THE STATE BOARD OF HEALTH. HON. HENRY C. KELSEY, Secretary of State, HON. JOHN P. STOCKTON, Attorney-General, Members ex-officio. PROF. A. R. LEEDS, Ph. D......... EZRA M. HUNT, M. D..... E. A. OSBORN, C. E E. S. ATWATER, Counselor-at-Law..... PROF. CYRUS F. BRACKETT, M. D....... P. O. Address. ..Hoboken. ...... Trenton. .Middletown. Elizabeth. ..Newark. .Princeton. ....Burlington. President..... .C. F. BRACKETT. .E. A. OSBORN. 32423 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE BOARD. To His Excellency, George C. Ludlow, GOVERNOR :-In behalf of the State Board of Health of New Jersey, I beg leave to present to your Excellency the sixth report of the Board. In no previous year have the duties which have devolved upon it been so numerous, or its relations to the local and general interests of the State so responsible. This is because the public mind has become impressed with the fact that much of sickness arises from avoidable causes; because local Boards oftener have occasion to consult us as to the means of abating or preventing evils injurious to health and life, and because some laws passed by the last Legislature enlarged the field of our inquiry. Health administration on the part of the State is no longer looked upon as only a charity, or as one of the general ways which a government has of indicating its interest in its citizens. Neither is it a plan for meeting only the emergencies of a sudden epidemic. It takes the higher and well-sustained view that race vitality, physical vigor and the avoidance of the ascertained causes or concomitants of disease, are essential to the welfare of the people and to the prosperity of the body politic. It sees that a State, in its organic capacity, cannot ignore so indispensable a condition to its development and progress. Our social and national status is determined not less by the vigor of the body than by the education of the mind. Indeed, education which does not give large attention to bodily health is itself defective. Political economy no longer closes eyes to the significance of inquiries into the health of the population, as bearing upon all questions of industry, finance and thrift. The health of the laborer is not only an element in "the production of wealth, but in the permanency of the State." The health of the family defines the capacity of wages to confer comfort and self-support, more than does the numerical statement of dollars and cents. Not less does it concern all citizens and all families in a common defence and a mutual interest to see to it that no oppressive tax is its levied by the burdens of avoidable disease. If so, palsied industries, depressed spirits and inadequate means conjoin to degrade the people, and life, liberty and happiness are alike imperiled. As a practical infusion of energy and power into the people, no plan would be so successful as that which would reduce to a minimum the occurrence of ill-health and disease. The power that a State has thus to appreciate and in fact determine the physical vigor of its population, is no longer questioned, and the importance of giving large attention to its securement is too often painfully manifest. Mr. Spencer, in his recent visit to this country, in a criticism as kind as it is discerning, says: "In every circle I have met men who had themselves suffered from nervous collapse due to stress of business, or named friends who had either killed themselves by overwork, or had been permanently incapacitated, or had wasted long periods in endeavors to recover health. I do but echo the opinion of all the observant persons I have spoken to that immense injury is being done by this high-pressure life-the physique is being undermined. That subtle thinker and poet whom you have lately had to mourn, Emerson, says, in his essay on the gentleman, that the first requisite is that he shall be a good animal. The requisite is a general one-it extends to the man, to the father, to the citizen. We hear a great deal about 'the vile body,' and many are encouraged by the phrase to transgress the laws of health. But nature quietly suppresses those who treat thus disrespectfully one of her highest products, and leaves the world to be peopled by the descendants of those who are not so foolish. * "Beyond these immediate mischiefs there are remoter mischiefs. * * Also, there is injury to the posterity. Damaged constitutions re-appear in children and entail on them far more of ill than great fortunes yield them of good. When life has been duly rationalized by science it will be seen that among a man's duties care of the body is imperative, not only out of regard for personal welfare, but also out of regard for descendants. His constitution will be considered as an entailed estate, which he ought to pass on uninjured if not improved to those who follow; and it will be held that millions bequeathed by him will not compensate for feeble health and decreased ability to enjoy life." To this Board has been assigned the duty of taking "cognizance of the interests of health and life among the citizens of this State; of making sanitary investigations and inquiries in respect to the people, the cause of disease and especially of epidemics, and the sources of |