Personal Inspection Research Articles

Water Supply Purification in Tennessee

Sanitary engineering activities in water purification on a statewide basis were first undertaken in Tennessee in 1919 when the United States Public Health Service detailed a sanitary engineer to the State Board of Health. Later the Legislature established a Division of Sanitary Engineering, beginning July 1, 1921. Municipal water supply improvement was one of the first things undertaken and has been strongly pursued ever since. At first a water works survey *by circular letter was made of cities and towns in the state. The information obtained, although quite complete in some instances, was largely meager. The letter survey was followed by a personal survey and inspection of all of the water supplies. The surveys disclosed the fact that few of the public water supplies were clear, unpolluted, and safe during the entire year, and that many supplies were grossly polluted over long periods of time.

State X-Ray, Radiology and Cancer Institute in Leningrad

Going in the spring of this year on a scientific trip to Leningrad, I willingly accepted the proposal of Prof. V.S. Gruzdev to get acquainted on site with the Leningrad Radiology Institute and send a description of the latter to the editors of the "Kazan Medical Journal". The purpose of this article is to inform the readers of the latter institute, at least briefly, about the construction and the work of that institute. I want the subscribers of our magazine not only know about the existence of this relatively young institution, but also have some idea of its condition and activities. In compiling this description, I have used partly the data from my personal inspection of the institutions of the Institute and partly the material from the collection published by the latter for the tenth anniversary of the October Revolution, which contains an outline of the Institute's activities over nine years.

News and Views

THERE would appear to be good ground for believing that another senfiational archæological discovery has suffered the late many of its kind in the past and has failed stand the test of examination by experts. The remarkable character of the finds at Glozel, in which objects of neolithic culture akin to the Ægean, inscriptions on clay tablets, and engravings of animals on pebbles wore found in association, aroused no little scepticism at the time of their discovery; but Dr. Salomon Reinach was convinced of their authenticity and, relying upon their evidence, put forward the theory that a degenerate Magdalenian culture had lasted, so late as 4000–3500 B.C., with the consequence that the Magdalenian must be placed so low as 5000 B.C. The resemblance of the script on the tablets to that alleged to have been found in a Portuguese dolmen in 1894 was immediately apparent. Tt has been stated that a confession of forgery has appeared in Belgium, but confirmation of this is not yet to hand. In the issue of Antiquity for June, Mr. Crawford gives in some detail the results of an examination of the objects themselves, and subjects the circumstances of the find to a critical scrutiny based upon a personal inspection of the ground. He is persuaded that the objects in question are forgeries. His case is convincing; all the more so in that his opinion coincides with that of the Abbe Brouil.

Rating of Teachers in Indiana

I The Indiana law regarding success grades reads as follows: Items for success grades.-i. The State Superintendent of Public Instruction is hereby required to provide from time to time such schedule of items as should, in his judgment, enter into the record and grading in the item of a teacher's success by the city, town, and county superintendent of schools. (R.S. 1908, No. 6296.) Superintendents furnish items.-2. It shall be the duty of the city, town, and county superintendents of schools to visit each year the teachers under their charge and supervision, and from personal inspection and otherwise make an itemized statement and grading of the success of each teacher under their charge, and in accordance with the rules and schedule of the state superintendent of public instruction, as provided in section I of this act. (R.S. I9o8, No. 6380.) Issuance and record of success statement.-3. It shall be the duty of each school superintendent to issue over his signature and deliver to each teacher under his supervision, not later than July i, each year, such a statement of the success of each as is contemplated in section 2 of this act, and shall keep on file in a permanent record book duplicates of all such statements. A teacher's success grade so issued shall be his legal success grade for one year from date of issuance. (R.S. 1908, No. 6381.) Schedule of success items. The teacher oo per cent A. Teaching power 45 per cent Many items enter into this, but the principal ones are preparation of lesson, skill in presentation, and the results attained. B. Government 35 per cent The teacher's power in government is shown in the general spirit of the school, and in the attitude the pupils take toward their daily tasks, toward each other, and toward the school property. C. General characteristics 20 per cent Under this head the personality of the teacher, his professional and community interest, and all those qualities that make for the best citizenship should be considered. NOTE.-The city and town superintendents should hand the success grades to their teachers not later than July i each year, and forward copies of the same to the county superintendents, who will keep the official record for the counties. The success grades of all teachers employed by township trustees are issued by the county superintendent.

