Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 09.djvu/735

* HEALTH. 67; HEALTH. soundness or integrity, and the organs perform tlieir functions normally; in which waste and repair go on progressively, and in which proper growth or retrograde metabolism occurs, accord- ing lo the age of the individual, disease being ab- sent. Disease is present when the integrity of the blood or of other tissues is impaired, where function is disordered, or where excessive growth or alinormal retrogression and decay occur. Per- fect health is rarely seen, and never continues for any considerable portion of life in tlie artificial conditions of modern e.xistence among civilized people. Health is therefore a comparative term. Health officers are elected or appointed in all towns of any size in the United States, whose duty it is to limit the spread and prevent the in- vasion of disease, to enforce sanitary laws, and take all precautions to safeguard the health of citizens. The reports of occurrence of disease and death are recorded by county. State, and national health ollicials. For the distribution of diseases, see DiSTRiBVTiOM OF DISEASES. For the consid- eration of measures to safeguard the public health, see S.^nitary Science; and for' a con- sideration of the laws of health, see Hygiene. HEALTH, Bill of. In shipping, a certificate of a consul, etc., as to the health of the crew, when the ship has come from a suspected port. A clean bill, a suspected bill, and a foul bill, are the three short names given to the several de- grees of health. HEALTH, Boards of. Institutions organized under Uovernment and deriving powers from the laws for the purpose of protecting the health of the citizens. Municipal Boards of Health. These are created for the purpose of controlling and re- pressing agencies which undermine the health of the residents of a city or a municipality. The 'unction of such a board is to adopt ordinances which compose a sanitary code, under which cer- tain measures may be enforced, and the authority of the officers of the board may be maintained. Such a code includes provisions for the preven- tion of fraud and pretense in the preparation and sale of medicines, or of the sale of poisons except for lawful uses and purposes : of adulteration of coffees, teas, and other preparations from which beverages are made ; for the control of the con- struction of buildings, ventilation, drainage, and plumbing; for the control of the sale of food and drink, to prevent stale, unwholesome, or unhealthy food, as well as adulterated or watered milk, from being offered in the market ; to control the passage of cattle, horses, or any dangerous or offensive animals through the public streets; to regulate slaughtering and slaughter-houses; to exercise cai'e over sidewalks in streets: to regulate the sanitary condition of pounds: to kill animals afflicted with hydrophobia ; to prevent or limit offensive odors and liquids from any source: to provide for proper accunnilation and removal of filth and dirt; to prevent diseased animals from being brought into the city, or dead, sick, or in- jured animals being left in the streets ; to provide for the notification of contagious and infectious diseases; to control the unloading of vessels, the removal of sick persons, vaccination, exposure to disease, handling and interment of dead bodies; to outline the duties of coroners ; to secure the reporting of vital statistics; to' regulate matters relating lo vehicles used for passenger transpor- tation; and to control noise, expectoration in public conveyances, life-lines at bathing-places, etc. As an example of a municipal board of health, the organization of the Health Department in Xcw York City may be described, as it has ex- isted since the adoption of the charter creating the tireater New York. In chapter xix. of this ch:irtcr the several powers and duties of the health olliccrs are set forth in detail. The head of the department is called the president of the Board of Health. The board consists of a single Commissioner of Health, Commissioner of Police, and the Health Officer of the Port. The Com- missioner of Health is appointed by the Mayor (as is also the Commissioner of Police), and is the president of the board, and the executive offi- cer. He may or may not be a physician. The first appointee in 1902 was a chemist and sani- tary expert. Dr. Ernest J. Lederle. Two bureaus have been established under the act of Legislature. The chief executive ofticer of one is called the Sanitary Superintendent, who at the time of his appointment must have been for at least ten years a practicing physician, and for three .years a resident of the city. The chief officer of "the second bureau is the Registrar of Records. An office of the Board of Health is established in each of the different boroughs of the city, wherein the business of the department is transacted. An assistant sanitary superin- tendent and an assistant registrar of records are appointed for each borough. Similar municipal boards of health exist in other cities. State Boards of Health. These are insti- tutions established by State legislative enact- ments, having many specific relations to the pub- lic health, and intended to have a central advisory relation to the local sanitary organizations, and also to supervise a State system of vital statis- tics. In 1000 there were 43 State boards in existence in the States and Territories of this country'. The first organization under this name in the United States was established in Louisiana in 1855.. but under the present acceptation of the term it is not to be classed with the average State Board of Health, as it was created for the sole purpose of maintaining a quarantine for the protection of New Orleans. Following are the dates in which boards of health were established in the different States and Territories: Massachu- setts, 18G9, under a law for which successive Legislatures had been asked since 185G; Cali- fomia, 1870: Virginia and Minnesota, 1872: Michigan, 1873; jiaryland, 1874; Alabama and Georgia. 1875; Colorado and Wisconsin, 187G; Mississippi, New .Jersey, Tennessee, and Illinois, 1877; Connecticut, Kentucky, Rhode Island, and South Carolina, 1878: Delaware and North Caro- lina, 1879; Iowa and New York, 1880: Arkansas, Indiana, West Virginia, and New Hampshire, 1881: ^lissouri, 1883; Maine, Kansas, and Penn- sylvania, 1885; Ohio and Vermont, 1886: Flor- ida and North Dakota, 1889; Nebraska, Wash- ington, Oklahoma, and South Dakota, 1891 ; Nevada, 1893; New Mexico, 1895; and Utah, 1893, As an example of the organization of a State Board of Health that of New Y'ork may be men- tioned, which is composed of a single commis- sioner, assisted by a secretary, a chief clerk, a