would be glad to transport them by railroad to the home cemetery. This cannot now be done, because the railroads and the law in a few States forbid. At the recent meeting of the National Association of State Boards of Health the subject was discussed, and it seemed to be agreed that the only thing which stands in the way is the difficulty of being sure that the body is prepared in accordance with the present scientific requirements for the public safety. If there were no funeral directors except those found on examination to be qualified, and they were licensed under a good law, there would be no difficulty in so preparing any body, dead. from any cause, that it might be transported with safety to the public, and there would then be a legally-organized body of licensed persons capable of making the preparations and of making a certificate that should satisfy the health authorities and the railroads; then the mourners throughout the land might feel grateful that their loved ones could take their final rest in the home cemetery. The present requirements relative to all dangerous communicable diseases that there shall be no public funeral, is very trying to the hearts of the people. Such a requirement is necessary under present conditions. Sanitary science, however, is equal to the task of devising means for rendering public funerals safe; but the subject cannot be entrusted to an irresponsible rabble of persons engaged in any line of business. When funeral directors are all licensed after being properly tested as to requirements there is reason to hope that the heartstrings of mourners will cease to be tormented by the apparent disrespect to the dead involved in the absence of a funeral. Another public interest demands that there shall be co-operation of the funeral director with the officers of health and of justice to the end that no murderer shall escape justice through a wrong or premature action for embalming a dead body. No body should be embalmed until the cause of death has been enquired into and placed upon record. It cannot be expected that legislation will do all that is required for the uniform advancement of the standing of funeral directors; but it should make it possible that only educated and qualified persons could enter upon that important service for the people. It ought to be possible for the Michigan Legislature to pass a better law than has been enacted in any other State; but if Michigan had as good a law as the one approved June 7, 1895, in Pennsylvania, it would be better than none. One suggestion as to the membership of the proposed State Commission to make the examinations of funeral directors, is that-inasmuch as one great purpose of the examination and registration of funeral directors is the better protection of the public health, the State Commission should contain at least one person especially skilled in sanitary science, and one well skilled in public-health laws. And I can see no objection to there being one or two members of the commission who are not funeral directors; although I think the majority of the commission should belong to the class of workers to be regulated by the law. Blank form for a letter used by the Secretary of the State Board of Health. STATE BOARD OF HEALTH, MICHIGAN. OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, Before I can issue a statement which will answer the purpose of a permit for the transportation of a dead body, it is necessary for me to have the following: 1. A certificate of the cause of death, by the attending physician. including not only the immediate cause of death, but also the sickness which led up to it. 2. The permit of the health officer of the place from which the body is to be removed. 3. The permit of the health officer of the place to which the body is to be removed. 4. The assurance of the health officer of the place from which the body is to be removed, that the body shall be carefully prepared for transportation, strictly in accordance with Section 6 of Rule 52, of the General Baggage Agents' "Rules" which have been approved by this Board, and which may be seen at each railroad station, and on the back of this sheet. PREPARATION AND TRANSPORTATION OF CORPSES. RULES ADOPTED BY THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF GENERAL BAGGAGE AGENTS AT MACKINAC ISLAND, MICHIGAN, JULY 20, 1892. Approved by the Michigan State Board of Health, at Lansing, April 14, 1893. RULE 52.-Corpse, How Prepared for Transportation. SECTION 1. The transportation of bodies of persons dead of small-pox, diphtheria, Asiatic cholera, leprosy, typhus fever, or yellow fever, is absolutely forbidden. SEC. 2. The bodies of those who have died of anthrax, scarlet fever, puerperal fever, typhoid fever, erysipelas, measles, and other contagious, infectious, or communicable diseases, must be wrapped in a sheet thoroughly saturated with a strong solution of bi-chloride of mercury, in the proportion of one ounce of bi-chloride of mercury to a gallon of water, and encased in an air-tight zinc, tin, copper, or lead lined coffin, or in an air-tight iron casket, hermetically sealed, and all enclosed in a strong, tight wooden box; or, the body must be prepared for shipment by being wrapped in a sheet and disinfected by a solution of bi-chloride of mercury as above, and placed in a strong coffin or casket, and said coffin or casket encased in a hermetically sealed (soldered) zinc, copper, or tin case, and all enclosed in a strong outside wooden box of material not less than one inch and a half thick. SEC. 3. In cases of contagious, infectious or communicable diseases, the body must not be accompanied by articles which have been exposed to the infection of the disease. And, in addition to permit from Board of Health or proper health authority, station agents will require an affidavit from shipping undertaker, stating how the body has been prepared and kind of coffin or casket used, which must be in conformity with Section 2 of this Rule. SEC. 4. The