Public Health

The most effective public health officer in the U. S. is widely conceded to be Dr. Matthias Nicoll Jr., Commissioner of the New York State Department of Health. His disease prevention work is excellent, his vital statistics are laudably complete. He uses the radio (General Electric Station WGY) for health talks such as "The Spitting Nuisance" of last week. Little that affects public health escapes him, whether it be milk supply, water pollution, or infectious and contagious diseases.

The cleverest is probably Dr. Herman N. Bundeson, Commissioner of the Chicago Department of Health. U. S. Senator Royal Samuel Copeland, when he was the New York City Commissioner of Public Health, was no greater publicity inciter. Dr. Bundeson dramatizes himself even to the extent of being "funny" (TIME, June 21). No less sincere and industrious, although less efficacious than Dr. Bundeson and Dr. Nicoll, are the host of other public health officials in the U. S. Every state, every large city, practically every town has its health commission or health officer. There may be a lone, overworked, always altruistic doctor peering into wells, getting dead cats buried, sniffing at overripe carcasses. There may be trained epidemiologists, sanitarians, statisticians.

As Health Commissioner of Buffalo, Dr. Francis E. Fronczak was host at the 55th annual meeting of the American Public Health Association there last week. The New York State Sanitary Officers Association and the Health Officers and Public Health Nurses of the state held related meetings.

As at most such meetings, those who attended did so to orient themselves anew to the national aspects of their work. No item of new import was brought forward. Dr. Bundeson declared that all health education material intended for public consumption should be phrased in words of one syllable because the mental age of the public is twelve years.

Life's Worth. By intricate figuring, Dr. Louis I. Dublin, Metropolitan Life Insurance statistician, figured that a newborn baby is worth $9,333 to a family whose income is $2,500 yearly. Such parents spend $10,000 raising the child to the age of 18. Then, if it is a boy, he may be expected to earn (in excess of his expenditures) $29,000 the rest of his life. At 25, through elimination of less efficient competitors, his future income will total $32,000. But if he lives to 50, he will earn on the average only $17,500 the balance of his years.

Life's Length. As ingeniously, but more ingenuously, Professor Irving Fisher of Yale, calculates that in 1930 the average duration of life in the U. S. will be 61 years; in 1940, 65; in 1950, 69; in 1960, 72; in 1970, 75; in 1980, 78; in 1990, 80; in 2000, 82; and in 2100, 94. At present the average length of life is 58 years. Professor Fisher offered to bet $10 to $1 on the accuracy of his prognosis. No one covered him.

Life's Tenacity. Professor Lorande L. Woodruff of Yale has a microorganism, paramecium, in captivity. It has reproduced itself 8,500 generations (the equivalent of 250,000 years for humans), and has yet died no natural death. Dr. Thomas H. Morgan of Columbia found that 1/250th part of a worm will regenerate and become younger than the original worm. Dr. Alexis Carrel of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research has kept a chicken's heart alive and growing for 15 years, longer than any ordinary chicken ever lived. Dr. Carrel sailed for a vacation on the Continent last week.

Sea Food. Shrimps, clams, oysters, and similar sea foods are beneficial against rickets, goitre and anemia, said Dr. D. Bresee Jones, chemist of the U. S. Department of Agriculture.

Foul Eating Gear. Germ-carrying utensils and dishes in public restaurants are a general menace. W. A. Hadfield and J. W. Yates of Madison, Wis., advised that all eating gear, after washing, be soaked for at least one minute in rinse water to which sodium hypochlorite has been added. Chlorine is liberated and kills bacteria.