758 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIV. No. 883 



Secretary Wilson has decided that the in- 

 terests of cities and towns which obtain their 

 water from streams having their watersheds 

 within national forests call for special meas- 

 ures of protection, and he has therefore de- 

 veloped a plan of cooperation for the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture with those communities 

 which are alive to the importance of keeping 

 their water supply pure. There are many 

 western towns and cities, some of them of 

 large size, which derive their water from 

 drainage basins lying inside the national for- 

 ests. One of the recognized objects of for- 

 estry is to insure the permanence and pro- 

 tect the purity of municipal water supplies. 

 As the forests ^re maintained for the benefit 

 of the public Secretary Wilson considers it 

 the duty of his department to do all that it 

 can both to prevent the pollution of such sup- 

 plies and to create or maintain conditions 

 most favorable to a constant flow of clear 

 water. Stock raising and occupancy of the 

 land for the various kinds of use which are 

 ordinarily encouraged on the national forests 

 may be highly undesirable if allowed on 

 drainage basins which are the sources of 

 drinking water. There is also to be consid- 

 ered the injury which may be done if the 

 water is silt-laden. By protecting and im- 

 proving the forest cover and by enforcing 

 special regulations to minimize erosion and 

 to provide for the maintenance of sanitary 

 conditions, the government will try to safe- 

 guard the interests of the public. A form of 

 agreement has been drawn up, providing that, 

 when cooperation is entered into between the 

 Secretary of Agriculture and any city desir- 

 ing conservation and protection of its water 

 supply, the secretary will not permit the use 

 of the land involved without approval by the 

 town or city except for the protection and 

 care of the forests, marking, cutting aud dis- 

 posing of timber which the forest officers find 

 may be removed without injury to the water 

 supply of the city, or for the building of roads, 

 trails, telephone lines, etc., not inconsistent 

 with the objects of the agreement, or for 



rights of way acquired under acts of Con- 

 gress. The secretary also agrees to require all 

 persons employed on or occupying any of the 

 land both to comply with the regulations gov- 

 erning national forests and to observe all 

 sanitary regulations which the city may pro- 

 pose and the secretary approve. The agree- 

 ment provides for the extension and improve- 

 ment of the forests on the part of the govern- 

 ment by seeding and planting and the best 

 methods of silviculture and forest manage- 

 ment, so far as the funds available will per- 

 mit. The city on its side is expected to as- 

 sist in the work by paying the salaries of the 

 additional guards necessary to carry out the 

 agreement, and in case extensive forest opera- 

 tions are immediately desired by the city, it 

 would bear the major part of the cost entailed 

 by this work. 



Anti-typhoid vaccine will be supplied to 

 Wisconsin physicians free of charge by the 

 state hygienic laboratory at the University of 

 Wisconsin, beginning on December 1, accord- 

 ing to the announcement just made by Dr. 

 M. P. Ravenel, head of the department of bac- 

 teriology at the state university and director 

 of the laboratory. When the vaccine is ready 

 for distribution full directions for its use will 

 be issued, the only condition being that physi- 

 cians agree to make a report of the results to 

 the laboratory. To prevent the spread of 

 typhoid it is recommended that where one 

 case of typhoid fever occurs in a family, the 

 other members be vaccinated promptly. In 

 the distribution of the vaccine the authori- 

 ties of the hygenic laboratory desire to secure 

 the cooperation of physicians generally, and 

 with that end in view are requesting that sug- 

 gestions be made by practising physicians be- 

 fore the distribution begins, December 1. The 

 decision of the director of the hygienic labora- 

 tory to furnish anti-typhoid vaccine grows 

 out of the success which has attended its use 

 in the United States army, where the results 

 have been so striking that the secretary of 

 war, acting on the advice of the surgeon gen- 

 eral, has made anti-typhoid vaccination com- 

 pulsory for all officers and enlisted men under 



