printing room, lithographing room, prin institution are rented by the insular gove

The act further provides for the estab tions, 25 second-class stations, 17 third-cl tions, which are so distributed as to c First-class stations have already been es yan; San Fernando, Union; Baguio, Ben Ormoc, Leyte; Iloilo, province of Iloilo; Zamboanga, district of Zamboanga. Sec established at San Isidro, Nueva Ecija Tacloban, Leyte; Maasin, Leyte; Tagbil the province of Surigao, Mindanao. On established at Surigao, the capital of the For a further account of the recent wor made to the report of the director to th which appears as Appendix L.

PUBLIC HEALT

If any further demonstration of the Philippine Islands is unusually healthful needed, it has been afforded by the rem the past year among troops scattered in throughout the archipelago.

It has been stated that large numbers of here, and in some quarters this fact has b

The truth is that the large majority of cases of insanity among the soldiers have been produced by drinking so-called "vino," which has been shown by chemical analysis to contain in some instances as high as 17 per cent of fusil oil, and is therefore a deadly poison.

Although the climate must, on the whole, be considered good, the presence of bubonic plague in the city of Manila and its appearance in several adjacent towns; the fact that smallpox still prevails in many of the provinces, and will continue to do so until a general system of public vaccination has been inaugurated; the occurrence of scattered groups of lepers, many of whom are now living without medical assistance and without control; the necessity of combating malarial and other fevers and the several varieties of dysentery which occur here, together with rinderpest among the cattle, and last but not least the absolute ignorance of or disregard for the most axiomatic hygienic laws which prevails in most of the municipalities, combine to cause abundant need of an insular board to have general charge of the health interests of the archipelago.

Such a board was created by act No. 157. It consists of a commissioner of public health, a sanitary engineer (who is also the city engineer of Manila), a chief health inspector, a secretary of the board, and, ex officio, the superintendent of government laboratories. The chief surgeon of the United States Army in the Philippine Islands, the chief officer of the United States Marine-Hospital Service in the Philippine Islands, and the president and vice-president of the Association of Physicians and Pharmacists of the Philippine Islands are honorary members of this board. It has been given wide powers, which are believed to be adequate for the proper safe-guarding of the public health, and has been directed to prepare and submit to the commission necessary sanitary legislation and legislation providing for the extension of the public-health service into the several provinces and municipalities.

The sanitary condition of Manila is such as to make an efficient local health board most necessary. The city stands on very low and rather flat ground; it has never had a sewer system, and as a result the soil has become infiltrated with impurities. The tidal streams or "esteros," which branch out through the city from the Pasig River, are practically open sewers and form a constant menace to the public health. Many of the buildings are improperly constructed and badly overcrowded. In order to insure efficiency and render impossible any clash of authority, which might result harmfully for the public interest, the board of health for the Philippines has been made also the local board for the city of Manila and has been doing efficient work.

It was not found practicable to fill the office of chief health inspector until the 1st of August. Since then the board has been actively engaged in improving the health conditions of the city of Manila and

in drafting sanitary laws for submission to the commission. A vigorous campaign against bubonic plague has been inaugurated, and as a result this disease has almost completely disappeared. A system of inspection has been put in force which is so complete as to render it well-nigh impossible for a case of plague to occur without the knowledge of the board of health. A war of extermination is being waged against rats, which are known to play an important part in propagating plague.

No case of smallpox has originated in the city of Manila since January 1, 1901.

The greatest source of mortality is pulmonary tuberculosis, which has caused 168 deaths during the past two months. It is most prevalent among the very poor, who live crowded together under very unsanitary conditions. Measures are now being taken to ascertain the exact whereabouts of all persons in Manila suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis, with a view to the possible establishment of a consumptive colony outside the city limits for those cases where danger of infecting others is greatest.

The commissioner of public health has taken charge of the leper hospitals of the archipelago, which are located at Cebu, Iloilo, and Palestina (Ambos Camarines), respectively. They contain, all told, some 500 lepers. A leper census of the islands is being taken, with a view to the eventual segregation of all persons suffering from this disease on the isolated but fertile and healthful island of Cagayan de Jolo, where they can be given better care, allowed greater liberty, and made more contented than when confined in hospitals. It is believed that with the income derived from property already set aside for the support of lepers, and with the agricultural work which those in the early stages of the disease would be glad to perform, if given oppor tunity, a leper colony might be established at comparatively little expense to the insular government. The number of lepers in the archipelago has been estimated to be as high as 30,000, but the commissioner of public health, who has had wide opportunity for observation, expresses the belief that there are less than 10,000 of them.

