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WlSOOIiSIN STATE AGBIGULTUMAL SOCIETY. 
been the resulting benefits, that we may be truly said to have en¬ 
tered upon “ a new era in medicine ” — “ its highest and most bene¬ 
ficent development.” Men have learned, and are learning, the 
grand fact which is the underlying principle in all sanitary labor, 
that “ disease and death are in a great degree preventable.” It is 
upon this foundation that the rapidly multiplying Boards of Health 
and Public Health Associations are builded. It is the effort of the 
physician to cure, if possible, individual cases of disease. It is the 
labor of the sanitarian to prevent the very inception of disease. In 
this, his is the higher work, and it is also one which gives greater 
promise. Dealing largely with communities and with the influences 
affecting bodies of men in these efforts, their importance rises be¬ 
yond that which seeks alone to cure the disease of the individual, 
and preventiDe medicine assumes a rank beyond the curative. 
In all these labors for the physical good of man, it is not to be 
forgotten that other good is at the same time accomplished for “the 
same causes which promote physical disease and favor preventable 
mortality, foster also immorality, degradation and social misery. 
Uninhabitable habitations, over-crowded rooms, foul air, neglect of 
personal and public cleanliness, insufficient sanitary appliances, in¬ 
temperance, uncontrolled habits of impurity; these are not only the 
factors of disease but they are also the factors of moral degrada¬ 
tion.” To eradicate these causes of disease and death is therefore 
to elevate man both morally and intellectually, and to assist in his 
restoration to the likeness of his Maker. 
It is not needful here to recapitulate what has been accomplished 
by State Health Boards since they were first organized in this coun¬ 
try in the state of Massachusetts. It would be easy to show that 
they have proven here, as in England and elsewhere, of real and 
practical benefit — conservators of their best physical interests, and 
a real blessing to the people of the several states where they are 
in operation. This has been so manifest indeed, that though less 
than eight years have elapsed since the inauguration of this move¬ 
ment in this country, ten states have already adopted and put into 
practical operation the idea of State Medicine, which number will 
doubtless be considerably increased during the present winter. 
We believe that it would be easy to demonstrate the wisdom of 
these organizations, not alone on the score of humanity, but also on 
the score of the truest economy, for while there is “ nothing so 
