610      THE HISTORY OF NEVADA

CHAPTER XXV.

BY HENRY BERGSTEIN, M.D.

            The early day practitioners of medicine and surgery partook somewhat of the nature of the country in which they resided and the character of manhood by which they were surrounded. Living in a rugged country and amidst hardy men in sparsely settled communities remote from neighboring settlements and confreres, they learned lessons of self-reliance absolutely unknown to the city practitioner.

Fancy, if you can, the city surgeon accustomed to the elegance of a well equipped hospital, with its corps of trained assistants and nurses, performing capital operations without a single trained assistant, with his patience lying upon the floor. Yet such was a common experience of the early surgeon in Nevada.

Having anaesthetised his patient, he handed the anaesthetic to any one at hand and proceeded with his operation. Cutting an artery, he seized it with tenaculum, or forceps, and while any bystander held the instrument (for the haemostatic forceps was an unknown quantity in those days) proceeded to ligate it, and thus step by step, watching the patient, the anaesthetic, and his unskilled assistant, he completed his operation, and withal he had a fair modicum of success, not altogether due to his skill, something being due to the hardy manhood he had for subjects. As for gunshot and knife wounds, no surgeon except those in the army during war times had their experience. Reaching Pioche in 1872, there lay in its graveyard one hundred and eight denizens, just three of whom died a natural death.

The crack of the revolver and knife-wounds were daily heard and seen and to the sorrow of many surviving friends their companions frequently died "with their boots on." The average bravo had a great horror of dying with his boots on and, when wounded, before priest or surgeon were called, his boots were pulled off.

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Pioche is located in Lincoln County in a ravine on the side of a mountain in the Ely range, at an elevation of 5,942 feet. The principal mines being located above the town, close to its peak, the mills for the reduction of the ores were located at Bullionville, eleven miles distant. Owing to the absence of water at or near the mines, the latter being absolutely dry until a depth of 1,200 feet was reached, so much so that the ores containing a large amount of galena oxidized rapidly upon being exposed, and consequently led to many cases of lead-colic, both in the mines and at the mills. I am thus particular in describing these conditions because they lead up to the first medical legislation west of the Rocky Mountains.

There was no resident physician at Bullionville, and when such aid was needed it was summoned from Pioche, save for the fact that there was a druggist there with a small stock of drugs to whom the men frequently applied for assistance.

One of the most prominent symptoms of lead colic is an obstinate constipation, and in a number of cases which applied to him for relief, he ran the gamut of cathartics from salts to croton oil; all failing him, he gave liquid quicksilver, and succeeded only in giving them a passage to the grave.

The result was shown when, in the fall of 1874, I announced my candidacy for assemblyman in order to pass an act regulating the practice of medicine. It was the year when William Sharon was a candidate for the United States Senate. Feeling ran high and substantial arguments were used to secure the election of a Legislature favorable to him. My name appeared on the Democratic ticket. At Bullionville there were 128 registered voters, of whom five were Democrats, yet I received 125 votes in that precinct, and the result was the passage of an act entitled "An Act to prevent the practice of medicine or surgery by unqualified persons," by the Legislature of 1875, as follows:

CHAPTER IV.—An Act to prevent the practice of medicine and surgery by unqualified persons. (Approved January 28, 1875.)

The People of the State of Nevada, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

Section 1. No person shall practice medicine or surgery in this State who has not received a medical education and a diploma from some regularly chartered medical school; said school to have a bona fide existence at the time when said diploma was granted.

Section 2. Every physician or surgeon, when about to take up his residence in this State, or who now resides here, shall file his record with the County Recorder of the county in which he is about to practice his profession, or where

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he now practices it, a copy of his diploma, at the same time exhibiting the original, or a certificate from the dean of the medical school of which he is a graduate, certifying to his graduation.

Section 3. Every physician or surgeon, when filing a copy of his diploma or certificate of graduation, as required by section two of this Act, shall be identified as the person named in the papers about to be filed, either by the affidavit of two citizens of the county, or by his affidavit taken before a Notary Public or Commissioner of Deeds for this State, which affidavit shall be filed in the office of the County Recorder.

