he considers it proved that fowls do not suffer from any ailment either identical or intimately connected with diphtheria.

With cows there is greater danger, because, according to Klein the cow suffers from a disease resembling diphtheria, and the milk contains the bacillus, thus offering a remarkable exception to man and the other animals in which the bacillus is confined to the local lesion and neighbouring glands. The bacillus moreover grows readily in milk, and milk is regarded after many careful investigations as a real source of danger. These facts present very vividly the danger contingent on the use of milk, because it may be infected not only after, but also before it is drawn from the udder.

The natural issue of these considerations is the application of all such knowledge as we possess to the prevention and mitigation of the disease. The means to be employed embrace notification, isolation, rigid exclusion of diphtheria cases from scarlet fever wards, disinfection of clothing, bedding, furniture, &c., strictly regulated school attendance, supervision of milk supplies and the boiling of all milk, removal of dampness, darkness and other insanitary conditions from sites and dwellings, careful observation and isolation of cases of sore throat however mild, the destruction, or at least effective disinfection, of sputa, and finally what up to the present time has not received the attention it demands, the resort to the bacteriological examination of all cases of sore throat however trivial they may appear, and the employment of bacterial cultivation during convalescence from diphtheria until the microbe can no longer be detected. This proceeding is necessary because of the uncertainty as to the time when the danger of infection is at an end. Such bacteriological examinations would of course occupy much time and entail much expense, and they could only be performed in laboratories established for the purpose, where also could be practised injections of serum anti-toxin from which it would seem that much is to be expected not only from a curative, but also from a preventive point of view.

I am impressed with the difficulty, importance, and extent of the subject I have touched upon, and must express a regret that I have only been able to deal with it in so incomplete and imperfect a manner. My remarks will at least have partly secured my object by enabling me to contribute a little experience of my own, and to ask you to follow my example, so helping to extend, however little, our knowledge of one of the most terrible and pathologically obscure diseases of the present day.

CONFERENCE OF MUNICIPAL AND
COUNTY ENGINEERS.

ADDRESS

BY FRANCIS J. C. MAY, M.INST.C.E., Borough Engineer and Surveyor, Brighton.

PRESIDENT OF THE CONFERENCE.

IN opening the proceedings of this Conference of Municipal Engineers held under the auspices of the Sanitary Institute, I wish it to be clearly understood that we are not present to represent the corporate body of Municipal and County Engineers, but as individual members of a profession, and engaged in the particular branch of that profession which deals chiefly with matters relating to the public health. We are here as municipal engineers, each in his own sphere of labour, interested in securing the highest degree of sanitation in the town forming that sphere of labour.

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Parliament has invested the Local Goverment Board, among its other duties, with the administration of the public health throughout the land; and it has hitherto performed those duties wonderfully well; but the subject is one that grows magnitude, and of which the details of the duties increase every year, so that I think the public health department should now have a separate existence from the Local Government Board, under a recognised chief, who, as Minister of Public Health, should have a seat in the Cabinet.

We serve those local authorities, who, under the control and direction of the Local Government Board, are entrusted by parliament with the care and guardianship of the public health throughout the length and breadth of the kingdom. We recognize the fact, that the health of the people is a subject which concerns not only the government, and the local authori ties, nor one set of persons or one profession; but that it is a matter in which the desired results can only be acquired by the joint action and co-operation of many parties and professions.

The care and supervision of the government and local authorities-the efforts of those in high position in the land, and with leisure at their command, who desire to help from a humanitarian point of view of the clergy, and others whose calling leads them into the vilest slums and alleys of our towns, or into the by-ways of our country parishes, where houses are in an insanitary condition, where water is scarce and of low quality, and where a low order of the necessities of life generally prevailsof the medical profession individually, who with their scientific knowledge, coupled with their generous and often gratuitous labours among the indigent poor, have opportunities of learning the condition of their lives and surroundings--but more especially of that branch of the medical profession with whom we are closely allied in municipal life,-the medical officers of health of the engineering profession to which we have the honour to belong-of the public sanitary officers of every degree. The hearty co-operation of these various professions, or sections of society is needed in order to accomplish a higher standard of public health. Each and all of these various sections of society are represented at the present Congress. We willingly join them to show our sympathy with, and desire to help, so far as in us lies, that good work which aims at the reduction of sickness and distress, the prolongation of life, and the rendering of that life easier and happier, by ascertaining and adopting the best known means to improve the morals, the health, the dwellings, and the surroundings generally, of the whole community. Much has been done during the last fifty years to improve the general conditions of the health of our land. The Sanitary Institute, the British Institute of Public Health, and other kindred societies, have done much to bring about this improvement, but much more remains to be done. The general public need much more further awakening and education in this subject.

