Dr. Quimby thought the sewers of Jersey City were not large enough. That the Passaic water was fairly good.

Dr. C. B. Brush, C.E., of Hoboken, said the death-rate has fallen 6 in 1,000 since the introduction of the Hackensack river water.

Dr. Saltonstall insisted on the great need of filtration, even if the purity of the water was open to question.

It being about time to adjourn for the noon recess, the calling of the counties was suspended. The following resolution, offered by

the Hon. E. O. Chapman, was unanimously adopted:

Resolved, That the Committee on Legislation be instructed to consider the advisability of a statute which will place the potable waters of the State under the care and protection of a State Board of Commissioners, and, if the committee deem it advisable, that they be requested to prepare and present to the Legislature a bill for that purpose.

Dr. Mitchell offered the following:

Resolved, That a committee of three be appointed to prepare for presentation to the Legislature a bill which shall provide for the safe construction of dwellings and especially of house drainage. Also to prepare and present a supplement to Chapter LXXX., Laws of 1885, respecting the cutting and sale of ice in cities and towns, to cause the provisions of said act to apply to all parts of the State.

This resolution and all other matters pertaining to legislation were referred with power to the Standing Committee on Legislation to be appointed by the Chair.

The President then introduced Prof. Rudolph Hering, C. and S.E., of Philadelphia, who read a very able and instructive paper, which is to be found in the present report. It was followed by a paper by the State Geologist, George H. Cook, of New Brunswick, on the "Value of Bored Wells for Domestic Use in Different Parts of New Jersey." [The paper will be found in full in the report of the State Geologist for this year.]

Prof. Charles McMillan, C.E., of Princeton, opened the discussion on Prof. Hering's paper. After expressing the opinion that the thoroughness of the paper left little for him to add, he said that when we speak of ventilating sewers the public should be taught that it is not the gases themselves that are so destructive to health and life, but

the germs or active agents which they carry. He also spoke on the subject of siphonage in traps, calling attention to one of the difficulties we meet with in manufacturers compelling the introduction of expensive traps when cheaper ones answer as well and in some cases much better.

Civil Engineer Brush and Dr. Hunt continued the discussion. Civil Engineers L. B. Ward, James Owen and C. P. Bassett spoke on Prof. Cook's paper.

The following resolution was offered by Dr. Quimby:

Resolved, That the scourge of small pox in Canada is a sad result of the too-prevalent neglect of vaccination through ignorance or prejudice; therefore, we urge upon parents, physicians and school boards strenuous efforts to secure a more general system of vaccination.

Adopted.

Resolutions of condolence were adopted as to the death of the Rev. William Harris, of Princeton, and of Prof. George H. Barton, of Jersey City, both of whom were active members of the Association. The Association elected Prof. James M. Green, of Long Branch, as its president, and various other officers.

Upon motion the annual meeting adjourned sine die, the general expression of the members being that it was the best of the series of meetings that the Association had held.

REPORT AS TO JAILS, PENITENTIARIES AND PRISONS, ALMSHOUSES AND ASYLUMS.

BY THE SECRETARY.

By section first of the act to be found Chapter CLXV., Laws of 1882, it was made a part of the service of the Board to visit charitable and penal institutions with the especial object of inquiring into their sanitary condition, and that of their inmates. With this class of our population, such an inquiry is almost inseparable from some inquiry into institutional methods and the management, since upon these their sanitary condition is chiefly dependent. On behalf of the State, there needs to be greater recognition of how large a class of population is included in these various institutions, and of how great an influence these exercise upon health, upon social conditions and upon our general prosperity. Besides the constant expenses of general sickness and ill health, we have witnessed at least three epidemics, owing to local conditions, one in an asylum, one in an almshouse and one in a reform school, which have cost in the aggregate about forty thousand dollars. This, however, is but a small item in the aggregate of expenditure. The average number in the asylums of the State is about two thousand inmates. "The local governments of our State provide for the support of not less than sixteen thousand in and out of door paupers, exclusive of indigent insane and vagrants or tramps." The cost of maintenance is over $443,000.

