110 ILLINOIS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 
In this country Massachusetts was the most progressive state, 
and in 1883 enacted a pure food law. Other states followed 
this lead and the era of pure foods and drugs was at last fully 
inaugurated by the passage of the Federal statute in 1906. 
The protection of public water supplies and the control of 
such supplies by national or state authorities, has also an in- 
teresting history. It was not, however, until recently that dif- 
ferent states of the Union began to supervise the whole sub- 
ject systematically and to favor legislation putting the authority 
to control the water supplies and the sewage disposal in the 
hands of Boards or Commissions composed of scientific and 
medical experts. 
The question of the improvement of food and water supply 
may be considered under two heads: 
(1) The necessity for improvement. 
(2) What has actually been accomplished within the last 
decade. 
It is evident from the history of the movement that the most 
logical and practical way of securing an improvement in the 
food supply is by the action of Federal, state, or municipal 
authorities. Something may be accomplished, but the public 
will not get along very far in the correction of abuses, by the 
education of the manufacturers and dealers in food products, 
as they have few inducements to reform. 
If it is assumed that the food, as originally produced, is of 
good quality, how does it deteriorate or become unsatisfactory 
for use? This condition may be brought about by the careless- 
ness or neglect of those who handle the food or by conditions 
of temperature or storage, so that the food is “rotten, decayed, 
or putrid,” and thus a menace to health. All animal products, 
but especially fish, are exposed to this kind of deterioration. 
Fruits must also be carefully watched. It is true that cold 
storage has done much for the consumer by “carrying” food 
for one season to another, but it must not be forgotten that 
cold storage products “‘go down,” as the saying is, very quickly 
when kept at ordinary temperatures. Much of the so-called 
ptomaine poisoning is no doubt from this source. 
