Social
or PUBLIC, HYGIENE, the bei being of entire communities, as simple science of caring for the physical well- being of entire communities, as simple physical welfare of the individual against SOCIAL HYGIENE SOCIAL INSURANCE Public Health Service, the Inter-Departmental Social Hygiene Board and Army and Navy Departments. These first began to function in the summer of 1918. The second of these institutions, created by an Act of Congress, passed July 9, 1918, received an appropriation of four million dollars. As a result of the activities of these Government institutions, 96 laws were passed in 1919, in various States to protect society against venereal diseases. During 1919 all these institutions together treated 35,000 cases. disease. Obviously the former is more than the latter on a larger scale, for the living together of large numbers of people creates dangers that do not necessarily threaten the individual. It is only within recent years that social hygiene has affected the public policies of municipalities or states, but its importance is of the highest order, since it is due to the application of the laws of social hygiene that the fatal epidemics of the earlier periods of history have been banished.
What were commonly known as plagues in olden times were, in the light of modern science, nothing but such dirt diseases as smallpox and malarial fevers, none of which can flourish where the pre-eral, the other two of which are commercautions dictated by a knowledge of hygiene are applied. To a lesser degree the same may be said of all contagious diseases. The rules of hygiene are chiefly based on the knowledge that most contagious diseases are caused by foul air, which, first of all, robs the body of the vitality which, in good health, enables it to throw off the attacks of disease germs; by filth and dampness, in which the disease germs are incubated; and the various methods by which these germs are transmitted from their places of incubation to the vulnerable parts of the human body. Social hygiene, therefore, as enforced through state laws and municipal ordinances, demands the removal of all filth; clean streets, removal of garbage and proper disposal of sewage; a certain minimum amount of air space per individual in human dwellings, with proper ventilation, as illustrated in the tenement house laws of large cities; careful inspection of sources of food and water supply, that infection may not be carried by this medium; and, finally, when sickness has made its appearance, measures for the segregation of those already affected. The abolition of public drinking cups is another illustration of the precautions against disease demanded by modern social hygiene. The result of not enforcing laws and ordinances in this field may be witnessed in the present condition of the large cities of Russia, where, in some cases, epidemics have reduced the populations by a third. During the World War the United States Federal Government became especially interested in social hygiene, on account of the precautions that had to be taken against epidemics in the mobilization camps. The greatest enemy here encountered, however, was found to be venereal diseases. As a consequence of what was learned by investigation during this period, the Federal Government has decided to continue its activities in this field on a permanent basis. The agencies through which it works are: The United States