(Printed with Book of Returns of Deaths.)

SEC. 3.

LAWS RELATING TO RETURNS OF DEATHS, ACT 1876-7.

[CHARGE OF REGISTRATION OF BIRTHS AND DEATHS.] The Board of Health shall have supervision of the state system of registration of births and deaths as hereinafter provided; they shall make up such forms and recommend such legislation as shall be deemed necessary for the thorough registration of vital and mortuary statistics throughout the state. The secretary of the Board shall be the superintendent of such registration.

SEC. 4. [DUTY OF PHYSICIANS-PENALTY.] It shall be the duty of all physicians and accoucheurs in the state to register their names and post office [address with the county clerk of the county where they reside; and said physicians and accoucheurs shall be required, under penalty of ten dollars, to be recovered in any court of competent jurisdiction in the state, at suit of the county clerk, to report to the county clerk, within thirty days from date of their occurrence, all births and deaths which may come under their supervision, with a certificate of the cause of death, and such correlative facts as the Board may require, in the blank forms furnished as hereinafter provided.

SEC. 5. [REPORT OF BIRTHS AND DEATHS.] Where any birth or death shall take place no physician or accoucheur being in attendance, the same shall be reported to the county clerk, within thirty days of date of their occurrence, with the supposed cause of death, by the parent, or, if none, by the nearest of kin not a minor, or if none, by the resident householder where the death shall occur, under penalty as provided in the preceding section of this act.

CORONER'S INQUESTS.

SEC. 10. [TO TAKE CHARGE OF BODY.] Every coroner, whenever and as soon as he knows or is informed that the dead body of any person is found or lying within his county, supposed to have come to his death by VIOLENCE, CASUALTY OR ANY UNDUE MEANS, he shall repair to the place where the dead body is and take charge of the same, and forthwith summon a jury of twelve good and lawful men of the neighborhood where the body is found or lying, to assemble at the place where the body is, at such time as he shall direct, and, upon a view of the body, to inquire into the cause and manner of the death.

ILLINOIS STATE BOARD OF HEALTH.

STATEMENT OF RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURES.

SATEMENT of receipts from organization, July 12, 1877, to Oct. 1, 1878.

DISBURSEMENTS from organization July 12, 1877 to October 1st, 1878, $7,926 40. The disbursements have been as follows:

APPROPRIATIONS.

By direction of the board the following estimate of appropriations necessary to carry on the work of the board for the next two years is respectfully submitted.

Expenses of Secretary, traveling..

Salary of Secretary..

Contingent fund in hands of the Governor-for cases of emergency-outbreak of epidemics, etc

$ 1000 00

1000 00

1000 00

5000 00

2000 00

$10,000 00

SUGGESTIONS AS TO LEGISLATIVE ACTION.

to

Observation of the practical working of the State Board of Health act, has demonstrated the necessity of amendments to it, so that all county boards shall be required to provide the necessary means carry out the provisions of the act, also, that county clerks shall be required to bring suit against all who are known to evade or violate the law requiring the registration of marriages, births and deaths. Also that reports of deaths in cities of over 5000 inhabitants shall be made within three days of the date of such death.

YELLOW FEVER.

A

The president as early as July 29, 1878, recognized the danger of the advent of yellow fever into this state, and on that date communicated with his colleague, Dr. Wardner, of Cairo, to that effect. meeting of the board was called to assemble at the earliest practicable date, and accordingly the board met at Chicago, August 22, 1878. The following preamble and resolutions offered by Dr. Chambers, were adopted:

WHEREAS, The President of this board has reported that in accordance with the law creating this board, he had proceeded to Cairo in this state, on the urgent representations of the authorities at that point, as to the imminent danger to the people of that city and the surrounding counties, of yellow fever coming into this state, by way of Cairo, from infected points in the Southern States, and that he had considered it necessary and essential to the preservation of the health of the people of this state to order the transportation of freight and passengers to be stopped from Fillmore, and prevented from crossing the Ohio River, pending further orders from him, and had given directions accordingly, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the action of the president of this board be, and is hereby ratified, confirmed and approved, and,

Resolved, Furthermore, that until further orders are given in reference thereto by this Board, the transfer of freight and passengers across the Ohio River between Fillmore and Cairo, be, and is hereby ordered to be suspended, and the President be requested to notify the officers of such railroad and ferry boat corporations as may be interested, of these orders of this board.

