NOVEMBER 26, 1897.] 
THE PROGRESS AND ACHIEVEMENTS OF 
HYGIENE.* 
Hyciene is a department of medicine 
whose object is the preservation and pro- 
motion of health and deals, therefore, with 
all the various factors likely to influence 
our physical welfare. It is not an inde- 
pendent science, but rather the application 
of the teachings of physiology, chemistry, 
physics, meteorology, pathology, statistics, 
epidemiology and bacteriology to the main- 
tenance of the health and life of individuals 
and communities. The subject is very 
properly divided into personal and public 
hygiene. In the former the doctrines are 
applied to individuals, in the latter to com- 
munities. 
This branch of medicine has received 
such an impetus within the last twenty-five 
years that many persons regard it of mod- 
ern origin; such, however, is not the case, 
for on turning to early history we almost 
invariably find that the health of the pop- 
ulation has been made a subject of legisla- 
tion. Hygiene was practiced by the Egyp- 
tians, who paid special attention to their 
diet and the care of children; they knew 
the dangers of floods to health, and resorted 
to preventive measures against their occur- 
rence, as well as against the spread of con- 
tagious diseases. 
The old Indians paid special attention to 
diet, habitation, exercise and the isolation 
of children in case of infectious diseases. 
The Mosaic code of laws contains minute 
directions for the cleanliness of the person, 
the purification of the dwelling and camp, 
the selection of healthy and avoidance of 
unwholesome food, the seclusion of persons 
with contagious diseases, the regulation of 
sexual functions, etc. The sanitary code, 
especially that part which relates to the 
slaughtering of animals, the food supply, 
its preparation, care of utensils for cook- 
* Read before the Anthropological Society, Wash- 
ington, D. C., May 4, 1897. 
SCIENCE. 
789 
ing, eating and drinking, personal cleanli- 
ness and frequent ablutions of the hands, 
appear peculiarly appropriate, since our 
knowledge of infectious disease germs, and 
itis a singular fact that, from some cause 
or causes, this race presents an endurance 
against disease that does not belong to 
other portions of the civilized communities 
amongst which its members dwell. 
This resistance dates from the first to the 
last periods of life. Hoffmann finds that 
in Germany the number of still-born 
amongst the Jews was 1 in 39, and of the 
other races 1 in 40. Mayer determined 
that Hebrew children from one to five years 
of age die in the proportion of 10% as 
against 14% among the Christian children. 
After the fifth year the value of life still 
continues in favor of the Jews; the average 
duration of the life of the Jew being 48 
years and 9 months, and of the Christian 
scarcely 40 years. In the census statistics 
of 1890, Dr. Billings has investigated the 
subject and developed the fact that the 
death-rate among the Jews in our own 
country is very low, being only 7.11 per 
1,000, a little more than one-half the annual 
death-rate among other persons of the same 
social class and conditions of life, but the 
facts of most interest brought out are the 
low marriage rate, 7.4 per 1,000, as com- 
pared with 18 to 22 per 1,000 among the 
general population, and the low birth-rate, 
which was 4.66 for each mother. The 
number of Jewish children under 5 years 
of age in this country is therefore less, 
being in the proportion of 9 to 13, of the 
average population, but from 5 to 15 years 
it is greater in the proportion of 29 to 238. 
The causes for the higher vitality of the 
Jewish race have been earnestly searched 
for, because that race which presents the 
strongest vitality, the greatest increase of 
life and the longest resistance to death 
must in course of time become dominant. 
The causes may be summed up in the term’ 