Rinderpest and plagues of locusts have been widespread during the . past year. Rinderpest is now rapidly disappearing, probably as a result of the diminution of cattle, due to its ravages. At the request of the governors of several provinces, experts have been sent by the board of health to instruct the Filipinos in the method of making post-mortems and of inoculations of gall from diseased animals for the immunization of healthful animals.

A partially successful attempt has been made to introduce African fungus disease among locusts. The material used by the board of health was obtained from Negros, where it had produced excellent results. A fresh stock of pure fungus culture will be obtained at the earliest prac

ticable time and the disease will be propagated among locust swarms wherever found.

Medical assistance is furnished to indigent natives in the city of Manila by employees of the board of health, and it is hoped that, with the extension of the service of the board to provinces and municipalities outside of Manila, it will become practicable to relieve the worst cases of suffering throughout the islands. For a further description of the work of the board of health since August 1, 1901, reference is made to the report of the commissioner of public health, which is appended hereto as Appendix M.

CIVIL HOSPITAL.

A thoroughly equipped modern public civil hospital has long been one of the crying needs of the city of Manila, and the necessity has become steadily more urgent with the increase in the number of American civilians resident in the Philippines. On June 27, 1901, you were requested by cable to authorize the purchase of the buildings formerly used by the military as the "second reserve hospital" and the large lot on which this building stands, at a cost of $235,000, including equipment and repairs. Your authorization for this transaction was received, but unfortunately the owners refused to sell the property at a fair price.

The Women's Hospital of Manila, founded by Mrs. Whitelaw Reid, with beds for 15 patients, has afforded relief to a number of the most serious cases among civilians and has saved not a few lives; but the accommodations which it affords have been utterly inadequate to meet our needs, and the high charge necessarily made for the excellent food and nursing furnished there have been prohibitive for many of the civil employees.

As a temporary expedient, an attending physician and surgeon and an assistant attending physician and surgeon were employed to treat civil officers and employees and members of their families, either at an office established in the ayuntamiento, or at the homes of the patients, or at the Women's Hospital, as seemed best, and medical and surgical treatment and medical supplies were furnished free of charge.

After months of delay, a fairly good building, large enough to accommodate 100 beds, has been secured, equipped, and opened to receive patients. Emergency cases among all classes of residents will be received there at all times, and should the accommodations which it affords prove more than adequate for treating the sick among civil officers, employees, and their families, all beds unoccupied will be made available for other civilians. This hospital is supported by the insular government. A charge of $1 per day is imposed on patients in wards, while those who desire private rooms pay from $10 to $20 per week for them, in addition to the $1 per day. Patients may be exempted from

any payment, should their circumstances render this course desirable. While this is a distinct step in advance, it must of necessity be but a temporary expedient. A large, well-equipped, modern hospital must be provided in the near future.

GOVERNMENT LABORATORIES.

The day has passed when any government can afford to attempt to get on without laboratories for scientific investigation, and the need of such laboratories has long been urgent in the Philippine Islands. In connection with the work of the insular board of health there must be a suitable biological laboratory for the certain diagnosis of typhoid and malarial fevers, tuberculosis, bubonic plague, different kinds of dysentery, and other diseases in which the microscope affords the only satisfactory means of early and final diagnosis. There must also be adequate facilities for the production of the vaccine virus, serums, and prophylactics necessary to combat the diseases of this country, while the careful study of those of our more dangerous diseases for which satisfactory remedies or means of prevention have not yet been found is a work of the utmost importance. The board of health must also have facilities for carrying on chemical work in urinary analysis in cases of supposed poisoning, in the analysis of drinking waters, and especially in the detection of harmful adulterations in foods and drinks, which are extremely common in this country.

The bureau of agriculture also has need of laboratories in which it may investigate the diseases and may study the enemies of plants and animals useful to man, and may seek remedies for such diseases and means of combating such enemies. It must also have opportunity to investigate the composition of soils and fertilizers, the amount and quality of sugar in cane grown under varying conditions, and the numerous other conditions demanding determination which constantly present themselves in the practical work of such a bureau.

With the wealth of medicinal drugs and herbs, resins, gums, and rubber and gutta-percha producing vines and trees which these islands afford, chemical work as to the value of these products and the best methods of obtaining them is of great value to our commerce and to the forestry bureau, as is the investigation of the more valuable essential oils obtained from plants or flowers grown here. The oil of the champaca," a flower which grows here very readily, is worth approximately $1,000 an ounce, but no satisfactory method of distilling it has as yet been obtained. Chemical investigation would doubtless solve this problem.

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The development of the mineral resources of the Philippine Islands is in its earliest stages, and the mining bureau can not do proper work unless suitable facilities are provided for analysis and assaying. There are very numerous minero-medicinal springs in the archipelago, many