Show edward dziark the people of the 1 united states and disease and death stands the governments gomerac public health service perhaps cl it will be urged that the great f ap body ot physicians 0 the united f states Is the real safeguard of the people this Is in every high sense true but in support ot the first seemingly wide reaching statement let it be known that the physicians of the public health service en gage themselves faithfully and with proved efel clency in the labor of prevention of which as the time tried saying has it an ounce Is worth a pound of cure the surgeons of the public health service are not only sentinels in the field of warfare against disease but they are the advance guard of the soldiers in the fight the campaign rec show that on many fields by early victories they have made great battles unnecessary it Is a large part of their duty to overcome the enemy on his first appearance and in many instances to make impossible his appearance in the field which he seeks to sow with the germs of disease which are alg weapons of offense in the popular prints one reads columns of the activities of government in preparations tor elble war pos there seems to be a delight in dread and abiding interest in battalions of the life lifesaving saving functions of the government one reads little the work of the medical ice Is as devoted and more dangerous than that of the sol adler the doctor in his hinves laboratories experiments and ministrations faces death in the time of peace and in the time of war the surgeon with the soldier is on the battlefield there Is a living interest in the dally work of the public health service of the united states it Is carried on for the benefit of all the people hundreds of thousands and perhaps millions of ickow too little of the whom iv a 2 their behalf labor in i rosf i f yawl yA wv w th health riffe r iffe the of united states sf Is of the a bureau S is department of the treas s M ury it falls directly the office of assistant within kiima arro of the secretary treasury byron n ds M biu srm E c w S r and haba alous branches direction over the va in all parts of the country e counce there appeared 2 exclusive statement of the danl fold functions f of the public health service ot the government cooperating through the health ot the states the service collects data upon the prevalence and distribution 0 interstate quarantine suppresses epidemics conducts research work maintains national quarantine examines immigrants regulates the manu facture and sale of biologic medicinal products in interstate traffic and furnishes medical treatment to various branches ot the government service officers of the service may be assigned to duty in any part ot the world it Is the intention in the present article to take up and describe only one of the works and fielda ot labor ot the public health service the waters ot chesapeake bay and its inlets and tributaries tributa ries form the field 0 an enormous industry it Is from these waters that are taken a large part ot the shell fish approved as a delectable food by thousands and perhaps millions who never saw salt water how many americans nodding with the approval of appetite over their oysters on the half shell know that it has been made a matter of government concern that the shell fish should be a food as safe to the health as it Is grateful to the taste it has been said that the american people show great interest in a dreadnought dread naught a big ship built for offensive purposes and if it Is not putting it too strongly mainly tor the sinking of other ships and their crews along with them a killing purpose Is it not to be hoped that an equal if not a greater interest may one day be created in the little ships of the government whose only work and only purpose are saving onest in the control of the public health service Is a little ship called the bratton it bears the name of a surgeon of the service who did commanding work for mankind in a great yellow fever epidemic and who laid down his life for humanity the scene of the brattoni Brat tons activities Is on the waters of the greaf shell fish producing bay which washes maryland and the tributaries tributa ries thereto it Is one of the ships helping to guard the lives of ninety mil llona of people the work of safeguarding the shell fish beds from pollution and thereby performing the work of prevention at a source from which danger frequently springs falls in the field of direction of assistant surgeon general J W kerr li charge 0 the division of research to give an idea of the immensity of the field of uon prevention and cure coming under the durec alon of one man it may be eald that doctor kerrs duties as set forth in the organization chart ot the service appear as follows laboratory leprosy investigation station hawaii hygienic laboratory Jab oratory washington D C division of chemistry zoology pharmacology pathology and bacteriology teri field investigations diseases affecting man pollution 0 streams by wage and in wastes rural hygiene and school hygiene the services of the good ship bratton are given tc tr to the division of scientific research dr H 8 gumming is in command of the coastal work of this falp which mean so much to the public which little of what knows Is being done in if behalf this ship a commander Is also a doctor a surgeon and a scientist on the ship knowledge Is trained against the enemy the brattoni Brat tons cruises are made in behalf of the welfare of american clu zens and they constitute no menace to the coun try of any people on earth it Is the farst duty of the bratton to safeguard the oyster industry of the waters in which the ship sails safeguarding the oyster industry means safeguarding the health of the consumers of oysters and other shell elsh in 1912 a law was passed which gave into the hands of the pub lie health service the work of field investigation into the causes of diseases affecting man and the duty of enforcing rules of safety at the sources of trouble under the same law the ice was charged with the work of the study of the pollution of streams by sewage and by industrial wastes the work in connection with the oyster industry falls within the field of the duties imposed upon the service by this law of 1912 the bratton steams all through the coast waters of the chesapeake making incursions into the inlets bays and tributary rivers under the direction of the surgeon in charge shell fish are taken from the beds at all the sources of supply with them are taken samples of the water at dlf ferent depths and also samples of the material which forms the bed of the coastal waters the bays and the streams at the points where the test Is to be applied bacteriological and chemical examinations are made of the shell fish the water and the bottom material the bacteriological examination Is the most important it discloses the total number of bacteria and the number of colon bacilli which are present the presence of colon bacilli in great numbers shows the presence of fecal mat ter and arouses instant and earnest attention and painstaking examination and report the layman probably knows in a general way that typhoid fever through the method of its in into the system Is one of the grave dangers which threatens the people through its food supply it must not be supposed for a moment that the work of the scientists on the brat ton cease when they have taken their samples and have detected the presence of elements which may constitute danger to the public health when there Is suspicion that the coastal waters the shell fish bed or the waters of a beach which are used tor bathing purposes by the people are affected by dangerous deposits the alanl whose drainage flows into the suspected waters instantly Is studied all useful information concerning it is obtained and means are taken to correct conditions which have contributed to the pollution of the waters or have wholly produced it the study of the section of the land which Is suspected of supplying through its drainage the matter which on deposit becomes a menace through the shell fish supply or otherwise to the public health comprises an inquiry into the pres cv ent and past conditions of health 0 the comma 1 alty whether or not typhoid and other corn disease are or have been prevalent the number of cases of such diseases and their location the general sanitary condition of the houses the land and the inhabitants it Is a comprehensive work and it Is carried out in every locality where there Is a thought that danger may exist at cape charles the public health service has an experiment station it Is a well and picturesquely located building fitted with all the need ed appliances for the scientific work which there Is prosecuted at a little distance Is a building which Is used for a tank bouse in which are placed all the material which Is to be the subject of bacteriological and chemical examination from the beginning of each working trip until the final results of the examinations of the material collected are known the work of the service men is most thorough nothing Is left to chance and nothing Is omitted which might in any way help the safeguarding labor in this study of possible shell fish bed or water pollution the public health service has conducted some work in the mississippi sound in the time to come unquestionably the field of labor will be widely extended the value of the service Is un questionable and it has been so recognized by the scientific world the shell fish industry is an enormous one and it Is of surpassing value the public health service not only works tor the people but for the industry itself which of course cannot thrive it its product becomes charged with danger to the public health in a word one of the great works of the public health service Is to see to it that one great part of the food supply of the united states Is made and kept safe the reports of the public health service are made public and the government and the ual states profit by them in the agricultural department part ment there are two governmental agencies which make use of the information which the public health service supplies there are pure food and sanitary laws in the united states and there are means of reaching offenders against them three departments of the government the treasury agriculture and it occasion requires the attorney general s department constitute a partnership of correction and it the case justifies of prosecution the bratton Is a small ship but under the dl of the service and of its complement of scientists it Is doing a great work tor public health 0 the people of these united states of america |