Biology and Medicine 475 



shaved, washed with sterile water, and cut in a series of paral- 

 lel lines with a sterile knife. Into these cuts the virus, taken 

 from another animal under aseptic conditions, is introduced 

 with a sterile instrument. The animal is now placed in the 

 propagating room, where an attendant is at hand night and 

 day to keep the room in the cleanest condition possible. After 

 about a week, when the characteristic pox pustules have de- 

 veloped, the animal is killed, its abdomen washed with sterile 

 water, the pus removed with a sterile instrument and placed 

 in 50% glycerine in a sterile vessel which is then placed in 

 a refrigerator. 



The carcass of the animal is examined and the vaccine is 

 tested for any possible contamination by inoculation of guinea 

 pigs and culture media. Its efficiency is tested by trial vac- 

 cinations of calves, rabbits or guinea pigs. If found to be 

 both pure and potent it is placed in small, sterile glass tubes, 

 or on ivory points, which are sealed in sterile glass contain- 

 ers, labeled, dated and returned to the refrigerator until 

 ready for the market. 



The activities of the U. S. Public Health Service cover 

 practically every phase of the nation's health. From guard- 

 ing our ports against the entrance of infection with its 

 quarantine service, to examination of rats and mice for plague 

 bacilli at Seattle and New Orleans, or ground squirrels in 

 California, the Service is waging a nation-wide and relent- 

 less warfare against every enemy of human health. 



A gipsy family camped on the outskirts of a country town 

 is taken sick with what is suspected to be typhus fever. The 

 Service details an officer to study the cases and endeavor to 

 discover the cause. Intestinal trouble breaks out in an in- 

 dustrial plant. The Service makes an investigation and dis- 

 covers typhoid fever, and the necessary steps follow for its 

 extermination. Trachoma is present among the school chil- 

 dren in some locality ; a surgeon is sent to investigate the 

 disease and advise measures for its control. Influenza sweeps 

 like wildfire across the country. The resources of the Serv- 

 ice are mobilized to meet the scourge. Lack of definite knowl- 

 edge regarding the cause of this disease has as yet rendered 

 inefficient any efforts for its control. The Public Health 

 Service was aware of the danger before it came but was 

 powerless to prevent it, as influenza is not a quarantinable 

 disease. The spread of the disease was so rapid and exten- 

 sive that doctors and nurses in every community were over- 

 taxed, most places finding themselves without a sufficient num- 

 ber, especially as so many were enlisted in the army. To 

 meet this difficulty a special appropriation of $1,000,000 was 

 passed by Congress, and the Service, together with the Red 



