MAKIXK HOSPITAL SKI: VICE. 



451 



the cordon as places of refuge for the 

 whore they may be detained " under observation" 

 for the jieriod required for the. incubation of the 

 Since l^i the service lias controlled, 

 wholly or in part, every epidemic of yellow fever or 

 smallpox that has occurred, the last scourge being 

 the Brunswick epidemic of 1893. In 1885 the 

 service took charge of railroad quarantine against 

 small-pox in Canada, and stamped out the dis- 



In the interests of the public health, the service 

 maintains a hygienic laboratory in the building 

 known as -'the Butler House." which has been as- 

 signed to the Marine Hospital Bureau in Washing- 

 ton. Here experiments are constantly conducted 

 in regard to diphtheria, antitoxin, vaccinia, and the 

 serum therapy of smallpox. The origin and remedy 

 for pneumonia are studied; the water supply of 

 cities and the alleged sources of tuberculosis are 

 also investigated. Recently special attention has 

 been given to a new disinfecting agent, formal- 

 dehyde gas, which promises to simplify the process 

 of disinfection. 



Although cholera has been violently epidemic in 

 Egypt and yellow fever has continued' prevalent at 

 Havana and Rio Janeiro during 1896, the watch- 

 fulness of the service has prevented the appearance 



I . via t ion of the national quarantine system to 

 State and local quarantines. 



Prevalence of cholera, yellow fever, smallpox, 

 plague, and lepro>y. and special efforts of the serv- 

 ice to prevent introduction or spread of them. 



Minor responsibilities have been imposed upon 

 the service, growing out of the needs of other 

 branches of the Treasury Department with which it 

 is intimately and necessarily connected. For ex- 

 ample, the Revenue Cutter Service relies upon it for 

 the physical examination of officers and men; the 

 Life Saving Service relies upon it for the physical 

 examination of keepers and surfmen, and is in- 

 debted to it for the rejection of hundreds of men 

 physically unsound who have sought to obtain em- 

 ployment under the Government as surfmen ; the 

 Steamboat Inspection Service relies upon it for de- 

 termining the ability of pilots to distinguish signal 

 lights, a number of applicants for pilot's license 

 being rejected annually on account of color blind- 

 ness: and the Immigration Bureau relies by law 

 upon it for the medical inspection of immigrants. 



The regular corps of the service consists of a 

 supervising surgeon general, 16 surgeons, 30 passed 

 assistant surgeons, 15 assistant surgeons, 76 acting 

 assistant surgeons, 33 hospital stewards, and a full 

 complement of attendants for each hospital. All 



THE UNITED STATES MARINE HOSPITAL, CHICAGO. 



of either scourge on our shores. Smallpox, indeed, 

 was present in twenty-two States, and assumed an 

 epidemic form in New Orleans, but even there the 

 progress of contagion was arrested by the prompt 

 order enforcing a general vaccination of all crews 

 arriving at the stricken citv. Thus it may be seen 

 that apart from the charitable object for which it 

 was originated namely, the care of sick and dis- 

 abled merchant seamen the Marine Hospital Serv- 

 ice has risen from small beginnings till it has be- 

 come the mainstay of the National Government in 

 warding off foreign pestilence and in aiding State 

 and municipal boards of health in arresting local 

 epidemics. Itsname might appropriately be changed 

 to the Sanitary Service of the United States. The 

 last annual report formulates the direct efforts of 

 the service for preservation of the public health 

 under the following he- 

 ll ygienic laboratory of the Marine Hospital 

 Service. 



Sanitary reports and stat;- 

 Sanitary inspection service. 

 The national quarantine service. 

 Revision of maritime quarantine relations. 

 Promulgation of interstate quarantine regula- 

 tions. 



medical officers of the service are appointed by the 

 President and confirmed by the Senate, after pass- 

 ing examination before a board of Marine Hospital 

 surgeons. The original appointment is to the grade 

 of assistant surgeon, and no officer can be promoted 

 to the rank of passed assistant surgeon till after 

 four years' service and a second examination. Act- 

 ing assistant surgeons and hospital stewards are ap- 

 pointed by the Secretary of the Treasury, and all 

 hospital attendants are employed by the medical 

 officer in charge, subject to the approval of the de- 

 partment. The officers of this corps are stationed 

 at every important port on the coast, lakes, and 

 rivers, and. as they have all been trained in the 

 execution of Government business, and nearly all 

 have had quarantine experience and a practical 

 acquaintance with epidemics, it is always feasible 

 for the service, on the shortest possible notice, to 

 have qualified agents at any point of danger. The 

 corps numbers among its members men whose 

 names have become widely known by reason of 

 their prompt and effective services during various 

 epidemics. 



The Marine Hospital office or dispensary is gen- 

 erally located in or near the customhouse of a sea- 

 port, and when there is an assistant surgeon one of 



