are now being taken to install individual incubators in a few all-night drug stores in order that physicians leaving specimens after collecting hours may receive reports on the following morning. 3. Complaints from Druggists and Physicians of Inability to Get a Stock of Supplies in Their Neighborhood. This is in part due to the unnecessarily large number of collecting and substations, covering a wide territory, all of which must be kept supplied. It is also difficult at times to obtain a sufficient supply of culture material. The number of stations is now being reduced as much as possible without doing injustice to druggists and causing inconvenience to physicians, a more prompt and efficient service being given to those remaining. Physicians and hospitals can aid in this work by being more economical of supplies than they are at present. Culture tubes undoubtedly are often taken in too large numbers, especially by hospitals, and are in some cases used in general bacteriologic work or kept on hand until they are no longer of use. Unusually large supplies for especial emergencies can generally be obtained directly from the laboratory and thus the depletion of a supply station with consequent injustice to physicians in the neighborhood be avoided. ACTIVITIES OF THE CHILDREN'S CLINICS, FIRST SIX MONTHS OF 1914 AND 1915. 404 1,294 of which permanent teeth. Number of teeth filled... 11.617 13.136 of which deciduous teeth. of which permanent teeth.. 1.196 1.066 10.421 12.070 Treatments given 27,249 36,057 CONCERNING [NEAR-BEER. An extremely interesting phase of the temperance movement is governmental discrimination in certain localities in favor of beers which do not contain over 2% of alcohol by volume. In a recent report of the United States Brewers' Association, attention is called to the lack of uniformity in the laws of the different States, and to what the brewers regard as a need for the establishment of a definite principle of governmental action. Louisiana was the first State to pass a law legalizing the sale of beer containing not more than 2% of alcohol in dry territory. The Act provides that the packages must be labeled with the maximum quantity of alcohol by volume, and that no other beverage may be sold under the same roof. In Georgia, the retail sale of near-beer for consumption on the premises has been provided for specifically, and retail dealers are licensed and taxed by the State. The report of the Brewer's Association quotes an opinion of the Court of Appeals of Georgia to the effect that "to establish the claim that any soft drink now sold is violative of the law, it will be necessary to affirmatively prove that it will, if drunk to excess, produce intoxication.” In contrast with the Georgia decision just quoted is the decision of the Court of Civil Appeals of Texas, which has held that "a place in prohibition territory where non-intoxicating malt liquors, requiring a Federal license, are kept for sale, is a disorderly house." The Federal Bureau of Chemistry, which is charged with the enforcement of the Federal Food and Drugs Act, considers that it is misbranding to label a beer which pays a tax to the government "temperance beer"; and the United States Government taxes at the full rate, all beverages which contain as much as one-half of one per cent. alcohol, and will not permit the manufacture of untaxable beverages on the premises of a brewery which produces taxable fermented liquors. In contrast with the attitude of the United States Government, may be cited the progressive class system of taxation for alcohol, established by the Norwegian Parliament, under which beers containing a maximum of 24% of alcohol are taxed only at the rate of 2 oere per liter which is equivalent to 121⁄2 cents per barrel of 31 gallons. In Denmark, similar light beers or near-beers are entirely tax-free. MUNICIPAL AND PRIVATE COOPERATION FOR HEALTH SAKE. We have just received a pamphlet entitled Instructive Social Measures" reviewing two years' work of the Department of Social Welfare of the New York Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor. A perusal of this report shows in a very interesting fashion how this organization cooperated with the Department of Health in many different directions. A survey of the work of medical school inspection was made, as the result of which there was outlined and presented to the Board of Estimate with the approval of the Department of Health, a definite program to place this work on a more adequate basis. An intensive study was undertaken to analyze the work of the six dental clinics and a definite program of extension was formulated. This program was approved by the Dental Societies, adopted in part by the Department of Health and will be urged upon the appropriating bodies as opportunities arise. A survey was made of the work of the Department of Health clinics treating nose and throat defects, and of the work of the refraction clinics. In cooperation with the Bureau of Public Health Education of the Department of Health, an educational campaign dealing with food supplies and nutrition, was carried on. Assistance was given the Department of Health