Distance and description list, to accompany the map of the district.

1 Several letters and records of experience will be submitted if the National Board of Health dee it expedient when this report is prepared for the press.-H.

APPENDIX M.

RULES AND REGULATIONS FOR SECURING THE BEST SANITARY CONDITION OF VESSELS, INCLUDING THEIR CARGOES, PASSENGERS, AND CREWS, COMING TO THE UNITED STATES FROM ANY FOREIGN PORT WHERE ANY CONTAGIOUS OR INFECTIOUS DISEASE EXISTS.

Prepared by the National Board of Health, in accordance with the provisions of an act approved June 2, 1879, entitled "An act to prevent the introduction of infectious or contagious diseases into the United States."]

EXPLANATIONS.

1. The object of the following rules and regulations is to prevent the introduction into the United States of "contagious or infectious diseases."

2. The following diseases are recognized as "contagious or infectious diseases" for the purposes of these rules and regulations, viz: Asiatic cholera, yellow fever, plague, small-pox, and typhus fever.

3. An infected" port or place in the sense of these rules is a port or place at which either Asiatic cholera, yellow fever, or plague exists, or at which either small-pox or typhus fever exists as an epidemic.

4. To secure the "best sanitary condition" of a vessel the following points should be observed by the owners, agents, or master of such vessel.

A. Exclusion from the vessels, as far as possible, of persons or things known or suspected to be infected.

B. Cleanliness of the ship, both preliminary to loading and during the voyage. C. Ventilation preliminary to loading, and during the voyage when possible.

D. Disinfection, that is, the destruction or removal of the causes of disease; which includes measures of cleanliness, ventilation, fumigation, &c.

RULES AND REGULATIONS.

1. All merchant ships and vessels sailing from a foreign port where contagious or infectious disease exists, for any port in the United States, must obtain from the consal, vice-consul, or other consular officer of the United States, at the port of departure, or from the medical officer-where such officer has been detailed by the president for that purpose-a bill of health in duplicate, which shall be a clean bill or a foul bill, and which shall set forth the sanitary history of said vessel, and that it has in all respects complied with these rules and regulations. A clean bill of health shall be given when neither Asiatic cholera, yellow fever, nor plague exists, and neither smallpox nor typhus fever exists as an epidemic, at the port of departure, and the condition of the vessel is satisfactory; and in such case it shall be certified that the vessel leaves the port in "free pratique." A foul bill of health shall be given when either Asiatic cholera, yellow fever, or plague exists, and when small-pox or typhus fever exists as an epidemic at the port of departure, or where the sanitary condition of the vessel is unsatisfactory, and in such case it shall be certified that the vessel leaves the port in "“quarantine."

2. In all cases of doubt, as to whether the port is infected or as to the sanitary condition of the vessel, the bill shall be foul.

3. No vessel shall have more than one bill of health, but if she touches at other ports on the passage, that fact and the condition of those ports as to the existence of contagions or infectious disease shall be indorsed upon the original bill of health by the consul, vice-consul, consular officer, or medical officer.

4. The bill of health shall be in the form appended. (Form A.)

5. Each consul, vice-consul, consular officer, or medical officer of the United States in a foreign port shall keep himself thoroughly acquainted with the sanitary condition of the port and its vicinity, especially with regard to the existence of contagious or infections diseases, and shall, upon request of the owner. agent, or master, make, or cause to be made, an inspection of every ship or vessel bound for any port in the United States, and give the certificate or bill of health required by these regulations. Vessels carrying a foreign flag shall be inspected, when practicable, in company with the consul or consular agent of the nation to which the vessel belongs.