bodies of persons dead of diseases that are not contagious, infectious, nor communicable, may be received for transportation to local points in same State, when encased in a sound coffin or metallic case, and enclosed in a strong wooden box so it may be safely handled. But when it is proposed to transport them out of the State to an inter-state point (unless the time required for transportation from initial point to destination does not exceed 18 hours), they must be encased in an air-tight zinc, tin, copper or lead lined coffin, or an air-tight iron casket, or strong coffin or casket encased in a hermetically sealed (soldered) zinc, copper, or tin case, and all enclosed in a strong outside wooden box of material not less than one inch thick. In all cases the outside box must be provided with four iron chest handles. SEC. 5. Every dead body must be accompanied by a person in charge, who must be provided with a ticket, and also present a full first-class ticket marked "corpse," and a transit permit from Board of Health, or proper health authority, giving permission for the removal, and showing name of deceased, age, place of death, cause of death (and if of a contagious or infectious nature), the place to which it is to be shipped, medical attendant, and name of undertaker. SEC. 6. It is intended that no dead body shall be moved which may be the means of spreading disease: therefore, all disinterred bodies, dead from any disease or cause, will be treated as infectious and dangerous to the public health, and will not be accepted for transportation unless said removal has been approved by the State Board of Health, and the consent of the health authority of the locality to which the corpse was consigned has first been obtained, and the disinterred remains enclosed in a hermetically sealed (soldered) zinc, tin or copper lined coffin or box, or box encased in a hermetically sealed (soldered) zinc, tin or copper case. RULE 53.-Transportation of Corpses. SECTION 1. In no case will a corpse be received for transportation unless accompanied by a Physician's, Coroner's, or Board of Health certificate, also an undertaker's certificate that the body has been properly prepared for burial in accordance with Sections 2 and 4, Rule No. 52; nor will it be received, even with such certificates, if fluids are escaping from the case or it has become offensive in any degree. One first-class limited or unlimited ticket will be required for the transportation of a corpse without regard to the age of the deceased, and a corpse will not be received for transportation except there is a passenger with it in charge, and the word " corpse plainly written on the face of a local ticket and on each coupon of a coupon ticket. All corpses forwarded must be billed and reported on station and train baggage way-bills and train reports, giving the name of deceased, destination, and number of permit. SEC. 2. It will be the duty of agents to see that each burial case is properly marked on the paster, giving date and at what station shipped, point of destination, state, number, and form of ticket, name of passenger in charge and place of residence, with name of agent. If the corpse is destined to a point beyond this line, the initials of each road over which it passes must be written on the paster; also, the terminal point of each road at which transfer is made to connecting line, as shown on the coupons of the ticket. SEC. 3. The personal effects of the deceased, if not contagious, to the amount of 150 pounds may be checked on the corpse ticket. WOMEN AS CONSERVATORS OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH.* BY HON. FRANK WELLS, PRESIDENT STATE BOARD OF HEALTH, LANSING. Ladies of the Twentieth Century Club: I have been kindly asked by the director of the Home and Education department of the 20th Century Club to talk to you upon the subject of Women as Conservators of the Public Health. I thank you for this honor and for the privilege it gives me of calling the attention of so many of the more intelligent women of Detroit to a few of the recent revelations of science regarding those diseases which cause most sickness and deaths in the human family. The importance to women of these revelations cannot be overstated. It is upon them that the burden falls with the greatest weight when a member of their flock is stricken with illness and it is to their knowledge, judgment and care that conditions are maintained which prevent the enemies of life and health from gaining access to their homes. In fitting herself to thus protect her *Read before the Twentieth Century Club of Detroit, Michigan, Jan. 9, 1896. home it is necessary for woman to keep abreast of the rapidly increasing sanitary knowledge of the day and with her quick intuitions to weave this knowledge into action. In keeping her own home free from the contaminating influence of disease and preventing it from becoming a center of infection, woman may do very much toward conserving the public health. How she may best do this requires upon her part a knowledge of the causes of that large and constantly widening class of diseases known as infectious and contagious. Especially is this true with regard to the two or three diseases most dangerous and most dreaded. While all communicable diseases have general characteristics in common and are to be combatted upon the general theory expressed by the words cleanliness, isolation and disinfection; yet there are many marked differences in the weapons and methods of attack peculiar to such diseases and in the means for defense against such attacks. I shall endeavor to outline this afternoon some of the features of this warfare, as they are thus far shown in its history and results, hoping that what I may say will be valuable to you largely as it may stimulate you to further study of this prolific, interesting and valuable branch of knowledge. It is not my purpose to endeavor to enlighten you concerning the treatment of the sick; this properly