Those wlho have come into intimate contact with public health administration in the state of New York have long realized that, apart from a few large cities, the method of organization and the results achieved were not at all what they should be and that the State Department of Health was powerless to carry out much needed reforms. Some of these defects were realized by the local health officers themselves and during the previous session of the legislature the legislative committee of the State Sanitary Officers' Association secured the passage of a bill whereby it was hoped to strengthen the power of the local health officers. The bill, however, failed of enactment because of the governor's -eto. The science of public hygiene has developed enormously in recent years, even more, perhaps, than anv other branch of medicine, and it is illogical to expect, as we now do, that the local practising physician, busy with all the details and worries of a general country practice, shall keep in touch with the achievements of modern public health work. In addition to this, and here is the crux of the matter, his status as a practising physician in the community often places him at a decided disadvantage in the enforcement of proper public health measures. The result is that rural public health administration in this country is, to a large extent, inefficient. What is needed is a radical reform of our present method of organization; we should have trained officials sufficiently paid to obviate the necessity of their practicing and each administering with broad powers, a given district. This method of administration has been attended with pronounced success in Germany and England and there is no reason why it cannot be adapted to work equally well here. In fact, as will be seen from a study of the following pages, we can improve on the English plan by providing for a uniform se-t of rules throughout the state, in place of local ordinances. At the present time public health administration in the State of New York is based on town and village organization. By the public health law, these municipalities are directed to organize boards of health. The