The entire cost to the State of maintenance of dependents in asylums and of paupers, is stated by the able report of the Bureau of Statistics and Industries (1883) as not less than $783,000. If we add to this the cost of buildings and the dependent families often represented, the aggregate is in the millions. One to about every seventy of the population thus dependent is an item needing very careful inquiry. All the more because of this number so many are

found to be suffering from avoidable ill health or to have been subjected to unsanitary conditions.

If we turn to the jails and penitentiaries we find the returns for the same year to be of over fourteen thousand inmates. Although many of these are recommitments, and so there are not so many persons, yet this large number gives an approximate idea of the actual count. Indeed the fact that there is such constant and frequent rotation between the jail or penitentiary and the outer world, makes the sanitary and social relations of this jail population fraught with still more weighty import for the people at large. The same may be said to some degree of the State Prison with its over eight hundred additional inmates. The report above referred to puts the total yearly cost of crime at $1,150,000, not including buildings. After a careful examination of these figures, and after a comparative study of those of some other States, we are within the bounds of caution when we place our whole number of dependent and penal population as represented in State and county institutions at over thirty thousand, or one to about every forty of our population. The yearly expense of maintenance is about $1,943,000. This includes none of the large incidental outside expenses, and so includes none of the expenses of courts and trials, and of the cities and counties in protecting the people against the criminal classes. There is millions in it. These are expenses that cannot be reckoned by any usual per capita. In the economies of the State, and all that relates to political economy and social and industrial welfare, this multitude has never been studied with that particularity and that consideration of public health and welfare which is demanded. Strange that so vital a concern should be so often regarded as only a respectable philanthropy.

Upon this Board first devolved the duty of some inquiry into this population in the interests of health, and of society.

The Bureau of Labor and Statistics was naturally drawn to the study by its intimate bearing on the labor and industrial interests of the State. From time to time citizens interested and well-informed in public affairs, have felt the gravity of the situation, and have, through pen and press, urged to greater attention on the part of the State. A Council of Charities and Correction has been formed in response to some awakened public interest. But it has not yet been able to operate to a degree sufficient to inaugurate a comprehensive system of improvement, prevention or relief. The statesman, not less

than the political economist, the sanitarian and the philanthropist must see that it is very wise for us to grapple with a problem which has so perplexed older countries, and which is already having too many sad or perilous solutions in our own State. Our asylums will continue to be overcrowded and to appeal for enlargement, unless, on the one hand, we can diminish the causes of mental imperfection, and on the other provide for a class of the afflicted without the appointments of a hospital, and of wards for treatment and restraint, and more fully substitute in their stead the healthful discipline of systematic employment.

Our almshouses will continue to fill, and entail upon us organized pauperism, unless there is an entire change in classification and discipline, and unless the pauper children are so separated and placed as to be trained out of this kind of dependency, instead of into it, and unless conditions of health are more fully studied and arranged for.

Our jails will continue to furnish material for disorder, disease and crime, more than they contribute to restraint, so long as they are made the rendezvous for promiscuous congregations of criminals of all grades and ages, together with disorderly or suspected persons, drunkards, tramps, vagrants, temporarily insane persons and witnesses. If to any the peril to the public health seems small, it is only so because the peril to public morals, to public thrift, and to public order is greater.

In visits to institutions we have been able to correct many defects, both such as were structural and such as had to do with the personnel of the inmates.

In our State institutions the facilities for sanitary care as to food, clothing, bathing, etc., are, in general, complete, and the discipline exact. The same may be said as to two or three of the county asylums; but in the others and in our county and town and city almshouses, there is, too frequently, a want of that system which secures clean bodies, clean outer as well as laundried clothing, and of that method of work and of classification which is essential to health. Often a bath-tub is not to be found, or its appointments are too incomplete to invite to its use. The overseer, while recognizing that clean floors, clean beds and good food are expected, as to all other matters seeks to commend himself by his economy. With no systematized oversight it so happens that here and there an overseer shows special tact for his work, and that the wife brings to bear her good training