in the reorganization of its food inspection service. The Department of Social Welfare loaned one of its workers for the development of the educational lunch room maintained by the Department of Health. In cooperation with the Department of Health Laboratory, studies were made of several bathing pools. As a result of the facts presented, the pools have been fitted with an adequate disinfection and filtration apparatus. A sanitary survey was conducted of the public comfort stations. An investigation of the relationship of the house fly to diarrheal disease among children, was carried on in cooperation with the Department of Health during two seasons. A study was made of the methods and adequacy of the present clinic and hospital facilities for the treatment of venereal diseases. A canvass was made of trade conditions in connection with the Health Department's campaign for improvement and for the lessening of health hazards among furriers. Assistance was given in the Health Department's bacteriological study of practical washing tests as conducted in commercial laundries. A house to house investigation was made in connection with the typhoid fever epidemic in 1913. The mosquito-breeding possibilities in Central Park were studied. An investigation was made of patients discharged from the Willard Parker Hospital and recommendations for a system of follow-up social service work were made. A traveling exhibit regarding foods and food sanitation has been shown in various parts of the city. It may not be amiss to point out that this represents the cooperation between the Department of Health with only a single private organization. When the number of private agencies cooperating with the Department of Health is considered, some idea may be gained from this summary of the very extensive cooperation which the Department has been able to enlist in its work. CARE OF THE TEETH-TUBERCULOSIS. If the proper care of the teeth is generally desirable as a matter of personal hygiene, it is of surpassing importance in those suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis. In these, it is necessary not only to prevent the absorption of poisons from suppurating germs and decaying teeth, but also to provide the patient with as good a masticatory apparatus as possible. All of the patients admitted through the Hospital Admission Bureau to the various sanatoria and tuberculosis hospitals are required to have their teeth placed in proper condition. For those unable to afford the services of a private dentist and not cared for by any of the various dental clinics, the Health Department provides the necessary dental treatment free through a dentist stationed at the Hospital Admission Bureau. Some idea of the good thus accomplished may be gained from the following summary of the dentist's activities during the year 1914. Number of patients examined.. Number of patients treated. Apportioned as follows: Candidates for admission to Otisville.. Candidates for admission to Ray Brook. Candidates for admission to Preventorium. Fillings Amalgam Treatments Pyorrhoea Root Abscess General Bridge Fitting. Cleanings Extractions Root Fillings Rubber Plates 1.087 2,688 2.576 90 20 212 476 1 43 13 998 164 109 736 134 106 141 120 VITAL STATISTICS Summary for Week Ending Saturday, 12 M., July 24, 1915. Population Estimated Deaths. 1915. 1914. 1915 *Cor rected, 1915. *Corrected according to borough of residence. †The presence of several large institutions, the great majority of whose inmates are non-residents of the city, increases considerably the death-rate of this Borough. Deaths by Principal Causes, According to Locality and Age. Includes Small Pox, Measles, Scarlet Fever, Diphtheria and Whooping Cough. Willard Parker Hospital. Riverside Hospital. Kingston Ave. Hospital. Otisville torium 2 theria. 26 226 5」8-,-8།Tuber. 23 226 31 240 404 culosis. 92 47 31 49 :::: : Cases of Infectious Diseases Reported for Week Ending July 24, 1915. 1. Typhoid Fever.... 3. Malarial Fever... 4. Small-pox.... 5. Measles. 6. Scarlet Fever.. Whooping Cough. 3. Diphtheria Croup. 9. Influenza.... 12. Other Epidemic) 13. Tuberculosis Pulmonalis.... 14. Tuberculous Meningitis.... 15. Other forms of Tuberculosis.... 16. Cancer, Malignant Tumor... 17. Simple Meningitis. Of which 17a. Cerebro Spinal Meningitis..... 18. Apoplexy, Softening of the Brain 19. Organic Heart Diseases........ 20. Acute Bronchitis.. 21. Chronic Bronchitis. 22 Pneumonia (ex-) cluding Broncho Pneumonia)..... 22a. Broncho Pneumonia Respira23. Other tory Diseases.. 24 Diseases of the Stomach (Cancer excepted).. 25. Diarrhoeal diseases (under 5 years) 26. Appendicitis and Typhlitis....... 27. Hernia. Intestinal Obstruction.... 28. Cirrhosis of Liver.. 29. Bright's Disease and Nephritis...) 30. Diseases of Women (not Cancer)) 31. Puerperal Septicæmia.. 32. Other Puerperal Diseases 33. Congenital 38. Ill defined causes.. If the deaths under one month, numbering 67, from all causes, be deducted from the total deaths under one year, the resultant rate will be 76 per 1.000 births (weekly average, 1914). deaths from Erysipelas 6, Syphilis 4, Diabetes 13, Alcoholism 5, Locomotor Ataxia 2, |