The New Orleans Daily Democrat

HEALTH MATTERS.

THE STEPS BEING TAKEN BY THE UNITED STATES TO ENFORCE QUARANTINE LAWS.

Dr. John M. Woodworth, Surgeon General of the United States Marine Hospital Service, who has been in the city for several days, left on Friday for Galveston, and expects to return by Wednesday next.

His principal mission here, it seems, was to make an examination of the marine hospital service, and to secure a co-operation of the State Board of Health in the enforcement of quarantine laws, as well as to secure such information as he could relative to the State quarantine laws. While here, he consulted frequently with the officers of the Board of Health, obtaining all the information possible in their power to communicate, and on his return, on Wednesday next, he will doubtless pay a visit to the Quarantine Station with some members of the board.

He brought with him a circular letter from the Treasury Department with reference to the weekly abstracts of the consular sanitary reports and other pertinent information, to be transmitted, under the provisions of the national quarantine act (approved April 29, 1878), by the Surgeon General of the United States Marine Hospital service, to various Federal officers at the different ports and to State and municipal health authorities of the United States.

Under the provisions of this act it was made the duty of consuls at foreign ports to notify the official named above of "the departure of any vessel for the United States without clean bills of health, as well as to make weekly reports of all vessels leaving and destined for the United States, the notification of vessels leaving with contagious diseases on board to be sent by cable immediately."

Section 4 of the act referred to above makes it the duty of the Surgeon General of the United States Marine Hospital Service to communicate all such information to the State or municipal health authorities, sending also abstracts weekly of the consular sanitary reports and other pertinent information.

In return the circular states that the department desires weekly reports from our health officials, which they will give. Under this law and the efforts put forth by the Treasury Department the State board will be apprised of all information derived from this source.

Dr. Woodworth will obtain such information as he can and return to this city, from where he will start for a tour through the gulf ports.