40 ILLINOIS Academy of science 



dirty water, dirty milk or flies. Malaria and yellow fever aro 

 not "pestilences which walk in darkness." They are, on the 

 contrary, due entirely to the presence of a particular variety 

 of mosquito which bites the person suffering from the disease, 

 and then, by biting a well person, conveys the disease to him. 

 Yellow fever and malaria can. therefore, be absolutely pre- 

 vented, either by destroying the breeding places of the mos- 

 quito, or by screening all patients suffering from these di- 

 seases. Asiatic cholera is due to polluted food or water. Bu- 

 bonic plague is transmitted by rats and fleas. Rocky Moun- 

 tain fever is carried by the tick. Typhus fever, known in past 

 ages as ship fever, jail fever, prison fever, camp fever and fam- 

 ine fever, is now known to be carried by the louse. We are 

 just beginning to realize the cold, practical truth of Louis 

 Pasteur's statement, now nearly half a century old, "It is 

 within the power of man to cause all contagious diseases to 

 disappear from the earth." Public health is no longer a ques- 

 tion of accident, it is purely a question oi money. A health 

 department with an appropriation of forty cents per capita 

 per year, can save so many lives. A health department with 

 an appropriation of $2.00 j^er capita per year, can save many 

 more, ^^'e can save these lives if we are willing to pay the 

 price. Our cities and states can reduce their death rate if 

 they are willing to spend enough money. The number of 

 deaths which occur in any community is, within certain 

 limits, entirely within the control of the people of that com- 

 munity. 



As a result, the death rate, and especially the infantile 

 death rate, becomes an index not only of the sanitary con- 

 dition, but also of the intelligence and public spirit of the 

 community. It is the record by which the modern public 

 health officer demonstrates his fitness, and shows the results 

 which he has secured. If these facts were only known and 

 appreciated by the public, the annual report of the local health 

 department giving the death rate for the year, would be looked 

 forward to far more eagerly and scrutinized much more 

 s archingly than the tax list or the reports of real estate sales. 



Carefully kept records of births and deaths are. therefore, 

 an absolute necessity for modern public health work. For the 

 good of the community, they should be demanded by every 

 citizen, since they offer the only standard by which the con- 

 dition of public health in the community can be determined, 

 or the eft"ectiveness of the public health organization can be 

 measured. 



But while the public health value of vital statistics is 

 probably its most important function, there are other results 



