charge, by all medical officers at first, second, and third class relief stations of the United States Public Health Service. Oflicers in charge of the second and third class relief stations are directed by the Surgeon General to obtain letters signed by the proper authorities of the local contract hospitals to the effect that civil employees of the United States, injured while in the performance of their duties, will be received at said hospitals and furnished quarters, subsistence, nursing, and necessary medicines during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1918, at the same rates as named in their proposals submitted for the care of seamen during said fiscal year; the services to be the same as that furnished seamen.

The rules for caring for injured Federal employees, as prescribed by the Surgeon General, are as follows:

1. An injured civil employee of the United States, in order to receive treatment shall present to the medical officer a certificate stating that he is a Government employee and that he was injured on a certain date while in the performance of his duties. Such certificate must be signed by the employee's superior officer, or by the medical officer, United States Employees' Compensation Commission.

2. An injured civil employee of the United States, in order to obtain the benefits of the service, must apply in person (or by proxy if too seriously injured so to do) at the local office of the Public Health Service, or to a medical officer of said service.

3. At marine hospitals no charge shall be made for services or supplies furnished injured civil employees of the United States. Expenditures incurred at said hospitals for the care and treatment of such injured employees are payable from appropriations for the Public Health Service.

4. At second and third class relief stations of the service, expenditures incurred on account of either office or hospital treatment furnished injured civil employees of the United States shall be taken up in special vouchers rendered against the United States Employees' Compensation Commission. The rates charged for the care of seamen, as approved by the department, shall be charged for the care of injured Government employees at all contract hospitals of the service, and vouchers for such care should be rendered against the above-named commission. All vouchers for services or supplies furnished in the treatment of said injured employees will be paid direct by the United States Employees' Compensation Commission, and such vouchers should be forwarded to the bureau for refernce to the proper officer of that commission, unless otherwise instructed. In preparing said vouchers, the words "employees' compensation fund" should be written in at the station after the word "appropriation" appearing on voucher forms, and stubs attached to such vouchers should be altered to show that payment is made on account of the United States Compensation Commission. Until further notice, vouchers for said services or supplies should be rendered on blanks issued by the Public Health Service, Forms 1926 and 1949. Expenditures payable from the above-mentioned fund should not be listed among the expenditures noted in monthly schedules of incumbrances, Form 1955. No charges shall be made for professional services furnished said injured employees by medical officers of the service, nor shall any charge be made for supplies in stock furnished such persons.

5. Treatment furnished injured employees of the United States, in accordance with the above-mentioned act of Congress, shall be taken up in monthly reports of patients admitted to and discharged from hospital treatment at first and second class relief stations, and relief certificates and hospital permits shall be issued in case of treatment furnished such patients at third-class relief stations of the service. On such reports the class of patients should be designated or shown and authority for said treatment should be cited as "act of September 7, 1916." Treatment furnished said patients shall also be taken up in "Medical officers' monthly report of relief, Form 1922," and in annual reports of medical and surgical relief furnished office and hospital patients, Forms 1923, 1924, and 1925.

6. Upon the termination of both office and hospital treatment, a copy of the clinical record of treatment furnished injured employees of the United States shall be forwarded, through the bureau, to the medical officer, United States Employees' Compensation Commission. Such clinical records shall include the history, diagnosis, treatment, and other information connected with each case, and shall be prepared on service forms 1946, A, B, C, and D.

7. When it is in the interest of economy and to the welfare of injured employees of the United States, the above-mentioned commission will order the transfer of such patients from one station to another, including authority for the necessary expenses involved in such transfers. No injured employees should be so transferred without special authority from the United States Employees' Compensation Commission. Upon the transfer of an injured employee from a second or third class relief station to a marine hospital, for the purpose of receiving further treatment, a copy of the clinical record should be forwarded to the medical officer in charge of said marine hospital; and upon discharge of the employee from the marine hospital a complete clinical record (covering his treatment at both the contract relief station and marine hospital) shall at once be forwarded, through the bureau, to the medical officer, United States Employees' Compensation Commission.

HOODS FOR REMOVING DUST, FUMES, AND GASES.

