Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 82.djvu/373

Rh belief, measles is one of the most fatal of common diseases, largely because of complications. Ability to produce it experimentally in animals opens the way for the discovery of the causative agent, as well as of a curative or prophylactic serum.

Assistance has been given to the Bureau of Chemistry of the Agricultural Department by officers of the Hygienic Laboratory in the scientific investigation of certain food products, and in giving testimony in court in trials arising under the Pure Food and Drugs Act. About one hundred proprietary medicines have been examined as to composition, strength and action.

Treatment for rabies was successfully administered to 128 persons, and 777 treatments were sent out into 14 different states. Examinations are made at the Hygienic Laboratory for tuberculosis in government employees. At the request of state authorities, officers have been detailed to determine the cause of the prevalence of typhoid fever in several states. A sanitary survey has been made of towns bordering on Lake Erie and the Niagara River and the work is being continued on all of the Great Lakes to collect data relative to their contamination with typhoid germs. The results will be applied directly to the prevention of sewage pollution, and the conservation of a pure water supply in those communities dependent for their supply on the Great Lakes.

Much work has been done on the subject of pellagra and patients