EDITORIAL.

STATE BOARD OF HEALTH.

The Missouri State Board of Health, at its recent meeting, adopted a resolution similar to that adopted by the Illinois Board of Health, with regard to the relation between graduates and matriculates in medical colleges.

The resolution is as follows:

RESOLVED: That in future a percentage of graduates to matriculates of forty-five (45) or over, will be grounds for refusal of regis tration of diploma and issuing of certificate to graduates of a school otherwise in good standing; provided, however, that before such action is taken the said school, whose diploma is presented for registration, be notified and an opportunity given the faculty thereof for satisfactory explanation to the State Board of Health.

RESOLVED: That all recognized medical schools in this state be promptly notified by the secretary, of the foregoing resolution of this board.

While the measures that have been inaugurated by the Illinois State Board of Health for the elevation of the standand of medical education, and for the securing of thorough qualification of medical practitioners, have generally been admirable and effective. we do not feel by any means sure of the value of the action in which our own State Board has now followed.

Another matter which was considered at the same meeting is one of very considerable practical importance, and calls for immediate action on the part of medical societies and physicians.

Attention was called to the difficulty experienced in getting the prosecuting attorneys in the various counties to take the necessary

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measures for the enforcement of the law Regulating the Practice of Medicine in the case of unqualified and disreputable practitioners.

The Board of Health, therefore, very properly recommends that physicians and local medical societies, demand of gentlemen who present themselves as candidates for those offices this fall, satisfactory pledges that they will impartially and faithfully enforce this law, and thereby give to reputable physicians, the protection which the law intends and to which they are entitled.

Certainly the influence of the medical profession in the different communities in which such officers are to be elected this fall is sufficient to secure the election of men who will be faithful to their obligations in this particular.

It is time that the members of the profession should work together for the advancement of the best interests of the profession. See to it, brothers, in your respective localities, that your influence and support shall only be exercised in behalf of men who will, in their turn, do their duty by the medical profession.

DAIRIES IN ST. LOUIS.

The sanitary officer, at a meeting of the Board of Health held July 22, reported the results of a recent inspection of the dairies within the city limits.

There are now within the city three hundred and eighty-six dairies, in which are kept seven thousand nine hundred and nine cows. In forty-six of these dairies (not quite 12 per cent) there were filthy stables; and in nineteen (not quite 5 per cent) filthy lots were found; and one hundred and fifteen (30 per cent) had no exercise lot or pasture at all. One hundred and eight dairies (28 per cent) had no provision for drainage. In fifty (13 per cent) the ventila

tion of the stables was bad.

In two hundred and twenty-six of these dairies swill is fed to the cows.

The result of this inspection will be preserved in the health office so that citizens can learn by application there the condition in which the officer found the premises of the dairyman from whom they procure their milk, as also the character of food supplied to

the cows.

It would be well if physicians and other citizens would pay closer attention to matters of this sort. In many a case of illness, especially among young children, the source of the disease might readily be discovered in the unsanitary surroundings of the dairy from which the family supply of milk is obtained, or in the unwholesome, fermenting food of the cattle.

Such a record, so kept as to be accessible to the public and freely made use of by the public to learn the condition of the various dairies, would do very much to stimulate the dairymen to more diligent effort to secure cleanliness, ventilation and other sanitary essentials.

The Dairymen's Association has done very much during the last few years to secure better conditions in the keeping of cows and in the supplying of milk, and the officers of that Association have most heartily co-operated with the Board of Health in the efforts made from time to time to secure a better protection of the citizens as regards the quality of the milk.

In each case where, as mentioned above, stables or lots were found filthy or ill ventilated, an order has been issued for the correction of the abuse, and many of the orders have already been complied with.

Public opinion is a mighty power. Physicians have a grave responsibility with regard to the forming and moulding of public opinion upon sanitary and hygienic matters. We should talk more to our patients and friends concerning their sources of milk supply. It is doubtful if more than a very small percentage of the physicians practicising in the city have ever taken the pains to ascertain

the character even of the dairy from which their own supply of milk is obtained. If the taste of the milk leads them to believe that their dairyman "stretches" his milk too much, they change to some other who may chance to deliver milk in the neighborhood, or who is recommended by some friend; but very few ever take the trouble to ascertain the exact location of the dairy, much less to drive to it and see for themselves whether it is kept in a cleanly condition, well drained and well ventilated, and whether the cows are fed with wholesome food and are kept in a wholesome condition.

By so doing physicians could, with little trouble to themselves, learn much that would be of service to themselves and their pa tients, and at the same time would most efficiently aid the Board of Health in their efforts to secure better protection to the health of the people, and especially the children who are specially susceptible to the dangers from impure milk supply.

THE ST. LOUIS TRAINING SCHOOL FOR NURSES.

Every physician knows how invaluable the aid of a good experienced nurse is in the sick room; he also is made painfully aware how difficult it is to procure such a nurse, one that will be at once familiar with tending the sick and sufficiently well trained not to interfere with his directions; one that shall be able to reinforce his . daily prescription by her constant observation of the fluctuations of the case. St. Louis is very fortunate in procuring a training school for nurses, which is now in its second year of activity. The City Hospital affords an ample field for their practical training. Those in charge of the school are desirous of extending its privileges beyond the bounds of St. Louis, that the profession in general may be benefited. They therefore invite the profession to send pupils to the school, such women as manifest an aptitude and otherwise are worthy and capable.

On another page we print the address of the President of the training school, delivered before the graduating class of 1886. This address clearly points out the objects of the school, and, at the same time, assures the profession against fears that it graduates amateur doctors in place of obedient nurses.

CANCER OF THE MAMMA.-Prof. McCall Anderson in the discussion on cancer before the Glasgow Pathological and Clinical Society, referred to the fact that cancer is more than twice as frequent in the female as in the male, which he attributes partly to the frequency with which the mamma and uterus are involved. He remarks that there is some difference of opinion as to whether it occurs more or less frequently in married or unmarried women. His personal observations have convinced him that it is much more frequent in the unmarried, and he suggests the following explanation. "The function of the breast is to secrete milk, and when the married woman has suckled her children, the gland passes into a state of quiescence or atrophy. To use a Disraelian expression, it may be regarded in the light of an extinct volcano. In the case of the unmarried woman, on the other hand, the breast is, so to speak, defrauded of its normal function, and as years go on, it is apt to fall into evil courses. It almost seems as if one might apply to it the

well-known lines

'Satan finds some mischief still

For idle hands to do.'"

An interesting question with regard to which his observation has not prepared him to express an opinion would be whether the disease is more common in the case of married women who have not had, and who have not suckled children than in those who have.→ Glasgow Med. Jour., July, 1886.

SEWAGE FARMING.-A successful experiment is being carried on in Croydon, England, where a farm of six hundred acres disposes of the sewage of 66,000 persons. During the twenty years in which it has been in operation, it has never been the occasion of any nuisance or disease in the neighborhood. The value of the farm has increased from £1 to £9 per acre, and still disposes of the sewage as efficiently as in the commencement.