1893-1894 - The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

8 NORTH CAROLINA BOARD OF HEALTH.
Health," have alone saved a loss to the State in dollars and
cents, considering death and sickness in terms of money,
far more than has been expended upon the Board from its
establishment. Unfortunately the evidence in support of
sanitarv science is necessarilv nee:ative in character. Its
function is not to cure disease and thus to positively save
from death, Ijut to prevent the inauguration of disease in
the first instance and thus to save the well from both sickness
and death which in many instances would have surely
come to them but for the effective precautions of the health
officer. There are many other excellent features in the
new law bearing upon the protection of school children
from disease, upon the drinking waters of the State, regulating
common carriers, and others, for a consideration of
which we would refer the reader to the law itself which he
will find in another part of this report.
As a result of the marvelous advance in
bacteriology a
great discovery has been made in "antitoxine," which is
regarded as a sure preventive of, and when used soon
enough almost a sure cure for, diphtheria, the very name
of which strikes terror to a parent's heart. The infectiousness
of consumption is no longer
disputed and knowing
the cause, it can often be prevented by resorting to
suitable precautions. With more knowledge we hope to do
better work, and in the next two 3^ears to save very many
more than ever before in the same length of time from
sickness and death.