the practice of medicine in the State of Illinois. The records, herewith submitted, of the labors of the BOARD thus created, and of the results of its efforts to regulate the practice of medicine, may, it is hoped, serve to show that the legislation you were then so largely instrumental in securing has inured to the benefit and the welfare of the citizens of the State in the interests of health and life. ABSTRACT OF THE Proceedings of the Illinois State Board of Health, AT THE MEETINGS DURING THE YEAR 1833. ANNUAL MEETING, SPRINGFIELD, JANUARY 11-12, 1883. THE Sixth Annual Meeting of the ILLINOIS STATE BOARD OF HEALTH was held in the office of the BOARD, in the Capitol building at Springfield, the members being called to order by the President at 7 p. m., Thursday, January 11, 1883. Present: John M. Gregory, Newton Bateman, W. A. Haskell, John H. Rauch. After the reading and approval of the minutes of the last meeting, October 5, 1882, at the suggestion of the Secretary, the regular order of business was suspended to give opportunity for the immediate examination of the cases of certain medical colleges against whose standing charges had been made-members of the several faculties being present and desirous of returning home promptly. On motion of the Secretary, the BOARD went into executive session on these matters, and adjourned at 11:40 p. m., to meet on the following morning. JANUARY 13, 1883, 10 o'clock a. m.-The BOARD met, pursuant to adjournment; present as before, together with Dr. John McLean. In the regular order of business Dr. Rauch presented the following QUARTERLY REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. DURING the quarter ended December 31, 1882, there were received in the Secretary's office 1,085 communications, letters, reports, etc., and 1,330 letters, postals and other communications were sent out, in addition to 503 copies of the Fourth Annual Report distributed, and 14,553 copies of blanks, circulars and other printed matter pertaining to the registration of vital statistics, to the vaccination of school children, to the history of the small-pox epidemic, to the "Boston Bellevue" diploma manufactory, etc., etc. Of the matter sent out, 141 packages were forwarded by express and the remainder by mail. Forty-one telegrams were received and 38 sent. There were issued 67 certificates entitling to practice medicine and surgery-60 on diplomas of medical institutions in good standing and 7 on length of practice in the State. Only 23 out of the total number of applicants for certificates were rejected during the quarter-a smaller proportion than usual. In fact, there is a very steady and uniform improvement in this respect. Certificates to midwives were also issued, as follows: 13 on diplomas from schools of midwifery, 10 after examination, and 2 on length of practice in the State. Small-Pox. WITH the advent of cold weather a few scattering cases of smallpox have appeared in the State, but without creating excitement or manifesting any tendency to become epidemic. At three points in Cook county, and in Aurora, Kane county, the infection is attributed to Chicago. At Marshall, in Clark county, the disease was brought from Cincinnati, and at Cambridge, in Henry county, it was brought from Pennsylvania. So far as the history of these cases has been ascertained, it is found that the victims were, in every instance, either unvaccinated or not vaccinated since infancy or childhood.* There have been no cases among immigrants during the quarternone, in fact, since the single case in the early part of June last, oon after the sanitary inspection of immigrants was begun. Strenuous efforts have been made to secure the continuance of these inspections, or, at least, their prompt resumption at the opening of the immigrant season. Among other contributions to this end, I have prepared and published a paper on the "Immigrant Introduction of Small-pox into the United States," in which I think is demonstrated-from the history of small-pox in Chicago during the past thirty-two years, from the consensus of statements of leading health officials concerning the origin and spread of the recent epidemic, and from the results of the operations of the Immigrant-Inspection Service 1. That the immigrant is a prime factor in the origin and continuance of small-pox in the United States. 2. That State and local boards of health, acting independently, can not suppress the disease, when once introduced, so long as the influx of unprotected immigrants continues. 3. That the immigrant-inspection system, in addition to furnishing a practical mode of coöperation by the various State and local boards of health, has proved entirely adequate to the remedy of the defects arising from want of international quarantine laws and of uniformity in the administration of our own maritime and boundary quarantines. *For details-see Fifth Annual Report, pp. 248, 253, 263 and 266. |