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IT is with considerable hesitation that the writer undertakes to attack so broad a problem within the compass of a short paper. It should go without saying that only the barest essentials can be touched upon. For our purposes, we shall confine ourselves to child hygiene, that is to .say, the application of the laws of health to the needs of the child. The term, child welfare, which is frequently employed more or less synonymously with child hygiene, covers a broader field and brings in factors which, though indirectly, are not directly, connected with child hygiene. The subject of child hygiene more properly includes prenatal hygiene, obstetrics (in part), infant hygiene, the hygiene of the child of pre-school age, school hygiene, and lastly, the hygiene of the child in industry. Furthermore, we may perhaps safely say that the greater portion of mental hygiene lies within the field of child hygiene. A distinction has been drawn in the title of the paper between state and municipal administration of the child hygiene problem. This distinction is in part real and in part artificial. From the standpoint of law, the municipality derives its powers and responsibilities from the state. In practice, however, there must often be a fairly sharp line of demarcation between the kind of administration which is proper to a municipality and that of which it is most fitting for the state to assume control. It must never be forgotten that the activities involved in child hygiene from the point of view of municipality and state, primarily represent an attempt to do something for the health of the child which cannot readily be done by the

Chemical analysis has long played an important part in the determination of the degree of pollution of natural waters, and in the measurement of the results of sewage purification. The methods employed for this purpose have been inherited from the older methods of water analysis almost without change. The latter were designed primarily to determine the purity of drinking waters but they have been adhered to in sewage work despite the fact that sanitarians have long since abandoned the idea of maintaining streams at a drinking water standard and in disregard of the present day aspects of sewage disposal. Sewage purification is essentially oxidation of organic matter. In the wellnigh perfect work of the slow sand filter the oxidation was so complete that it was conveniently measured in terms of nitrification. This is not a true quantitative measure of the whole work of the filter, but appears to be an end-point reaction indicating the completion of the process. With the introduction of rapid methods of purification designed for partial oxidation only, the test of nitrification and the whole scheme of chemical analysis fail utterly to meet the requirements of the situation. Hence the recent development and general use of putrescibility determinations. From a stream pollution aspect the older analytical procedure not only fails to define the quality of an effluent, but is actually misleading. Lederer' has shown that the removal by sedimentation of 63 per cent. of suspended solids results in an improvetnent iIl stability of only 31 per cent. In dealing with oxidation processes and employing as criteria of improvement the decrease of albuminoid ammonia and of oxygen consumed, the opposite effect is noted. A complete removal of the putrescibility of the sewage may be accompanied by an improvement in these analytical values of not over 50 per cent. In stream pollution studies the condition is, if possible, a more serious one. Here there is no " per cent. removal " with which to cover the uncertainty of the result. We are given a definite statement that the stream in question contains so many parts per million of free and albuminoid ammonia or of organic nitrogen or oxygen consumed. We are expected from his information to draw a conclusion as to the present condition of the stream in question and the possible effect upon it of the discharge of additional sewage either untreated or partially purified. If these analvtical determinations do not enable one to distingulish betweein organic matter in

The anaërobic spore test for manurial pollution of milk has certain definite advantages. Total bacterial count is at best an indefinite warning, visible dirt gives no clue to manure in solution, while B. coli depends on temperature and may give false indications. The anaërobic spore test is simple and meets requirements.

Sulphate of alumina as a coagulant and decolorizer is in use on many waters in the United States, and is recognized as one of the most effectual means of reducing an objectionable color in the water prior to filtration. The river water as applied to the West Parish filters of the Springfield water supply is naturally a water of few objectionable features. No large population is resident upon the water-shed and the sanitary conditions are excellent so that there is not a large danger of serious contamination of the supply at any time. By filtration a water free from practically all objections is produced, except that at times, the remaining color is noticeable, and the present systeni of coagulation is the result of a study of the means of correcting this one objection to the water. This water was first used as a supply in December, 1909, and sulphate of alumina was used for the reduction of color in the manner in which it is usually applied. The accompanying cut showing the use of coagulant during 1910 illustrates the amount of sulphate of alumina which was necessary for this reduction. Its application during this year was in accordance with the usual practice, that is, in amounts sufficient to secure a clear-cut reaction and the coagulant was applied continuously. The present method is illustrated by the chart showing the amounts and the color of the raw and filtered water during 1912 and 1913. As at present practised, excellent color reduction is secured by the use of 0.2 grain of sulphate of alumina per gallon of water during a larger portion of the time.

In connection with the examination of a series of samples of ice cream by the Health Department Laboratory of Chicago, in the course of which the presence of foreign fats was demonstrated in a few instances, the contention was raised by scientific counsel representing one of the ice cream manufacturers that reprocessed butter often yields a low Reichert Meissl number and saponification value; that, judging from the data furnished by these tests, it is often impossible to distinguish renovated butter from mixtures of butter and foreign fat. As a basis for this contention it was stated that the alleged lowering of the findings of these two tests was due to a loss of volatile acids occurring during the process of renovation, as a result of the heating and washing. The assertion was confidently made that the aforementioned loss of volatile fatty acids may represent as much as one third of the volatile fatty acid content, as determined by the Reichert Meissl method. It was the opinion of the city's experts that the loss of volatile acids occasioned by the process of renovation would be slight, and would not in any case be sufficient to invalidate the test as a means of distinguishing genuine butter from other fats. The firm in question admitted that renovated butter had been purchased for the preparation of homogenized cream, used in the manufacture of ice cream, but disclaimed any knowledge of the use of oleomargarin or other foreign fats for this purpose. The purchase of supplies, however, had not been controlled by laboratory tests. As very little definite data could be found upon the point in question, however, it was decided to undertake the series of tests here reported. The procedure adopted was as follows: Samples of butter purchased in the open market were subjected to tests for the determination of the Reichert Meissl number and saponification value. They were then placed in an incubator, at 37°C., for from three to five weeks, until an extreme degree of rancidity developed. The samples were then reprocessed by blowing steam through them for two