Medical Education in the United States and Canada

A REPORT TO THE CARNEGIE FOUNDATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF TEACHING WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY HENRY S. PRITCHETT PRESIDENT OF THE FOUNDATION ... the trustees of the Carnegie Foundation at their meeting in November, 1908, authorized a study and report upon the schools of medicine and law in the United States and appropriated the money necessary for this undertaking. The present report upon medical education, prepared, under the direction of the Foundation, by Mr. Abraham Flexner, is the first result of that action. No effort has been spared to procure accurate and detailed information as to the facilities, resources, and methods of instruction of the medical schools. They have not only been separately visited, but every statement made in regard to each detail has been carefully checked with the data ill possession of the American Medical Association, likewise obtained by personal inspection, and with the records of the Association of American Medical Colleges, so far as its membership extends. The details as stated go forth with the sanction of at least two, and frequently more, independent observers. In making this study the schools of all medical sects have been included. It is clear that so long as a man is to practise medicine, the public is equally concerned in his right preparation for that profession, whatever he call himself,--allopath, homeopath, eclectic, osteopath, or whatnot. It is equally dear that he should be grounded in the fundamental sciences upon which medicine rests, whether he practises under one name or under another.... The report which follows is divided into two parts. In the first half the history of medical education in this country and its present status are set forth. The story is there told of the gradual development of the commercial medical school, distinctly an American product, of the modern movement for the transfer of medical education to university surroundings, and of the effort to procure stricter scrutiny of those seeking to enter the profession. The present status of medical education is then fully described and a forecast of possible progress in the future is attempted. The second par of the report gives in detail a description of the schools in existence in each state of the Union and in each province of Canada. It is the purpose of the Foundation to proceed at once with a similar study of medical education in Great Britain, Germany, and France, in order that those charged with the reconstruction of medical education in America may profit by the experience of other countries.... The significant facts revealed by this study are these: (1) For twenty-five years past there has been an enormous over-production of uneducated and ill trained medical practitioners. This has been in absolute disregard of the public welfare and without any serious thought of the interests of the public. Taking the United States as a whole, physicians are four or five times as numerous in proportion to population as in older countries like Germany. (2) Over-production of ill trained men is due in the main to the existence of a very large number of commercial schools, sustained in many cases by advertising methods through which a mass of unprepared youth is drawn out of industrial occupations into the study of medicine. (3) Until recently the conduct of a medical school was a profitable business, for the methods of instruction were mainly didactic. As the need for laboratories has become more keenly felt, the expenses of an efficient medical school have been greatly increased. The inadequacy of many of these schools may be judged from the fact that nearly half of all our medical schools have incomes below $10,000, and these incomes determine the quality of instruction that they can and do offer. Colleges and universities have in large measure failed in the past twenty-five years to appreciate the great advance in medical education and the increased cost of teaching it along modern lines. …

Sampittic Surfacing

For several years the writer has been studying the uses (and results) of hydrocarbon compounds in road making, and has been impressed with the lack of standards by which to judge the various so-called “bituminous cements” offered for sale, as well as with the pressing need for such standardization. With the increased use of this cement has come the inevitable increase in the variety of trade compounds; moreover, with the change in traffic conditions, highway engineers tend to conclude that the need for such a proper cement, and its future use, are greatly increased. The writer, from personal inspection, is familiar with most instances of the use of hydrocarbon cements in road building in the Eastern States, and thinks it will not be disputed that cements of considerable variety have been used, and many differing results have been secured.

The Pharmaceutic Exhibit at the Association Meetings.

