Organization, powers, and duties of health authorities : an analysis of the laws and regulations relating thereto in force in the United States / by J. W. Kerr, Assistant Surgeon General and A. A. Moll, A.B. ; prepared by direction of the Surgeon General.

  • John Walter Kerr
Date:
1912
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Organization, powers, and duties of health authorities : an analysis of the laws and regulations relating thereto in force in the United States / by J. W. Kerr, Assistant Surgeon General and A. A. Moll, A.B. ; prepared by direction of the Surgeon General. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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    and Hawaii. In Florida, although the State constitution of I880 provides for the establishment of boards of, health in such counties as may be necessary, no such boards are in existence, public-health functions being discharged by agents appointed by the State board of health In Georgia there is no general provision in the law tor the appointment of boards of health, although various city charters authorize their creation; the State board of health recommends it in their regulations, and the county authorities are explicitly author- ized to take measures to protect the public health. In Hawaii the only existing board is the Territorial, which designates inspectors and agents in the various islands and districts. Organization of State Health Authorities. The establishment of State health bodies came only with the further devolopment of the country, the increase in population, wealth, commerce, and sanitary knowledge, and the betterment of facilities for communication. Their creation was as a rule subse- quent to the organization of local boards of health, although in a few States, such as Alabama, Arizona, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, South Carolina, South Da- kota, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia, provision was made by the legislature at the same time for both; and in others, such as California, Delaware, Louisiana, Nevada, and New Jersey, the estab- lishment of the State board antedated the adoption of laws compel- ling the organization of local boards. The sparsely settled colonies saw very little need for health super- vision, and it was not until 1855 that a health body with powers ex- tending all over the State was established in Louisiana. This was in reality a quarantine board called into being by the yellow-fever epidemic of 1853, which proved the most fatal of all that afflicted the South from 1791 to 1905. The discoveries made by Pasteur and others resulting, as they did, in the foundation of preventive medi- cine, opened a new field with wonderful possibilities for the activities of State health authorities. It was not until 1869 that a State board of health charged with such functions as are now performed by superior sanitary bodies was created with the organization of the State board of health of Massachusetts. The California board was authorized at the legislative session of 1869-70, and at various periods within the last four decades every State and Territory founded a superior board or department of health. Of these, those of Hawaii, Mississippi, Porto Rico, and Texas were originally purely quarantine authorities, while those of New Mexico and West Virginia began their careers as boards of medical examiners.
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