Relation of School and Municipal Laboratories

S. G. Engle
1915 School Science and Mathematics  
Time has come when every wide-awake city either has installed a municipal laboratory or is considering its installation for the safeguarding of the food and health of the community. To expect the state to accomplish this is asking too much for several reasons. To get the best results, the state would employ hundreds of inspectors and a larger number of analysts to take care of the work, but even then there would be much time lost while the samples were in transit. The state, as a whole, can get
more » ... better results if thel aboratories be ne^r at hand. To get the desired results with the inspection of the perishable foodstuffs, such as milk, meats, vegetables, the inspector must be at hand all the time,'for this is a division of the work that needs constant attention. To accomplish the result for which it was created, the State Food and Health Laboratory should be a place for research. To permit this development, the cities of the state must take care of their own routine laboratory work and inspection. As it is now, the state laboratories are,overloaded with this routine, with little or no time to devote to the special conditions which arise from time to time. In dealing with contagion, the local laboratory is much to be preferred. It is highly important in contagious diseases to have the proper diagnosis as quickly as possible, not only to properly administer to the patient, .but to protect the public from further spread of the disease. Most cities think nothing of the money they spend to' prevent the loss of property by fire, or to prevent the loss by robbery, and for this purpose the most modern equipment is
doi:10.1111/j.1949-8594.1915.tb16333.x fatcat:ax7wwud2qrb3pmeyaltdkckyum