New York City, July 22, 1902. To the Editor: —The exhibit at the meetings of the American Medical Association is intended to show progress in pharmacy, pharmacology, medical and surgical instruments and appliances, all electrical and mechanical devices and other matters directly allied to, or of special application in, the practice of medicine. In no other way can such information be so effectively imparted as by a personal inspection of the exhibits, and the scientific explanation of these subjects afforded by the trained experts who are sent by exhibitors expressly for this purpose. The value of such an exhibit to the busy practitioner can hardly be overestimated. The exhibit is, or ought to be, in view of its importance, as interesting and valuable a part of the meeting as any other feature. A lack of interest by many members has been observed for several years past. Many do not visit

VI. On Meldrum’s rules for handling ships in the Southern Indian Ocean

The results of this paper may be summarised as follows:— The author examines critically certain rules given by Mr. C. Meldrum for handling ships during hurricanes in the South Indian Ocean, by means both of published observations and from personal inspection of many unpublished records in the Observatory at Mauritius.

Art. VIII.—The Present State of Education in Egypt

Volumes have been written about the political and financial state of Egypt, but little attention has been directed to the present condition of education in that country. Therefore the results of a personal inspection of the schools in Cairo may not be uninstructive, especially since the importance of the subject has been strongly emphasized in Lord Dufferin's celebrated despatch (Feb. 6th, Egypt, No. 6, 1883).

III.—Topographical Notices

The following descriptions of the position and present state of some of the most interesting places connected with the history of the Frank Principality are the result of a journey through the Peloponnese, made with the object of investigating the remains of that period. The ordinary routes through the peninsula, which are followed by tourists naturally anxious to visit the classical antiquities, lead to but few of those sites, and therefore it is almost necessary to undertake a special journey in order to explore them. No doubt the mediaeval fortifications of Patras, Corinth, Argos, and Nauplia, which are frequently visited, are among the finest in the country; but these, as we have seen, are but little associated with the history of the Principality, Patras and Corinth having followed for the most part an independent policy of their own, while Argos and Nauplia were attached as a fief to the dukedom of Athens, and remained in the hands of the family of Brienne even after their expulsion by the Catalans from their possessions in northern Greece. The same thing is true of the maritime fortresses of Modon and Coron in the south-west corner of the Peloponnese, for they were almost from the first in the hands of Venice. Hence the parts of the country which deserve especial attention in connection with this period are the north-western, the central, and the southern districts—or, to adopt the ancient names, Elis, Arcadia, and Laconia, together with the eastern portion of Messenia. The course of my own tour was from Corinth by way of Argos, Nikli (Tegea), and Mistra, to Monemvasia on the extreme south-east coast; thence by Passava in Maina and Kalamata through the pass of Makriplagi to Karitena and Akova in north-western Arcadia; and finally through Elis, visiting Khlemoutzi, Klarentza, and Andravida, to Patras. In what I have now to say, however, I prefer to invert this order, and to commence with the western portion, which formed the headquarters of the Principality. Some of the places to be noticed have been visited by Leake, others by Ernst Curtius; Buchon, also, who was indefatigable in every branch of his subject, made a journey in 1840 and 1841 in quest of these Frankish antiquities, an account of which is given in his interesting volume, entitled La Grèce continentale et la Morée. But the majority of the sites are so little known, and the subject has attracted so little attention, that a succinct account of them, which is the result of personal inspection, may not be without value.

The Metropolitan Main Drainage

THE magnitude of the underground works of London is scarcely understood by the public in general. They occasionally hear of this or that sewer or pumping station being completed, but as the greater portion of them is hidden beneath the surface of the ground, nothing but a personal inspection during the process of construction can give any adequate idea of the vastness and intricacy of our drainage system. The following facts, collected from the engineer's papers on the subject and reports to the Metropolitan Board of Works, may present to the mind some notion of these great works. There are about 1,400 miles of sewers in London, 82 miles of which are intercepting sewers of “The Main Drainage”. The area drained by the intercepting sewers is about 100 square miles. The total amount of sewage and rainfall which they will carry off is 63 million cubic feet per day, or equal to a lake as large as Hyde Park four feet in depth. There have been consumed in their construction about 340 million bricks, and upwards of 900,000 cubic yards of concrete. The total engine-power employed is 2,380 nominal horse-power, but this will soon be increased by about 400 horse-power on the construction of the Pimlico pumping station. The cost of these works when completed will be a little over 4,000,000l.

