Twenty years have elapsed since the creation of the first State Board of Health in the United States, in Massachusetts, and from that single beginning, State after State has fallen into line, until nearly every State in the Union has its board of health in more or less active operation, according to the appropriations granted them by the various legislatures.
The reports show careful and conscientious work, in furnishing information to municipalities within their boundaries, and the New York report is especially valuable on account of the complete directions given for the sewerage of certain villages and the disposal of the sewage, and rules and regulations for the water supplies of certain others. The treatment of these topics may well serve as a model for similar work elsewhere.
The Wisconsin Board was hampered in the publication of its report by the parsimony of its legislature. The board reprints in its