Dr. R. H. Lewis, of Raleigh, Secretary of his State Board of Health, is earnestly engaged in promoting an improved system of vital registration in North Carolina. The last Bulletin contains his statement regarding the chief obstacles in the way of the proper collection of statistics in the rural and urban populations under his charge. We quote a portion of his article:
"One of the most important functions of a sanitary bureau is the collection of vital statistics. Section six of our law says: 'Monthly returns of vital statistics, upon a plan to be made by the State Board of Health, or their Secretary acting under their instructions, shall be made by the County Superintendent to the Secretary of the State Board.' The plan devised by the late Secretary, the lamented Dr. Wood, and still in vogue as the best available, is not calculated to secure complete and accurate statistics,