106 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. YoL. L. No. 1283 



the Antivivisection Society, that the duty of 

 deciding as to the grant of certificates was 

 not satisfactorily discharged, was disgraceful. 

 Sir Watson next referred to the principle 

 arguments raised against experiments on dogs. 

 It was said that if there was anything of 

 value to he learned it could be obtained by ob- 

 servations on patients and by post-mortem ex- 

 amination. As an illustration how wrong that 

 opinion was, Sir Watson spoke of the situation 

 which occurred when the Germans first used 

 gas. Personally, he was much alarmed, for if 

 the enemy had gas enough, it seemed to him 

 they could easily destroy whole armies. How 

 was that risk to be dealt with? Were the au- 

 thorities to sit down and wait while the doc- 

 tors watched gassed men and waited for a post- 

 mortem examination? Had experiments on 

 dogs not been made much valuable time would 

 have been wasted and many lives would have 

 been lost. But certain experiments on ani- 

 mals — dogs and goats — were made and com- 

 plete protection was quickly found against the 

 gas. The history of medicine was full of in- 

 stances of prolonged observations of patients 

 and of post-mortem examination, without re- 

 sult. Yet results had been achieved almost 

 at once by experiments on animals. In con- 

 clusion, he urged that at a time when health 

 bills had just been placed on the Statute Book 

 the sensible thing to do would be to sweep 

 away restrictions instead of imposing fresh 

 ones. 



Sir Philip Magnus, in seconding the amend- 

 ment, said that by the rejection of this bill 

 Parliament would show its appreciation of the 

 «Sorts that had been made by scientific men 

 through researches to prevent and cure dis- 

 •eases. The bill was inconclusive and contra- 

 dictory. For example, it appeared, as he read 

 the first clause of the bill, that if some eminent 

 surgeon desired to perform an experiment on 

 a dog, which would relieve it of great pain 

 and possibly save its life, he could not perform 

 this experiment, however urgent, without a 

 certificate from the Home Office. After fur- 

 ther discussion in favor of and against the 

 hill, it was defeated by a vote of 101 to 62. 



A BILL FOR A NATIONAL DEPARTMENT OF 

 HEALTH 



' Honorable Joseph I. France, U. S. Senator 

 from Maryland and chairman of the Senate 

 Committee on Public Health and JSTational 

 Quarantine, introduced on July 17, Senate 

 Bill 2,507 creating a department of public 

 health. The hill follows the general plan of 

 the Owen Bill, with some important modifica- 

 tions. 



According to the summary in the Jo'urnal 

 of the American Medical Association it pro- 

 vides for a department of public health under 

 the direction of a secretary, who shall be a 

 member of the cabinet, and for three assistant 

 secretaries, the first assistant to be a man 

 trained in medical science, public health and 

 sanitation; the second to be an expert in vital 

 statistics, and the third to be a woman trained 

 in medicine or nursing and public health. 

 The TJ. S. Public Health Service and the Bu- 

 reau of Chemistry are to be transferred to the 

 new department, which is also to have bureaus 

 on vital statistics, sanitation, hospitals, child 

 and school hygiene, quarantine, food and 

 drugs, nursing, tuberculosis and personnel. 

 ■The secretary of public health is directed to 

 communicate with the governor of each state 

 requesting him to recommend to the legisla- 

 ture suitable legislation with adequate appro- 

 priations to secure cooperation between the 

 federal department of public health and the 

 state board of health. Every state taking such 

 action is to he entitled to its proportionate 

 share of such funds as may be appropriated by 

 Congress for carrying out the provisions of 

 the act. The secretary of public health is also 

 directed to divide the United States into 

 health states, districts, subdivisions and pre- 

 cincts, each conforming to the geographical 

 boundaries of the various political divisions. 

 Each state is to create a state board of health 

 with a state health officer and a health officer 

 for each district, subdivision and precinct, the 

 secretary of public health to appoint these state 

 officers as federal health officers " so that in 

 each cooperating state every health officer of 

 said state or of each district, county or pre- 

 cinct therein is by virtue of his selection by the 