A special bulletin, issued in May, 1917, under the direction of the New York Industrial Commission, gives the results of a careful study of various types of hood for removing dust, fumes, and gases, showing the inadequacy of certain kinds in use in some plants and describing, with supplemental illustrations, hoods that are so constructed and adapted as to prove highly effective in accomplishing the purpose for which they are intended.

The bulletin mentions the well-known classification of dusts to which workers are exposed, namely, (1) mineral, (2) metallic, (3) vegetable, (4) animal, and (5) combination of two or more of these, but in describing the physical effects of dusts this classification is discarded and the different forms are considered according to their effects, as follows:

1 New York. Department of Labor. Industrial Commission. Hoods for removing dust, fumes, and gases. Special Bulletin No. 82, May, 1917, prepared by the division of in

1. Irritating dusts which have only a mechanical action and act directly upon the parts most exposed, such as the eyes, nose, throat, and skin. These dusts are found in metal grinding, stonecutting, emery grinding, and in the handling of wool, hemp, cotton, jute, tobacco, fur, feathers, and hair.

2. Poisonous dusts which, when entering the system, cause a general poisoning or have an affinity for certain parts of the body, such as the blood, bones, and the nervous system. These include lead, arsenic, and salts of mercury, the most common being lead dust, to which the worker is exposed in many trades. This enters the system by being inhaled or through the stomach by eating food contaminated by lead-laden hands. The tissues chiefly affected are the arteries, nerves, brain, muscles, and also the blood.

3. Infected dusts which carry pus germs.

Dangerous fumes, vapors, and gases, it is stated, usually show their effects immediately on account of the rapidity with which they enter the blood and are carried to all parts of the body, and are classified as follows:

1. Irritating fumes and vapors which act locally upon the eyes, the mucous membranes of the nose, throat, larynx, bronchial tubes, and the lungs, such as ammonia, chlorine, nitric and sulphuric acid.

2. Poisonous intoxicating fumes and gases, such as benzol, wood alcohol, carbon disulphide, benzene, anilin, and lead, which affect the blood, heart, and circulation, the nervous system and digestive organs.

3. Others, such as wood alcohol, affecting the optic nerve and causing blindness; chromic acid which causes ulceration and perforation of the partition separating the nostrils; phosphorus which affects the jawbone; and mercury which particularly affects the teeth and lower jaw.

Irritating fumes, such as ammonia, cause intense inflammation of the transparent membrane covering the eyes. The fumes of nitric acid have been known to cause intense inflammation of the mucous membrane of the bronchial tubes, and later, when the worker has apparently recovered from the effects, inflamInation of the lungs appears, causing death in a few hours.

Intoxicating fumes, such as carbon disulphide, benzol, dinitrochlorbenzol, and benzene, cause headache, dizziness, nausea, and weakness in the legs.

Poisonous fumes, such as anilin, may cause attacks varying in severity with the amount inhaled. Those unaccustomed to the fumes are particularly susceptible. In mild attacks there will be headaches, dizziness, pain in the eyes, a feeling of fullness in the head, and great weakness in the knees. The speech is slow and uncertain which, with the staggering walk, gives the appearance of drunkenness. The worker's face is pale at first, later blue, and he breathes with difficulty. If treated at this time, by inhalations of fresh air and heart stimulants, he recovers in a couple of days. But should the worker be so unfortunate as to fall and be unnoticed in some secluded part of the plant, he will continue to absorb the anilin fumes, and death will occur very

shortly.

Very frequently the worker apparently recovers, returns home, and during the night or the following day the symptoms recur; the pulse becomes feeble; breathing is slow and difficult; unconsciousness and convulsions will occur, followed by death.

Lead fumes arising from improperly hooded metal pots in the composing rooms of the printing industry frequently cause anemia and lead poisoning among the printers.

Wood alcohol is used frequently in the preparation of varnish and shellac, in the manufacture of hats, artificial flowers, and for dissolving dyes. In poisoning from the fumes, the worker suffers with cramps, nausea, vomiting, headache, and dizziness. His flesh is tender to the touch, his temperature is low, and he complains of great chilliness and weakness. The symptoms very Iauch resemble those of ptomaine poisoning. In addition the sight is affected, varying in degree from dimness of vision to complete blindness. In fatal cases death occurs from paralysis of the heart. Wood alcohol possesses a particularly harmful effect upon the optic nerve, causing blindness, even in mild cases of poisoning.