belongs to your physician. It is the more valuable ounce of prevention and not the pound of cure which I shall consider. Twenty years ago when the whole scientific world was thrilled by the experiments of Pasteur in France, of Tyndall in England, and of Koch in Germany, the promise of their investigations was properly styled a theory of disease. Today when these experiments have been verified by a host of investigators in the field of bacteriology no intelligent person familiar with these investigations, questions the fact that contagious diseases result from the action of minute organisms which in some way obtain access to the bodies of their victims. The theory of a decade ago is no longer a theory, for it has reached during this brief period to the dignity of a science. This access to the body by these organisms is gained in four ways: By direct personal contact, by the air we breathe, by the food we consume, and by the water we drink. Knowledge of these foes of life and health, their work, methods and how they may be destroyed or avoided, constitutes the sanitary science of today. Nearly everything in this domain is recent knowledge. Previous to the time I speak of, there was much valuable empirical information regarding healthy and unhealthy conditions, but no such thing as sanitary science. People recognized the fact that there were unsanitary conditions; that those who lived amid filth and foul surroundings were much more disposed to contract certain diseases than those who were well ordered and cleanly. Why this was so or why the opposite of this sometimes held true, and the filthy lived out long lives while the cleanly were cut off in their youth, none could satisfactorily explain. At the present time we know that all those diseases that we regard as contagious like diphtheria, small-pox, scarlet fever and many others are caused by living organisms and that filthy surroundings alone never cause these diseases. Such surroundings furnish the soil best adapted to the life and growth of disease organisms, but the organism of each specific disease must be planted in this soil before any of these diseases can be developed by it. As well look for a crop of wheat where no seed has been sown as for a crop of scarlet fever or diphtheria where the seeds of these diseases have not been planted. Filth is merely the nutritious soil ever ready to receive and vivify the seeds of disease and death. It cannot be necessary for me to state here that such soil in any of its forms should be banished from the presence of human habitations, and that in this important department women are especially the conservators of the public health. The history of the discovery of microscopic organisms, and the important influence they exert both in inorganic and organic nature, though brief in point of time, is almost startling in the importance of its record. For the chemist, the physiologist, the sanitarian, the physician, and the student of nature, the new knowledge of this microscopic world possesses an interest and value far beyond any of the other discoveries of modern science. The infinitesimal and varied organisms of which this history treats have been shown to be, in great measure, the means of life and the cause of death. Their potent influence is ever present, either for weal or woe. Without them the body would starve and yet they strike down as ruthlessly and as certainly as the assassin's dagger. Moving with us along the current of our existence, these "spirits of the air" are ever contending for our possession. Arrayed on one side are those co-operating with life and health to prolong our existence; upon the other, ten thousand foes assail and constantly seek some unguarded spot upon which to plant the insidious seeds of disease and death. But their work of destruction is no sooner accomplished than other myriads seize the stricken victim and prepare him again for life. In this way goes on forever a series of grand phenomena which owe their existence to the part performed by these creations which the unaided eye has never seen. All that lives must die; and all that dies must be disintegrated and changed into the elements of which it was composed in order that it may be fitted to enter upon new cycles of life. This change we call fermentation, decomposition, putrefaction, and oxidation. A tree, a plant, or an animal falls and soon disappears. But whence has it gone, and how? All the material from which this complex structure was composed came either directly or indirectly from inorganic nature, and must at death be returned to this same great source. Whether it be the modest violet or the lordly oak, the tiniest insect or man himself, the creation is formed of simple chemical elements arranged in a complex and unstable form, constantly undergoing change and decomposition. As long as life continues these processes, to which we give many names are sustained by means of the lavish material which nature lends so liberally to her children. That she only lends, is a very old story. The manner by which she exacts a return of the last atom she has lent, is a new story. The old belief concerning this manner, accepted by chemists until within a recent period, held that the oxygen of the air communicated a molecular motion to particles of dead matter, which produced fermentation, and thus resolved them into new products, or into their original elements. The new belief, which is not now merely a belief, but a demonstrated fact, is that living organisms cause the ferments which produce these changes. In the words of a distinguished naturalist "A third kingdom has been discovered. The inhabitants of this kingdom are never idle. They leaven our bread, curdle our milk, cause our fruit to decay, addle our eggs, and decompose for new life the 'autumn leaves as they fall to enrich our mother earth."" The part played by these minute organisms in your homes is familiar to you all. They have by turns made you happy or miserable. You have Y |