We require, from honest conviction of the necessities of the case, the hearty co-operation of individual owners and occupiers of property, and even of every individual of society. How much faster would be the progress of sanitation, if it were only taken up seriously by individuals, each in their own home or locality. I believe that meetings, such as the Congress that is being held here at the present time, and all such others, are the best means of collecting and spreading further knowledge for improving all the conditions of health and life. I therefore cheerfully accepted the invitation to preside over a conference of municipal engineers, in connection with it; and I assume that such were the motives that led you to favour us by your attendance here to-day.

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We do not claim that all the desired results in sanitary matters are to be attained by the efforts of the engineering profession, neither can we admit that the medical profession, or any other section of the community alone, can secure them. Medical men must agree, and be content to work side by side with engineers, and all other professions and sections of the community having the common weal in view. All should join hand in hand, and work shoulder to shoulder, without envy or jealousy, in such a good cause. The only rivalry permitted or acknowledged in this matter should be the rivalry of good works and words, each candidly acknowledging the good work done by the other, and thereby cheering and encouraging each other in still further good works.

Having laid down these general views of the subject, I will now proceed to see in what manner we municipal and county engineers can help forward this noble work.

The local authorities, urban, rural and county, whom we serve, are, as I have already said, the responsible bodies on whom devolves the duty of guarding the public health. We often have to advise our authorities on technical matters relating to the public health, and afterwards have to carry out their instructions. How important it is, therefore, that we should thoroughly understand, even to the most minute detail, everything that pertains to sanitary engineering in relation to the public health; and it is, in my opinion, equally necessary that the municipal engineer should have very strong and earnest sympathies with the object, to ensure his whole heart being engaged in his work, so that he may make every effort to be in a position to know, to understand, and to recommend the adoption of the latest revelations of science, or research, for the public weal.

It is impossible, in such a short address as this must necessarily be, to touch upon all the subjects which are embraced within the meaning of the term "Sanitary Engineering," as implied under the requirements of the Public Health Acts, but I will briefly refer to some which I consider the most important. These are;

2. Healthy Dwellings, embracing inspection of new houses during construction; the removal and disposal of house refuse; the removal of nuisances.

3.

Sewerage and Drainage, embracing inspection of the construction, and subsequent testing of sewers and house drains, and of the various connections therewith.

4. Sewage Disposal Works.

5.

6.

Ventilation of Sewers and House Drains.

The Construction of good Roads and Impervious Pavements, thorough Scavenging, &c.

1. WATER SUPPLY.

I do not propose to enlarge very much upon this subject. We all recognise it as a very important one, but as a rule the supply and distribution of water is outside the purview of the municipal engineer and surveyor, per se, and is controlled by the waterworks engineer, the head of a separate department, either under municipal or private government.

One of the most imperative duties of a local authority is to secure and provide an abundant supply of pure water. It is an absolute necessity of health and life, and one as to which economy in its use should be religiously observed. Waste of this essential of life in the household is a sin, and one the waterworks engineer takes steps to check as much as possible. How much greater is the transgression in factories, and places where the demand is greater, and where the means of supervision are correspondingly less. We all know how much the people need to be educated in the virtue of economy in this respect.

feel, therefore, that the distinct duty devolves upon the municipal engineer to regard the water supply as a commodity of the highest value; to do all he can to prevent waste in every section of his department; and to restrict its use to that of absolute necessity only. In all building operations, for use in urinals, flushing sewers, street watering, and all such like purposes, the strictest economy should prevail. In many places sea or river water might be used for some purposes; and, I think, too, that our attention might profitably be turned towards the collection and storage of rain and flood waters for many purposes. By following out these suggestions we shall all be working in harmony with the waterworks engineer for the common good; and we should do so just as much as if we were ourselves personally engaged in the question of supply and distribution of this most essential element of health and life.

2. HEALTHY DWELLINGS.

a. Inspection of Houses during Construction. I am of opinion that in most cases the building bye-laws are sufficiently stringent for the construction of sanitary houses if carried out strictly;

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