Mercurial vapors are met with in the manufacture of several scientific instruments and mercurial salts. While mercury is one of the heaviest of metals, it is known to volatilize or evaporate at ordinary temperatures. For this reason all operations should be performed under hoods. The fumes, when inhaled, affect the blood and nervous system particularly the teeth, gums, and jawbone. Since these dangers confront workmen in factories where dust, fumes, and gases result from manufacturing processes it becomes imperative to provide adequate protection for those exposed. The report suggests that there are three methods practiced in removing dust, fumes, and gases-the downward, lateral, and upward movement of air currents through hoods, the upward system being the one most generally in use. The passage of the air through these hoods may be effected by natural or mechanical means. The report notes experiments conducted with air currents moved by mechanical means in connection with a hood 42 inches in diameter at its base, inclosed on three sides, having an opening in front measuring 30 inches square placed over a pot of lead alloy, the temperature of which was 505° F., the surface of which measured 706 square inches, equal to 30 inches in diameter. Into this hood, which was connected with a pipe 10 inches in diameter, the air current passed at a velocity of 115 feet per minute, or 719 cubic feet per minute. A chemical analysis of the air 3 feet from the hood failed to reveal the presence of lead.

A hood constructed as above gives fairly good results in removing heated air and lead dross. Hoods or pipes, as described, placed above forge fires or metal pots where the pipes are vertical, in which there is an aspiration of 1,000 feet per minute, would be considered as satisfactory.

It appears from the report that one of the most effective types of hood is that constructed with a double wall, with an allowance of 1 inch between the inner wall and the outer wall, at the edges of which there should be a minimum air velocity of not less than 1,000

feet per minute and 200 feet per minute over the central area of the hood. This hood is thus further described:

The opening at the apex of the hood together with the area at the base between the inner and outer wall of the hood should equal the area of the pipe or branch pipe from the top of the hood. The mouth of the hood should extend over the furnace, vat, or machine at least 6 inches in every direction if the hood is not elevated more than 2 feet. For each additional 2 feet of elevation such hoods must be increased 6 inches in all directions. The farther away from the vat the less effective the hood will be. The outer wall of the hood should be extended an inch or an inch and a half below the inner shell, whereby rising fumes are more readily caught than if the walls are the same length. It is of course necessary to provide mechanical air movement instead of relying on natural aspiration. Air currents from windows and doors do not affect the upward movement of air in these hoods as readily as the single type. Still it must be remembered that sufficient openings should be provided in the workroom to allow for the removal of air through the hoods, as a partial vacuum is naturally created in the removal of air from the workroom.

Chemical tests of air were conducted whereby large quantities of air were used taken 5 feet from the hoods to determine the effect of this style of hood, resulting in mere traces of material being found in the vapors given off from the vats. As the sampling was done covering an hour's time, with the small traces found it is safe to judge such hoods efficient.

Another type of hood found to be efficient is that inclosed on four sides and having a sliding door in front provided with hand or arm holes to enable the operative to work and observe what he is doing without lifting the hood.

Attention is drawn to the advisability of insulating the ducts leading from hoods in order to prevent radiations of heat into the workroom. The importance of using hoods to carry off the poisonous fumes resulting from painting by using spraying brushes, and from heating soldering irons is emphasized. It is also suggested that the proper removal of products of combustion and oxides of antimony and lead from type-metal pots, in connection with linotype machines and monotype casters, is an important factor toward keeping the air of composing and monotype rooms ventilated and preventing lead poisoning of employees. It is very essential that hoods be provided to remove the shavings and sawdust from machines found in the woodworking trades. Here the removal is by downward, lateral, and upward suction, and an air velocity of not less than 5,000 feet per minute should be maintained to be effective.

Taking up the matter of pipe construction the report states that the area of any main duct, into which any number of branch pipes enter, should not be less, at any place in it, than the combined areas of the branches entering it, plus 20 per cent; that no branches from any hood should enter the main duct at an angle greater than 45 degrees or be placed directly opposite one another; and that care