908 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXI. No. 546. 



not until Pettenkofer and his disciples, in 

 Germany, and Ang'us Smith and others, in 

 England, began their splendid chemical in- 

 vestigation that the tributary stream of 

 sanitary diemistry enlarged materially 

 that of public health science. In saying 

 this I do not forget that my late friend 

 and colleague, William Ripley Nichols, 

 whose solid contributions to sanitary chem- 

 istry were among the first in America, and 

 Avill always remain among the best any- 

 where, long ago pointed out that, as early 

 as 1789, 



Fourcroy studied the nature of ' litharged ' 

 wine, Berthollet (1801) the methods of preserving 

 water for long voyages, Chevreul (1846) various 

 chemical reactions which explain the hygiene of 

 populous cities, and (1856, 1862, 1870) methods 

 of preparing and preserving food; Graham and 

 Hofniann reported upon the use of acetate of lead 

 in sugar refining (1850), upon the London water 

 supply (1851), and upon the adulteration of pale 

 ales with strychnine (1882); Dumas was inter- 

 ested in many sanitary matters and made, among 

 others, reports on the mineral waters of France 

 (1851), on the water supply of Paris (1859), on 

 the treatment of sewage (1867), and on the pres- 

 ervation of food (1870-72); Wurtz was for a 

 number of years president of the Comite con- 

 sultatif d'hygiene and a year before his death was 

 president of the Socicte de medecine puhlique. 

 His investigations and reports on sanitary sub- 

 jects are numerous — on the disposal of the waste 

 from distilleries and sugar-refineries, on the 

 colors employed on German toys and in articles 

 of food, on the adulteration of wines, etc. 



Other names will occur to us — such as those of 

 Sir Henry Eoscoe, Sir Frederick Abel and Dr. 

 Williamson, who served on the Xoxious Vapours 

 Commission of 1876; of Frankland, who gave 

 years of service to the Rivers Pollution Com- 

 mission of 1868 and in connection therewith de- 

 vised an elaborate system of water analysis; we 

 think also of Schutzeiiberger devising a method 

 for the determination of oxygen dissolved in 

 water (not, to be sure, simply for sanitary pur- 

 poses). Mallet studying the various methods of 

 water analysis, Remsen studying the organic mat- 

 ter in the air, and Leeds the practical eflfect of 

 charging with oxygen (or rather with air) water 

 used for purposes of domestic supply.* 



* Wm. Ripley Nichols, address before Ameri- 



I dwell intentionally upon the service of 

 sanitary chemistry to public health science 

 previous to the rise of bacteriology, because 

 I believe that, dazzled as we have been 

 and still are by the blazing achievements 

 of bacteriology, beginning, let us say, with 

 the discovery of the microbe of tuberculosis 

 by Koch in 1882, students of public health 

 science have been too much inclined to un- 

 derrate the past services and present rela- 

 tive importance of sanitarj^ chemistry. I 

 know of few more important contributions 

 to public health science, even since 1882, 

 than the chemical work of the State Board 

 of Health of ]\Iassaehusetts under the able 

 direction of my friend. Professor, after- 

 wards President, Drown (the successor of 

 Nichols) and his associates and successors; 

 or that of another friend, the late Professor 

 Palmer, of the University of Illinois, whose 

 chemical studies of the rivers of Illinois 

 will long remain a monument to a life full 

 of promise and too soon cut short, or that 

 of still another friend, Professor Kinnicutt, 

 who fortunately is still engaged in fruit- 

 ful work. 



I have pei'haps said enough, though it 

 would be difficult to say too much, of the 

 inagnificent contributions to public health 

 science of Pettenkofer and his disciples in 

 sanitary chemistry ; but the work of these 

 investigators in sanitary physics and espe- 

 cially the physics of the soil, of the atmos- 

 phere, of the walls of buildings, and of 

 heating and ventilation, in their relations 

 to the public health are quite as important, 

 and perhaps to-day even more neglected. 

 In view of the increased facilities for 

 transportation and the growing habit of 

 traveling, together Avith the tendency to 

 outdoor life, which seem to be character- 

 istic to-day of all civilized nations, the next 

 twenty-five years will probably see a re- 

 can Association for the Advancement of Science, 

 Proceedings American Association for the Ad- 

 vancement of Science, Vol. XXXIV., 1885. 



