National Department of Health.

Fort Wayne, Ind., Jan. 18, 1907. To the Editor: —The subject of a medical department in the federal government is of great interest to the profession. One of the chief objections to it hitherto was that the scope of the proposed secretaryship was not wide or important enough to warrant the creation of a department, and a bureau did not meet the wishes of those who advocated this innovation. Dr. Barchfeld's bill goes a great way in overcoming these objections. The supervision of foodstuffs and the control of the entire medical services of the Army and Navy would make the proposed department really important. I would suggest another service to be included—the census bureau. The supervision of emigration and immigration with the vital statistics and the statistics of morbidity—in a word, of the demography of the nation, would be a natural addition to the department of health. The internal fisheries,