Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 82.djvu/14

10 of these conditions, that person is automatically excluded. In Class B are conditions which are not mentioned in Class A, but which make the person affected liable to become a public charge or affect his ability to earn a living. Class C includes defective and diseased conditions not included under A or B but which must nevertheless be certified for the information of the immigration officials.

The medical inspection of all immigrant aliens is performed by officers of the United States Public Health Service. This service dates from an act of congress in 1798 creating the original Marine Hospital Service, which conducted hospitals at all large ports and inland waterway cities for seamen of the American merchant marine. The duties of the service have since been enlarged to include all features of national health protection. Its officers rank equal with those of the army and navy medical corps, and are found in all parts of the world pursuing their investigations and carrying out measures to protect the public health of the United States. The medical inspection of immigrants is not the least important of their functions. The Bureau of Immigration is under the