HEALTH, NATIONAL BOARD ov, an organization for the promotion of sanitary meas ures. It was organized under act of congress, Mar. 3, 1879, entitled " An act' to pre vent the introduction of infectious and contagious diseases into the United States, and to establish a National Board of Health." This provided for the appointment by the president of seven members, not more than one of whom shall be appointed from any one state, to be paid only for time in which they are actually engaged, at the rate. of ten dollars a day and reasonable expenses. To these persons there are added one medical officer of the army, one medical officer of the navy, one medical officer of the marine hospital service, and one officer from the department of justice, to be detailed by die sec retaries of the several departments and the attorney general respectively, the officers so detailed receiviug no compensation. The board chooses its own president and makes its own rules, and also special examinations, as it may deem proper, within the United States or at foreign ports, They are, to information upon all matters affecting the public health, and advise the.several departMents of the 'government on all matters submitted to them, or whenever they think advice needed. According to the first annual report made to the secretary of the treasury Jan. 1, 1880, the members of the board proceeded to organize April 2, 1879; and since the first meeting the board has met eight times, once at Atlanta, Ga., once at Nashville, Tenn., and on the othca• occa sions at Washington. The report of the board states that these frequent meetings were necessary, because the law did not recognize the existence of an executive committee; nevertheless such executive committee held daily meetings at the national capital, and had charge of the routine business of the board. The board iu their report stated that they coincided with opinions expressed in resolutions of the American public health association at a convention held at Nashville, Tenn., in Nov., 1879, and which are "that the quarantine laws of the United States should be under the direction of the National Board of Health, and of an executive committee to be selected by that body." They moreover recommend the assembling of an international health congress. They also recommend the establishment of a quarantine station at the mouth of the Mississippi river,• at a place to be designated by the national board. Information was collected in
regard.to the sanitary condition of some of the principal cities in the United States, and a commission was appointed to investigate yellow fever in the island of Cuba. The commission sailed for Havana July 4, and returned on Oct. 4, 1879. See YELEow FEVER. Various other questions received the attention of the board, such as diseases of food-producing animals, the merits of various disinfectants, adulterations in food and drugs, an investigation of the flow of sewers (see SEWAGE), a sanitary survey of the eastern coast of New Jersey, bordering on New York harbor, in connection with the state board of health of New Jersey, and a sanitary survey of the city of Memphis, Tenn. Sec SANITARY SURVEY. The report also gives a sketch of the ol:erations of the board under the provisions of the act approved June 2, 1879, to prevent the introduction of contagious or infectious diseases. See QUARANTINE. This act states that one of the objects of the organization shall be to co-operate with and aid, as far as it lawfully may, state and municipal boards of health in the execution and enforcement of rules to prevent the introduction of contagious or infections diseases into the United States. It is also made the duty of the board to obtain information of the sanitary condition of foreign ports and places from which contagious diseases may be imported; and it is provided that the consular officers of ports designated by the board shall make to said board weekly reports of the sanitary condition of the ports and places at which they are respectively stationed. Provision is also made for obtaining reports of the sanitary con dition of ports and places within the United States, transmitting the information so obtained to the medical officers of the marine hospital service, to collectors of customs at the ports, and to state and municipal health officers, together with any important information relating to sanitary affairs which they may possess. Five hundred thousand dollars is appropriated, or so much as may be necessary to meet the expenses to be incurred in carrying out the provisions of the act, to be disbursed tinder the direction of the secretary of the treasury on estimates made by the board, and to be approved by him. It is also provided that the act shall continue in force for a period not longer than four years from the date of approval.