August 6, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



189 



ingly greater part of our time left for acquir- 

 ing and employing really useful knowledge, 

 and the purposes and results of scientific in- 

 vestigation would be understood and appreci- 

 ated by a larger part of the public than is now 

 the case. 



WiLLAED G. Van Name 

 jSTew York State Museum 



american sanitation 



To THE Editor of Science: The writer has 

 just finished reading Dr. Ford's most interest- 

 ing article on " American Sanitation," in your 

 issue of July 2, and wishes to endorse heartily 

 the plea therein contained for more extensive 

 and better training in public health. The 

 writer feels, however, that he must difPer with 

 Dr. Ford as to the wisdom of excluding all but 

 physicians from participation in health work. 

 Dr. Ford evidently assumes that there is no 

 essential difference between community hy- 

 giene and personal hygiene, and that a thor- 

 ough medical training, with its time-consum- 

 ing studies of anatomy, histology, obstetrics, 

 materia medica, etc., is essential before under- 

 taking special work along the lines of sanita- 

 tion, or the protection of the community from 

 disease. 



The present writer holds no brief for the 

 ordinary engineer in positions of high respon- 

 sibility in general health work, but he can nob 

 help feeling that a well-trained sanitary engi- 

 neer would distinguish his incumbency of the 

 health officership of a town, about as well as 

 an eye and ear specialist would do. In fact, 

 the chances are that neither would be conspicu- 

 ously successful. 



The ideal health officer should be neither an 

 M.D. nor a C.E. but should be an expert in 

 community hygiene, such expertness combin- 

 ing a knowledge of both branches (and some 

 others). It should be possible for a young 

 man desirous of entering the field of public 

 health to secure training for that service with- 

 out being compelled to undertake the study of 

 a great many medical subjects which have to 

 do with curative rather than with preventive 

 medicine; and also without having to learn 

 about highways, railways and framed struc- 



tures. He should, upon completion of such 

 a course of training, be thoroughly conversant 

 with the causation and transmission of dis- 

 ease; and have enough engineering training 

 to enable him to look upon problems in munic- 

 ipal sanitation with that sense of perspective 

 which is found more highly develoi)ed among 

 civil engineers than among physicians. 



An amusing story illustrating that lack of 

 quantitative appreciation, or perspective is 

 vouched for by one of the writer's professional 

 friends. A practising physician in one of our 

 large cities sent a communication to the health 

 commissioner in which he recommended the 

 addition of some mild laxative to the city water 

 to counteract the baleful effects of the coagu- 

 lants applied previous to filtration. Of course, 

 it is to be understood that this is recognized 

 as an extreme case, but in the course of ten 

 years' experience as a sanitary engineer, the 

 writer has heard many decidedly puerile things 

 said by physicians who pretended to some 

 knowledge of sanitation. 



Wm. T. Carpenter 



Brooklyn Sewage Disposal 

 Experimental Station 



ANIMAL malformations 



To the Editor of Science : Referring to the 

 communication on " a chicken with four legs " 

 in Science, page 90, I would say, lest the mal- 

 formation should be considered rare, that we 

 have in this museum quite a number, fourteen 

 from the chicken alone, showing various de- 

 grees of the malformation; also from the duck 

 and turkey, and from some higher animals as 

 the dog, pig and kitten. Technically the mal- 

 formation is known as dipygus or preferably 

 as dipygus parasiticus. D. S. Lamb 



U. S. Army Medical Museum, 

 Washington, D. C. 



THE LONG cost OF WAR 



To THE Editor of Science: The writer is 

 interested in gathering material bearing on 

 the eugenics of war and militarism. It is 

 obvious that these influences tend to weaken a 

 nation through the destruction of those phys- 

 ically the best and through the debarring of 



