SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLII. No. 1070 



Montreal, established a systematic course 

 of instruction in this branch in McGill Uni- 

 versity which was the first institution in 

 America to grant a diploma of public 

 health. 



HYGIENE OR PUBLIC HEALTH IN FEANCE 



In France also from early times thought- 

 ful medical men and government ofScials 

 were deeply concerned with the health of 

 the people and alive to the necessity of 

 studying and reforming sanitary condi- 

 tions. On July 6, 1902, Dubois, prefect of 

 police in the City of Paris, founded the 

 ■Council of Health or Conseil de Salu- 

 brite with four members, Deyeux, Parmen- 

 tier, Huzard and Cadet-Gassicourt. The 

 organization of this body was modified by 

 subsequent decrees in 1810 and in 1815, 

 and similar bodies were formed in Nantes 

 and Bordeaux in 1815, in Lyon in 1822, in 

 Marseilles in 1825, in Lisle (Lille) in 1828, 

 and in Eouen in 1831. In 1848, the year 

 that saw the first Public Health Act of 

 Great Britain, the Conseil d'Etat passed 

 an ordinance for general health regulation 

 throughout France. Since that time the 

 administration of health laws has been on 

 a firm and scientific basis in Prance and 

 many medical men of prominence like 

 Thouret, Leroux and Dupuytren have been 

 members of the various councils of health. 

 In general the administration of health or 

 sanitary laws is in the hands of the de- 

 partment of police (law, etc.), the Conseil 

 de Salubrite being entirely a consultative 

 body. Its decisions have the practical 

 force of laws however and are seldom re- 

 versed. At irregular intervals voluminous 

 reports are issued, relating to health, sa- 

 lubrity and industry. The regulations 

 under the caption Health relate to food and 

 its adulterations, poisonous substances 

 found in it, kind of vessels used in its 

 manufacture, etc. Under Salubrity is con- 



sidered the regulation of anatomical the- 

 aters, barracks for soldiers, public baths, 

 street fountains, water supplies, factories, 

 prisons, markets and disposal of filth. 

 Finally Industry covers the bituminous 

 trades, manufacture of candles, slaughter 

 houses, powder mills, white lead factories, 

 and all places where poisonous gases are 

 liberated. From time to time the old reg- 

 ulations are modified to meet the needs of 

 modern civilization and new regulations 

 promulgated. The wonderful sewerage 

 system of Paris and the beautiful gardens 

 for sewage disposal on the banks of the 

 Seine a few miles below Paris are lasting 

 monuments to the genius of the French 

 hygienists, and the leading positions which 

 French authorities occupy in the scientific 

 development of quarantine testify to their 

 soundness and versatility. French hygiene 

 or public health, however, has been espe- 

 cially influenced in its later development 

 by Pasteur and the various institutes 

 named after him and has, to a considerable 

 extent, developed the idea of preventive 

 medicine. The Pasteur Institute in Paris, 

 originally designed for the study of rabies 

 and the preparation of anti-rabic inocula- 

 tions, soon took on the character of a gen- 

 eral bacteriological and hygienic institute 

 in which the problems of all the infectious 

 diseases were investigated. The other Pas- 

 teur Institutes in France and her colonies 

 have also been modeled on the same gen- 

 eral plan. Hygiene likewise is an impor- 

 tant part of the medical curriculum and a 

 number of standard publications are de- 

 voted to it. 



HYGIENE OR PUBLIC HEALTH IN AMERICA 



"When we now turn to the consideration 

 of hygiene or public health in America, it 

 is at once evident that the greatest confu- 

 sion of ideas prevails concerning the sub- 

 ject. Authorities are not agreed upon 



