1889.] MICKOSCOPIOAL JOUKNAL. 39 



BIOLOGICAL NOTES.* 



Typhoid Fever and Water Supply. — One of the most timely and 

 sensible papers recently reported is that of Dr. Chas. Smart, Surgeon 

 U. S. A., given before the American Public Health Association at its 

 recent meeting. The paper itself has not come to our notice, but if 

 the reports are in any fair degree accurate the paper treats the question 

 of water supply as connected with typhoid fever in a way that reflects 

 credit upon the author. The enormous number of deaths from this 

 disease throughout the country is a sad reflection upon the carelessness 

 with which this matter of water supply is considered. When the 

 authorities of our cities and larger towns take a more intelligent view 

 of the question, private supplies in the smaller towns will be more 

 scrupulously attended to. Wells in thickly-settled towns are hardly 

 better than death pots. If ever used to supply drinking water they 

 should be frequently examined by an expert with the microscope. 

 Chemical examination often fails to detect the worst dangers. A case 

 examined by us a few years ago in which several members of a family 

 had been prostrated by the disease afforded little chemical warning, 

 but a careful microscopic examination revealed the source of danger. 



o 



Yellow Fever. — The adverse report of Surgeon General Hamilton 

 regarding the bill offering a reward of $100,000 for the discoverv of 

 the true germ of yellow fever is wise. More liberal reward for work 

 done and x'esults obtained by accurate and patient research cannot fail 

 to meet the approval of all scientists, but such a bill as the one proposed 

 would hardly fail to lead to contention and would be far from certain 

 to place the reward where it would be most deserved. The spirit of 

 research will give the facts to the world without the offer of inducements 

 in the form of prizes, if only the means of carrying on the research can 

 be provided. Meanwhile, however, much may be done to render in- 

 vestigations more fruitful of results by the encouragement of investigators 

 in connection with the National Bureau of Health, and the enforcement 

 of more rigid laws of sanitation in the sections subject to the scourge 

 will accomplish much more for the immunity of the people. The con- 

 dition of Jacksonville as regards sanitary provisions, according to the 

 report of General Hamilton, is a crying demand for more strict regula- 

 tions. Self-interest will not induce certain members of societv to guard 

 themselves against sources of danger which are not of the most glaring 

 nature, and for the protection of others these recreant members should 

 be forced to abide bv such rules as the common interest demands. 



Black Rot of the Grape. — To all who are interested in the culture 

 of the grape, Bulletin No. 7 of the Botanical Section of the Department of 

 Agriculture is specially important. It is the report of Mr. F. Lamson 

 Scribner, Chief of the Section of Vegetable Pathology, upon the ravages 

 and mode of treatment of the parasitic fungus, Lcestadia bidxuelUL 

 which causes the disease known as the black rot of the grape. The 

 very wide distribution of the disease and the small number of varieties 



* This department is conducted by Prof. J. H. Pillsbury. 