The following resolution, presented by Dr. Clark, was adopted:

Resolved, That the action of the President of this board, in accordance with section two (2) State Board of Health act, in directing the sheriffs of Monroe, Gallatin, Hardin, Jackson, Massac, Pope, Pulaski, Randolph, St. Clair and Union counties of this State, to prevent the landing of yellow fever patients in their respective counties, be, and is hereby approved, the same being a needful sanitary precaution.

The following preamble and resolutions presented by Dr. Ludlam, were adopted:

WHEREAS, The city of Cairo, in this State, being, after the city of Memphis, the most seriously exposed of any point in the Valley of the Mississippi to the invasion of yellow fever, northward; therefore,

Resolved, That its present exemption from this scourge is chiefly due to the promptness. energy and efficiency of its local board of health; and therefore, in protecting the city of Cairo, it materially assists in protecting other portions of the State of Illinois.

Resolved, That the State Board of Health not only endorses what has already been done, but also promises all the aid and co-operation in its power to the end that all the inhabitants of Illinois may, as far as possible, be protected from an epidemic of yellow fever.

.

The President was authorized to do whatever in his judgment and discretion he might find necessary during the present emergencies, to protect the health of the people from yellow fever, subject to the provisions of the State Board of Health act. During the subsequent three months, in carrying out the provisions of these resolutions, the President of the Board visited Cairo seven times and St. Louis twice to secure their co-operation. His efforts were much aided by constant and liberal use of railroad and telegraphic facilities which these corporations tendered free of expense. Samples of water were obtained from the infected and other districts at Cairo, and were analyzed. The following is the report of Professor H. A. Weber, of the Industrial University:

At the meeting of the Board held December 12, 1878, Drs. Chambers, Rauch and Wardner were appointed a committee to proceed to Cairo to examine and collect possible information and facts relative to the prevalence of yellow fever at that point. This report is now undergoing preparation.

The Board has received the following communication upon yellow fever from Dr. William Smith, Sr., of Cairo, Illinois.

NOTE. This report and map are published over the signature of the writer who is entitled to the credit of its production, as well as responsible for the statement of facts and opinions expressed therein.

4

YELLOW FEVER IN CAIRO.

During the Year 1878.

BY DR. WILLIAM R. SMITH, SR., CAIRO, ILLINOIS.

TOPOGRAPHY.

Cairo is situated at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, at an elevation of 325 feet above the sea, in latitude 37 longitude 89.12. Its site is from 8 to 15 feet below high water mark, and to protect it from overflow is surrounded by a levee. During high water in either river, all the low ground within the levee is covered with "sipe water" from one to six feet deep. To prevent the collection of rain water and to remove the "sipe-water," large sewers underlie Commercial and Washington avenues, with outlets into the Ohio river. Opposite Cairo, on either side, are extensive swamps; also above it are swamps, and all the land for 8 or 10 miles is subject to overflow. The situation of Cairo and its surroundings would impress the stranger, and even the sanitarian, that it is the headquarters of all kinds of malarial diseases. But such is not the case.

We have fewer "shakes," and less billious fever than the residents on the table lands and hills above us.

The "meeting of the waters" prevents the residents of Cairo from suffering much from that unknown something we call malaria. The Cumberland and Tennessee rivers empty into the Ohio fifty and sixtytwo miles above Cairo and they increase the temperature of the water in the Ohio about six degrees above that of the Mississippi. Consequently there is always a current of air from one river to the other, and whatever local malaria may be generated is wafted away and absorbed by the rivers. Facts sustain this view. Opposite Cairo, in Missouri and Kentucky, intermittent and remittent fevers are very prevalent.

About 18 years ago intermittent and remittent fevers were very common in the upper portion of Cairo, but since the timber has been removed and the rivers have by abrasion approached nearer together, the upper portion of the city is as healthy as the lower.

Past experience convinces me, and I am certain that future statistics will sustain me, in the assertion that Cairo is as healthy and has as low or lower death rate as any other city in the Mississppi valley.

QUARANTINE.

On July the 29th the city board of health established a quarantine by visitation. All steamers from the south were visited by a physician and if all were well, were permitted to land. Also all trains were visited. During the quarantine, the steamer "Porter,"