With the adoption 

 of safety measures, thus avoiding accidental conditions 

 including those producing malignancy, it would be in- 

 teresting to note just what the limit of life would be. To 

 this particular phase of work the full-time man should 

 devote considerable attention. Seven years ago I de- 

 voted considerable time to training trees with results 

 that were remarkably gratifying, and we all know what 

 Burbank has done both by careful selection and culti- 

 vation. As the secret of our education is to begin with 

 the young, it is evident that the Hygienist and the Sani- 

 tarian should be ones who can impress upon impression- 

 able minds the lessons of prevention and proper methods 

 of living. A full-time man proves his value in propor- 

 tion to his knowledge and application of it to the on- 

 coming generation. The part-time man has neither the 

 ability nor the inclination and certainly not the time if 

 he is in active practice. Therefore he is not to be con- 

 sidered in this connection at all. 



There are two problems, and very serious ones, in the 

 appointment of full-time health officers; one is the ten- 

 ure of office and the other is his political associations. 

 It is apparent that any full-time man who must rely on 

 political influence to continue in office is not the man who 

 should be employed. It is unfortunate that at the pres- 

 ent time most of the appointments are political, and as 

 Ruhland of Milwaukee has observed, "Under these cir- 

 cumstances it is not difficult to see that those who are 



