which for nine days had been in common use in the school. By counting the cells present on fifty different areas on the glass he estimated that the cup contained over 20,000 cells or bits of dead skin. Few of these showed less than 10 germs clinging to them, and many as high as 150, while between the cells were thousands of germs left by the smears of saliva deposited by the drinkers. "A cup which had been used in a high school for several months without being washed was lined inside with a brownish deposit. Under the microscope this proved to be composed of particles of mud, thousands of bits of dead skin and millions of bacteria, among which were scores of germs corresponding in all details to those of tuberculosis. Some of this sediment was injected under the skin. of a healthy guinea-pig, and in forty hours the animal died. A post-mortem examination revealed that death was due to the presence of a sufficient number of pneumonia germs to cause blood-poisoning. "A second guinea-pig inoculated with the cup sediment developed tuberculosis. Careful inquiry proved that several pupils in this school from which the cup was taken were then sufferers from this dread disease." The evil is not to be dealt with lightly, particularly where hundreas of school children use the same cup. Sanitary drinking fountains and individual cups are suggested. I JUNE, 1909. EDITORIAL. F there is one place in the coun- No. 6. lators. But there is such a man, doing just such a work and doing it so well that New York City can advisedly be said to be the cleanest city for Pure Food in the Western Hemisphere. That man is Dr. Darlington, Commissioner of the Health Department of New York City. Together with Dr. Walter Bensel and Bayard C. Fuller, he has charge of the enforcement of the city's Pure Food Laws and is a veritable Czar within his particular domain. In view of the conditions, named above, his task would seem to be well nigh insurmountable, but thanks to the excellence of the New York City laws, his work is very much simplified. These laws are unquestionably the best in the country and contain many features, or rather reject many features, that are well worth the perusal of the law makers of most of our other states. In the first place, the provisions and punishments for violations are perfectly plain and intelligible. They don't mean a half a dozen things to half a dozen different lawyers, and nothing whatever to the jury as the case of many pure food laws elsewhere. Responsibility is placed on one กาวา from whose acts and decisions there is no appeal. In many other states, in such matters there is such a division of responsib lity that violators are often allowed to escape while the health department is divided against itself. The work, however, in New York City is very simple, but very effective in so far as punishing violators is concerned. Printed forms of various sections of the sanitary code are made use of when there has been a violation of the law, and upon inspectors' reports, wherein goods have of the Pure Food Law, and the protection of the populace from impure products, that place is New York City. But it is just the reverse. Consider for a moment a mass of four millions and a half of struggling souls gathered together within a few square miles. Consider the means of marketing that amount, the number of shippers in the port, the wholesale commission houses, the jobbers, the retailers, before it reaches the consumers. After getting a realizing value of what all that means fancy how you would like to be the Food Commissioner, charged with seeing that all Food Products entering the City of New York complied with the regulations and with punishing all vio- been condemned, or the chemist's re port, where adulterations are shown, and again, where m'sbrandings are known, warrants are at once issued for the arrest of the offenders. They are taken before the Police Magistrates in the District where they were arrested, and are then held by the Magistrates for the Court of Special Sessions, which is a higher Court. In the due course of time which is very brief, from two to four weeks, they are tried, and always fined. The judges who realize that a person who manufactures or sells food that is deleterious to the health of the individual is one of the worst of criminals and never let these violators off if guilt is established, and always notify them that second offense means imprisonment. The names of six of these judges are cherished by every law abiding New York citizen, viz: Wyatt, Olmstead, Zeller, Hoyt, Mayo and Deuel. These, along with all of the fifteen police Magistrates heartily cooperate with the health department in protecting New York City's people's health. In this connection it might be interesting to know that during last year twenty-one million pounds of food products were condemned and destroyed in the city alone. How many countless lives were saved and sicknesses prevented by this confiscation, might easily be computed. Perhaps, however, the most gratifying example of the exhaustive workings of this city's laws, is the fact that, under it, a couple of weeks ago a butter and egg dealer, and a baker, were arrested, and sentenced to sixty days in jail, one for selling spot eggs, (partially decayed) and the other for us ng bad eggs in making pastry. Think of it! In great over-crowded New York, the people are protected from dilatory substances and that they themselves could not detect, while in most other places there is not sufficient law, or rather power behind it, or graft to punish the most flagrant, open viola tors. Hail, New York-big, over-g.own, blaze, but nevertheless, dear, old New York, the protector of the people. τα G EDITORIAL. HERE are the good old days when fresh eggs were sold for less than a cent a piece, and good butter went for less than a cent an ounce in the spring of the year? The Cold Storage pant is the answer. The surplus of the lush springtime is absorbed by the warehouse men, and sold as fresh, or nearfresh to those who do not note that the adverb "strictly" qualifies the real thing in produce nowadays, and not truthfully at that. It will similarly be noted that no great amount of enthusiasm is manifested by the farmers over the present high price of wheat. It is a Tantalus cup to them. They have sold their old crop to the elevator man, and it is too soon for the new to come on. Nothing in the present boom for them. The average farmer, like the average raiser of produce must sell his output as it is gathered. And then, prices are always low. It is only between seasons that they boom. Department of Health. New York City Food Laws. Sec. 42. No meat, fish, eggs, birds, fowl, fruit, vegetables, or milk not being then healthy, fresh, sound, wholesome and safe for human food, nor any meat or fish that died by disease or accident, shall be brought into the City of New York, or offered or held for sale as such food anywhere in said city, nor shall any such articles be kept or stored therein. For the purposes of this section any meat, fish, eggs, birds, fowl, fruit, vegetables or milk offered for sale anywhere in the city by dealers in food, shall be deemed to be offered or held for sale as food. Sec. 43. No calf, or the meat thereof, shall be brought into the City of New York, or held, sold or offered for sale for human food, which, when killed, was less than four weeks old, or when killed and dressed weighs less than forty-five (45) pounds. No pig, or the meat thereof, shall be brought into the City of New York, or held, sold, or offered for sale for human food, which, when killed, was less than five weeks old. No lamb, or the meat thereof, shall be brought into the City of New York, or held, sold or offered for sale for human food, which, when killed, was less than eight weeks old. Nor shall any meagre, sickly, or unwholesome fish, birds or fowl be brought into said city or held, sold or offered for sale for human food. Sec. 44. No cattle shall be killed for human food while in an overheated, feverish, or diseased condition; and all such diseased cattle, in the City of New York, and the place where found, and their disease, shall be at once reported to this Department by the owner or custodian thereof, that the proper order may be made relative thereto, or for the removal thereof from said city. Sec. 45. The body of any animal, or any part thereof, which is to be used as human food, shall not be carted or carried through the streets or avenues, unless it be so covered as to protect it from dust and dirt; and no meat, poultry, game or fish shall be hung or exposed for sale in any street or outside of any shop or store, or in the open windows or doorways thereof, in the City of New York. No meat or dead animal above the size of a rabbit shall be taken to any public or private market to be sold for human food until the same shall have been fully cooled after killing, nor until the entrails and feet (except of poultry and game, and except the feet of swine), shall have been removed. Sec. 46. No breadstuffs, cake, pastry, dried or preserved fruits, candies. or confectionery shall be kept, sold or offered for sale outside of a building in the City of New York, or in any street or public place, unless they be kept properly covered so that they shall be protected from dust and dirt. Sec. 47. No person, being the manager or keeper of any saloon, boardinghouse or lodging-house, or being employed as a clerk, servant, or agent thereat, shall therein or thereat, offer or have, for food or drink, or to be |