THE STATE OF INDIANA,

EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT;

November 20, 1906.

Received by the Governor, examined and referred to the Auditor of State for verification of the financial statement.

OFFICE OF AUDITOR OF STATE,

INDIANAPOLIS, November 28, 1906.

The within report, so far as the same relates to moneys drawn from the State Treasury, has been examined and found correct.

J. C. BILLHEIMER,

Auditor of State.

November 28, 1906.

Returned by the Auditor of State, with above certificate, and transmitted to Secretary of State for publication, upon the order of the Board of Commissioners of Public Printing and Binding.

FRED L. GEMMER,

Secretary to the Governor.

Filed in the office of the Secretary of State of the State of Indiana, November 28, 1906.

1906.

FRED A. SIMS,

Secretary of State.

Received the within report and delivered to the printer November 28,

HARRY SLOUGH,

Clerk Printing Bureau.

TWENTY-FIFTH ANNUAL REPORT

OF THE

INDIANA STATE BOARD OF HEALTH.

HON. J. FRANK HANLY, Governor of Indiana:

The State Board of Health presents herewith its twenty-fifth annual report.

There is reported herein the transactions and work of the Board, an account of expenditures for the year ending October 31, 1906, and a report of the work of the. State Laboratory of Hygiene, which is a department of the Board. The report also contains the vital statistics for the calendar year.

TRANSACTIONS AND WORK OF THE BOARD.

The State Board of Health now exists and acts under the health law passed in 1891. There are five members, four being appointed by an appointing board composed of the Governor, the Secretary of State, and the Auditor. These four members appoint a secretary, who thereupon becomes a member of the Board. All members serve for four years.

Quarterly meetings shall be held, and the Board may hold as many special meetings as may seem to it proper. During this year four regular and four special meetings were held, the minutes of which fully set forth the work done.

The quarterly reports of the secretary presented at the regular quarterly meetings give specific accounts of his office and field work. It will be noted that visits are made from time to time by the secretary to different parts of the State. The reasons for making the same, and the results accomplished, are given in detail in his reports. It is believed that these visits are of benefit to the health cause, for the people so assert in letters and com

munications to the press, and medical and local societies, and teachers' and farmers' institutes which have been addressed, have always passed resolutions of thanks for the advice given and services rendered. A further reason for believing that visits made by the secretary are profitable and of advantage to the people lies in the fact that one hundred and sixty-seven requests were received from various parts of the State for inspection of sanitary conditions and advice concerning the same. The requests came from the governing authorities of counties, cities and towns, from school authorities and private citizens.

VITAL STATISTICS.

The vital statistics are collected for the calendar year. They, therefore, can not be presented until after December 31. After all reports are received it will require about ninety days to arrange, tabulate and analyze the data. The mortality statistics are accurate, but the birth and disease statistics are inaccurate. This condition is explained and a remedy recommended in another place in this report. Original certificates of death are received at this office, and carefully arranged and indexed, and citizens may consult the same and secure transcripts without fee. There is an average of 17 applications per week for transcripts of death records. The sanitary usefulness of death records is applied immediately upon receipt of the same.

EPIDEMICS.

No widespread epidemics are recorded, but, of course, there were a number of local epidemics. The same are specifically set forth in the special report on vital statistics.

Smallpox existed every month in the year, but it has been in mild form and only occasionally fatal. Prompt quarantine and general vaccination in the localities where it appeared has always succeeded in extinguishing it. The State Board has again and again informed the people that vaccination is the only safe and practical prophylaxis for smallpox.

The deaths from diphtheria have decreased in the last six years as follows: 1900, deaths 746; 1901, 554; 1902, 424; 1903, 462; 1904, 314; 1905, 366. This decrease we attribute almost entirely to the now general use of diphtheria antitoxin. It took some