248 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIX, No. 1263 



,cedxires which had to do chiefly with quar- 

 antine, fumigation, water supplies and 

 sewerage. Under pioneer conditions and in 

 small communities there was little or noth- 

 ing that could be called public health ad- 

 piinistration. With the growth of urban 

 population more acute situations developed, 

 but not until the discoveries of Pasteur did 

 the knowledge exist upon which to base 

 leffective policies and procedures. Since 

 ,then university laborajtories have played 

 .an important part in the creation of the 

 science of preventive medicine. It has been 

 increasingly true that university-trained 

 ,men have made contributions in this field. 

 This is not to deny that conspicuous' tri- 

 umphs have been achieved by medical men 

 whose training was not distinctively of the 

 later university type. Their methods were 

 based upon the results of research carried 

 ,on in the true university spirit. Before the 

 ,war there was widespread and increasing 

 jnteresit in public heailth, due to striking 

 success in sanitation in Cuba and the Canal 

 Zone, to the work of the U. S. Public Health 

 Service, and of state and municipal officers, 

 to the agitation maintained by numerous 

 voluntary public health societies, and to 

 demonstrations such as those carried out 

 jby.the International Health Board in the 

 control and prevention of hookworm infec- 

 tion. 



The war has revealed facts, afforded op- 

 portunities and made possible demonstra- 

 tions which have advanced the cause of 

 public health in many ways. The large 

 percentages of men rejected by the recruit- 

 ^g offices and draft boards caused surprise 

 and alarm. The examination of millions of 

 pnen afforded valuable data. Camp sanita- 

 tion and health supervision of military 

 zones offered unusual opportunities for con- 

 jtrolled experiment. The handling of epi- 

 demics tested the resources and widened the 

 experience of health officers. Hospital or- 



ganization and administration were under- 

 taken on a vast scale. The psychiatrists 

 gained recognition for mental hygiene not 

 only as a means of dealing with individual 

 ,eases but as an organic part of public 

 health, applicable to large groups. The 

 .policy adopted by the government with re- 

 spect to venereal diseases and the vigorous 

 campaigns against them carried on both at 

 Jaome and in France have resulted in sta- 

 itistical data and other records iinique in 

 the history of preventive medicine. The 

 medical care of millions by salaried physi- 

 cians and surgeons has been an object lesson 

 in social medicine and has made more vivid 

 ;the idea of health as an attribute of masses 

 pf men living a common life. Studies in 

 munition and other warwork factories have 

 dealt with occupational diseases, fatigues, 

 nig'ht work, nutrition, labor of women and 

 other phases of industrial hygiene. Com- 

 munities, states and nation are ready as 

 never before for a forward movement in 

 public health. 



All signs point to a rapid extension of 

 public health activity in many fields. The 

 federal, state and municipal bureaus and 

 boards are in need of trained personnel. 

 ^Voluntary associations call for experienced 

 leadership. The outlook for industrial hy- 

 giene is bright. Employers are likely in- 

 creasingly to regard the sanitation of fac- 

 tories and stores and the health supervision 

 .of employees as necessary features of sound 

 ,business management. For such work spe- 

 cifically prepared types of officers, physi- 

 cians, physical directors and nurses will be 

 irequired. School hygiene bids fair to play 

 ,a larger part in our educational system. 

 ^11 of these movements will create a de- 

 mand for a great variety of specialists. 

 The success of the whole national public 

 health program which has been compre- 

 hensively outlined by the United States 

 Public Health Service will depend quite as 



