Mat 31, 1907] 



SCIENCE 



865 



from hand to mouth. The dwarf tape worm, 

 Hymenolepis nana, is another case in point. 

 Personal cleanliness has an important bear- 

 ing. 



Mr. K. F. Kellerman said that Doctor 

 Soper's tjrphoid investigations have shown 

 tveighty reasons for the sterilization of sewage. 

 Chemical sterilization is practicable at low 

 cost, by nascent chlorine or one of the heavy 

 metals, and should be resorted to when 

 sewage is discharged into streams which in a 

 short time are used as the sources of drinking 

 water. He seconded Doctor Howard with re- 

 spect to the importance of flies. At Panama 

 typhoid is rare, and the few cases are confined 

 to the lowest classes of negro laborers who eat 

 in the open where flies are abundant instead 

 of in screened dining-rooms such as are used 

 by the Americans. 



Dr. J. Goldberger gave some flgures on the 

 frequency of bacilliis carriers. One thousand 

 seven hundred cases examined at three of the 

 laboratory stations La Germany showed 3 per 

 cent, to be chronic carriers. It is possible to 

 calculate the number of carriers for a given 

 district and the probable danger to non-im- 

 munes. 



Dr. G. Lloyd Magruder recalled the early 

 typhoid investigations in Washington and the 

 surrounding country which cited the water 

 supply, cesspools, manure piles and milk as 

 carriers. The city wells and water supply of 

 many dairy farms were found contaminated. 

 It is difficult to enforce sanitary precautions 

 in the city and almost impossible in the 

 country. The farm is an important source of 

 city typhoid and the fly an important carrier 

 on the farm. 



Dr. Soper in closing replied to questions 

 and amplified certain points. With respect to 

 the cost of his investigation he preferred to 

 give no figures. It had cost him personally 

 more than he had agreed to charge at its be- 

 ginning. The investigation would hardly have 

 been undertaken in this particular instance, 

 save for its scientific interest. His typhoid 

 work was generally done for cities, as at Ithaca 

 and Watertown. As to why more persona 

 other than the servants were not attacked in 

 the families served by the cook, he believed 



the members of the family were protected in 

 large measure by the sterilizing effect of 

 cooking, the food being chiefly handled after 

 cooking by butlers and waitresses or servants 

 other than the cook. The cook never handled 

 fruit, salads and other things eaten raw by the 

 family. Servants newly attached to the 

 household were more apt to take the disease 

 than those long associated with the cook. 

 Possibly an acquired immunity explains this. 

 Hand infection is important and the hands 

 should receive more attention than they do. 

 It would be well if cooks could be selected 

 only after careful assurance concerning their 

 histories and personal habits. In general, 

 scrupulous cleanliness is an important safe- 

 guard against typhoid. Increase in knowl- 

 edge of bacillus carriers should be looked upon 

 as encouraging rather than otherwise, since 

 it is only by a knowledge of the facts that 

 preventive measures can be accurately applied 

 and transmission can be prevented. As to the 

 situation at Washington, the speaker pre- 

 ferred to say nothing until the official report 

 of the exhaustive investigations of the Public 

 Health Service had been made public. 



At the conclusion of the meeting the chair 

 tendered the society's thanks to the speaker 

 for his address. M. C. Mahsh, 



Recording Secretary 



THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



At the 190th meeting of the society, held 

 at the Cosmos Club, on Wednesday evening, 

 March 2Y, 1907, under informal communica- 

 tions, Mr. P. E. Wright showed a new double 

 screw micrometer ocular by the use of which 

 the optic axial angle of a bi-axial mineral can 

 be determined on any section showing in con- 

 vergent polarized light an optic axis within 

 the field of vision. 



The regular program consisted of an exhibi- 

 tion of the geologic relief map of the Southern 

 Appalachian Province prepared for the James- 

 town Exposition. The following description 

 of the territory covered by the map was given : 

 The Appalachian Mountains and Valleys : Mr. 



Arthur Keith. 



The four main geographic divisions of the 

 Appalachians are typically shown in this area. 



