Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 9.djvu/657

 A MODEL MUNICIPAL DEPARTMENT 633

eases keeps a full record 1 of the name, address, and general his- tory, etc., of every case thus reported, besides assigning it at once for investigation to the proper district inspector. It also publishes a daily printed and classified list of all contagious dis- eases, and sends a copy of the same to the superintendent of every public and private school in the city, so that the school may take proper measures to exclude all infected or suspicious chil- dren, or those from the same family where the disease prevails.

In time of emergency or threatened epidemic the board is empowered to declare any section of the city to be a pestilential place, and therefore subject to the most rigid quarantine regula- tions, cutting it off from all communication with the rest of the city. 2

The diagnosticians are men of especial fitness who receive an annual salary of $1,800. They follow up the work of the dis- trict inspectors, and act as consulting physicians to the private doctor when the latter so requests. They also have the sole power to order any case of contagious disease which cannot be properly isolated in the house to be transferred to one of the city hospitals.

Methods of vaccination and the stamping out of smallpox. For the purpose of carrying on systematic vaccinations and prevent- ing any epidemic of smallpox, the city is again divided into districts, with a superintendent at the head of each district and a small corps of vaccinators, varying in number according to the needs of the city. Twice every day the members of each squad meet their leader at his office, or some other designated place, and are assigned their respective localities in which to work. Each district squad is itself divided into (i) a "day" squad, working steadily from 9 A. M. to 5 P. M., and (2) a "night" squad, working from 4 p. M. to 10 P. M. The "night" squad is always accompanied by a police officer, in order to increase the moral suasion of the vaccinators, and, so far as possible, an officer is also assigned with each "day" division. All the doc-

1 The present administration has recently adopted a new form of filing envelopes, roomy enough to hold all the data of a case, and properly classified by the name of disease, residence of patient, etc.

2 Sees. 1219 and 1220, Revised Charter of 1901.