512 



SCIB^CU. 



[Vol. VI., No. 149. 



present year ; that the spread of the disease was 

 due to the obstinate opposition of the people to 

 vaccination, but that it was now under control, 

 and was fast abating, and the city would be free 

 from the disease by Jan. 1. 



The president, secretary, and other members of 

 the Master plumbers' association of the United 

 States, were elected members of the association, 

 together with eighty-eight physicians, engineers, 

 and others interested in sanitation, representing 

 almost every state and territory. 



The secretary reported the death of nine of the 

 members, including Dr. Thomas of Savannah, 



was simply a compilation of statistics, it was not 

 read. It showed that during twenty-five years, 

 1860-84, there had been in the state 13,000 deaths 

 from consumption, while during the same period 

 there were only 6,500 deaths from pneumonia, 

 4,000 from scarlet fever, and 1,000 from bronchitis ; 

 that consumption was diminishing in the state, espe- 

 cially among the American born ; and that in New- 

 port county, not including the city, the deaths from 

 this cause were less than in Washington county, 

 on the other side of the bay. For this no cause 

 had been recognized. 



The next paper was on ' Sanitary and statistical 



DIAGRAM EXHIBITING THE COMPARATIVE MORTALITY BY ABSOLUTE NUMBER OF DECEDENTS FROM 

 FIFTEEN MOST IMPORTANT CAUSES OF DEATH, IN RHODE ISLAND, DURING TWENTY-FIVE YEARS, 

 FROM 1860 TO 1884 INCLUSIVE. 



CAUSES OF DEATH. 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 5,000 6.000 7,000 8,000 9,000 10,000 11,00012,00013,000 



Consumption 





Old age 



. 



Dieases of the heart 



Apoplexy and paralysis. 



Spnrlatfnn. 









Fevers, typhoid, et al,. . 

 Diarrhoea and dysentery 

 Diphtheria 







Cholera infantum 



Diseases of the brain. . . . 

 Cancers 



^_ 



Diseases of the tidneys. 



-^ 







Dr. Hatch of Sacramento, and Professor McSheny 

 of Baltimore. 



The treasurer reported that he had received 

 during the year $3,338.13, had expended $2,233.10, 

 and had on hand $1,105.03, with all debts paid. 



A committee appointed for that purpose in 1883 

 reported that they had incorporated the associa- 

 tion for a period of 100 years. 



The committee on disinfectants presented their 

 report in printed form, — a volume of nearly 150 

 pages. The discussion of it was postponed to an- 

 other day. 



A paper was then presented by Charles H. 

 Fisher, M.D., seer, state board of health, Provi- 

 dence, R.I., on < Statistics of consumption inEhode 

 Island for a quarter of a century.' As this paper 



nomenclature,' by E. M. Hunt, M.D., seer, state 

 board of health, Trenton, N.J. The nomenclature 

 of disease is very imperfect, and as a result there 

 was a vast amount of discussion as to etiology, 

 which would not be if all writers used the same 

 terms with the same meaning. The word ' hy- 

 giology ' was a far better term than ' sanitation,' or 

 than ' sanitary science.' The word ' medicine' really 

 meant knowledge by measurement, and as used in 

 the expressions ' state ' or ' sanitary medicine ' was 

 improper and unmeaning. ' State hygiene ' would 

 be much better. The terms ' contagion ' and ' in- 

 fection ' were also referred to as being used in dif- 

 ferent senses by various writers, — some by conta- 

 gions meaning those diseases which are commu- 

 nicated directly by contact ; by infections, those 