On the Age of the Fossiliferous Thin-bedded Sandstone and Coal of the Province of Nágpur, India

1 Nágpur Circle .—If with, a radius of 14 miles a circle be drawn around the city of Nágpur, it will include within its northern half Kámpti, Bokhára, Silewádá, Tondakheiri, Bábulkheda, and Bharatwádá; but it will leave out Arajmet, which lies 20 miles west of Nágpur, and Chorkheiri, which is 35 miles to the north-east, while Chándá is situated 85 miles to the south. At all these places the thin-bedded sandstone with vegetable remains is the same, as it presents the same appearances both palæontological and lithological. 2 Barkoi and Mahádewa Hills .—That this thin-bedded sandstone is identical with the coal-shale at Little Barkoi, near Umret, and at the base of the Mahádewa Hills, in the N.N.W. part of Nágpur province, I have ascertained by personal inspection, and have endeavoured to prove in the Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., vol. xi. p. 555. At all the localities already named, arenaceous as well as carbonaceous, there is a similar group of fossils; and at Bokhárá, an acknowledged site of the plant-sandstone, there is a tendency among the strata, which are usually white, to become brown and carbonaceous through the abundance of their comminuted vegetable matter.

1. On the Sea-Level of the Neapolitan Coast

This paper is intended to give an account of the more recent researches of the Italian antiquaries and geologists connected with the well-known temple of Jupiter Serapis at Pozzuoli, which have been verified in several particulars by the author, by personal inspection, and extended to other parts of the western coast of Italy, where traces of marine lithophagi have been found at a height, as alleged by Niccolini, of even 250 feet above the present sea-level.The most interesting modern observations are those of Niccolini on the actual change of relative level of the sea and land, ascertained by a fixed gauge which he has observed frequently between 1823 and 1838. In that time the land appears to have risen through a height of 112 millimetres or 4½ inches; and this change has been progressively and not suddenly effected.

Art. V.—Account of some Inscriptions found on the Southern Coast of Arabia. Communicated to the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, by the Government of Bombay

The accompanying Inscriptions were found in the neighbourhood of “Dees,” a Bedouin town, a few hours' distant from Ras Sherma, on the southern coast of Arabia.The natives who came off to the ship, represented it as a populous well-cultivated district, abounding in vegetables and fruit of various descriptions. Having learned from these persons, that there were many ancient buildings, and some writing in a character unknown to the Arabs, we naturally felt an inclination to make a personal inspection of them; and to effect this with security, Captain Haines sent our pilot, a native of the place, on shore, to request the ruling Shaikh to grant us his firman, and a few Bedouin attendants. In reply, a letter was sent off, making a most exorbitant demand of money, rice, copper, and sundry other very useful articles, specifying the individual quantities with much nicety and precision, as the price of his protection: this, of course, was politely declined; and from a subsequent conversation with some of the party themselves, they appeared not only to regret the exercise of their cupidity, which had deprived them of, at least, a few presents from the ship, but seemed to be sensibly ashamed of a conduct so much at variance with the hospitable treatment we had universally met with, since leaving Maculla.

Art. VIII.—Remarks on “Paläographische Studien über phönizische und punische Schrift, herausgegeben von Wilhelm Gesenius,” Leipzig, 1835

The work, bearing the title here prefixed, is dated “Halle, August 30, 1835,” and at its close the very learned author expresses his intention of visiting Holland, England, and Paris, in order to examine with his own eyes the Phœnician and Punic inscriptions and coins there preserved. He accordingly passed some time in London, in the Autumn of the same year; and by a personal inspection of some very valuable marbles, of which he and other continental scholars had before published explanations from written copies or plaster casts, he has been enabled to settle several points, which were before uncertain. He thus spares no pains to bestow the highest finish upon a work, which he has been many years engaged in preparing; and which he proposes to publish under the following title; “Marmora Phœnicia et Punica, quotquot supersunt, edidit, et prœtnissâ commentatione de litteris et linguâ Phœnicum et Pœnorum explicuit G. Gesenius.” He proposes that it should be accompanied by a folio volume of copper-plates, and succeeded by a second part, containing the Phoenician and Punic coins. The present work is intended as a preliminary treatise, explanatory of his views upon the subject, and of some of the principal facts, which he will have occasion to develop.