HEALTH ASSOCIATION, AMERICAN PUBLIC. On April 18, 1872, an informal conference was held iu the city of New York of gentlemen representing five states and five cities, at which a committee was appointed to draw up a constitution for the organization of a national institution for the promotion of sanitary science. The com mittee made their report at a subsequent meeting held Sept. 12 and 13, at which there were representatives from New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Louisiana, Con necticut, Rhode Island, and the District of Columbia. A constitution was adopted, mid officers elected. This constitution was slightly amended at the next annual meeting held in New York Nov., 1873, and contained among its provisions the following: "The officers shall be a president, a first and second vice-president, a secretary and a treasurer. All the officers shall be elected b4- ballot annually, except the secretary, who shall be elected for a term of three years.' A standing, executive committee consists of "the president, first vice-president, secretary and treasurer, and six members annually elected by ballot." The objects of the association are, to a great extent, served by annual meetings, when various matters of importance relating in various ways to sanitary science are discussed, the various essays and addresses being published in an octavo volume of from four to five hundred pages. For instance, the first volume of reports contains an address by the president " On the Limitations and Modifying Conditions of Human Longevity, the Basis of Sanitary Work." Among the papers read at meetings
and published in this volume of reports, which was published in 1S75, are " The Rela tions of Race and Nationality to Mortality in the United States." " Perfection in Structure in the Human Body as a Leading Element of Hygiene," " The General Causes of Disease," "A Report on the Sanitary Care and Utilization of Refuse of Cities," " A Report on Disinfection and Disinfectants," "General Principles Affecting the Organization of Quarantine," " What Can We Do Against Cholera?" There are also various papers on the cholera epidemic in the United States in 1873, and on the yellow fever which prevailed at the same time in different parts of the southern and southwestern states. The report also contains a paper on the "General Health Laws and Local Ordinances, Considered with Reference to State and Local Sanitary Organ izations," which discusses in an able manner the following subjects among others: "State Organizations Essential to Local Efficiency," Registration of Vital Sta tistics," "Definition of, and Proceedings Against Nuisances," "Popular Instruction in Physiology and Hygiene." It also gives some account of state boards of health which had been organized up to that time.