124 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LII. No. 1336 



No sueh mortality as this has ever before Ibeen 

 recorded for any epidemic in this country since 

 registration commenced, except in the case of the 

 cholera epidemic in 1849, when the mortality from 

 that cause rose to 3,033 per 1,000,000 population. 

 None of the previous outbreaks of influenza can 

 compare in mortality with that of 1918-19. Dur- 

 ing the 46 weeks, June 23-May 10, the total deaths 

 allocated to the disease were 151,446, including 

 140,989 of civilians, the corresponding civilian 

 death-rate for these 46 weeks being at the annual 

 rate of 4,774 per 1,000,000 population. 



It is pointed out that the mortality attrib- 

 uted to influenza does not represent the whole 

 of that caused by it. The entries under other 

 headings, especially those of respiratory dis- 

 ease, vrere always bound to increase during an 

 epidemic, and though that did not occur in 

 1918 to the same extent as in other recent out- 

 breaks, allowance must be made for these in- 

 creases in mortality, allocated to other causes 

 but really attributable to influenza, in endeav- 

 oring to measure the loss of life caused by the 

 epidemic. 



With regard to the deaths of females, when 

 pneumonia, bronchitis, heart disease and 

 phthisis are included, the deaths attributable 

 to the epidemic during the third quarter of 

 1918 were 7,741, and during the fourth quar- 

 ter 62,240. . The figures for males for the same 

 quarters were 8,088 and 51,359, respectively. 



In earlier years influenza was less important 

 under 55 years and more so above that period. 

 In 1918-19 this position was suddenly and 

 violently reversed. Those under 35 died in 

 appalling number; those over 55 seemed to be 

 relatively safe. The report says: 



It may be doubted whether so sudden and so 

 complete a change of incidence can be paralleled in 

 the history of any other disease, yet all the weight 

 of medical testimony goes to show that the in- 

 fluenza of 1918 was essentially the same as that of 

 former years. Attempts have been made to ex- 

 plain the change as due to alteration in the cir- 

 cumstances of the population. Thus it has been 

 suggested that aggregation of young women in 

 munition works in 1918 may partly account for 

 their specially heavy mortality. No simple expla- 

 nation on these lines is possible. The alteration in 

 age incidence accompanying the increased preva- 

 lence and fatality of the disease in 1918 seems to 



be more easUy explained by a sudden change in the 

 infecting organism than in the soil provided for 

 its growth. 



THE ENFORCEMENT OF THE FOOD AND DRUG 

 ACTi 



During the last few years the people of the 

 United States have been given a very mate- 

 rial amount of protection against those 

 swindlers who sophisticate the foodstuffs and 

 drug supplies of the country. Especially 

 good work has been done in obtaining con- 

 victions against " patent medicine " fakers 

 •svho have made false and fraudulent claims 

 for their nostrums. This protection has been 

 given through the enforcement of the federal 

 Food and Drugs Act. The administration of 

 this law rests with the Department of Agri- 

 culture, which acting through its Bureau of 

 chemistry, collects evidence and lays the 

 groimdwork for the legal machinery of the 

 government to proceed against the offender. 

 The activity of the Bureau of Chemistry of 

 the Department of Agriculture has, of course, 

 aroused the strongest antagonism on the part 

 of the nostrum interests. These interests may 

 well rejoice in the recent action of congress 

 in cutting down the appropriations for the 

 Department of Agriculture. Even under the 

 appropriation given for the last fisc-al year, 

 which ended June 30, 1920, the department 

 was greatly hampered in its work of enforcing 

 the Food and Drugs Act. Under the plea of 

 economy, Congress has reduced the appropria- 

 tion for the enforcement of this act by thirty 

 thousand dollars. The Oil, Paint and Drug 

 Reporter, a highgrade and conservative pub- 

 lication, well states the fact, in commenting 

 on this disgraceful condition of affairs, when 

 it says: 



Under the reduced amount provided for next 

 year, it will be impossible to supervise the regula- 

 tion of the Food and Drugs Act as it should be 

 supervised. This portends a rich harvest for those 

 who misbrand and adulterate medicinal, pharma- 

 ceutical, disinfectant and other preparations. The 

 vast public, which daily purchases and consumes 



1 From the Journal of the American Medical 

 Association. 