Section 4. Any person practicing medicine or surgery in this State, without complying with sections one, two and three of this Act, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be punished by a fine of not less than fifty dollars ($50) nor more than five hundred dollars ($500), or by imprisonment in the county jail for a period of not less than thirty (30) days nor more than six (6) months, or by both fine and imprisonment, for each and every offense; and any person filing, or attempting to file, as his own, the diploma or certificate of graduation of another, or a forged affidavit of identification, shall be guilty of a felony, and upon conviction shall be subject to such fine and imprisonment as is made and provided by the statutes of this State for said offense.

Section 5. It shall be the duty of the police, sheriff, or constable, to arrest all persons practicing medicine or surgery in this State who have not complied with the provisions of this Act, and the officer making the arrest shall be entitled to one half of the fine collected.

Section 6. No portion of this Act shall apply to any person who, in an emergency, may prescribe or give advice in medicine or surgery in a township where no physician resides; or when no physician or surgeon resides within convenient distance; nor to those who have practiced medicine or surgery in this State for a period of ten years next preceding the passage of this Act, nor to persons prescribing in their own family.

Section 7. This Act shall go into force sixty (60) days after its final passage.

It must not be supposed that the bill passed was exactly as introduced. While it was pending in the Assembly the acting Governor L. R. Bradley, was confined to his bed with an attack of paralysis, sent for me and informed me that there were a number of old practitioners in the State who had studied their profession at a time when medical colleges were not accessible. They were competent physicians and had endeared themselves to the people by years of practice among them, and he would veto any measure which would deprive them of the right to practice. A number of members feared that it would prevent them from treating members of their families, or where there were no physicians, or within convenient distance, that it would not permit them to assist some sufferer. To meet these conditions Section 6 of the act was added. Other members wanted assurance that someone would see to its enforcement, and promising them that if the bill passed I would locate in Virginia City, organize a State Medical Society which would see to its enforcement, met with success.

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The first meeting of medical men in Nevada took place in Pioche in 1872. There were present Drs. Alva C. Bishop, Henry Bergstein, David L. Deal, William Foltz, W. H. Rogers, Leavitt J. Williams and Philson. They discussed many topics of interest and adopted the following fee bill, which to their credit be it said they never deviated from during the succeeding years of my residence there:

Fee Bill.—Day visits, $5.00; night visits, $10.00; detention, day, per hour, $10.00; detention, night, per hour, $10.00; obstetrical cases (rare), natural labor, $100.00; instrumental delivery, $250.00; surgical operations, $100.00 upward.

The fees here enumerated shall be considered the minimum, the maximum being in keeping with the purse of the patient, and the conscience of the physician.

In April, 1875, a subscription was made up by the practitioners of Virginia City, and Col. Robert H. Taylor was employed to enforce the law. There was at that time residing in Virginia City a quack advertising firm known as Dr. Spinney & Co., and Spinney was made the subject of arrest to test the law. There had just located in that city a new law firm composed of C. E. Belong, ex-United States Minister to Japan, and Judge Belknap, ex-Justice of our Supreme Court, and Spinney employed them to defend him. He was tried in the justice court. The jury failed to agree, and so firm was the conviction of his attorneys that the law was unconstitutional that they took the case to the Supreme Court on a writ of habeas corpus, upon the ground that in Section 6 of the act rights and privileges were given to citizens of Nevada which were denied to citizens of other States, which was contrary to the Constitution of the United States. We sent Colonel Taylor to argue the matter before the Supreme Court, consisting of Hon. Thos. P. Hawley, Chief Justice; Hon. W. P. Earl and Wm. H. Beatty, Associates, and they decided that the contention of the attorneys for the defendant were not well taken; that the Legislature in its wisdom decided that physicians who had practiced for ten years prior to the enactment, being familiar with the climatic conditions and diseases, were more familiar with these conditions than those who had not had their experience; and besides, if it were held that Section 6 was unconstitutional, that did not invalidate the balance of the law. Therefore Spinney & Co. departed for the more congenial clime of San Francisco.

614      THE HISTORY OF NEVADA

It was this case and others of a similar character migrating into that State which led to the enactment of the California law in 1877.

In April, 1875, the Nevada State Medical Society was organized in Virginia City by the election of Dr. John W. Van Zant as its president and Dr. Benj. Robinson as its secretary, together with a board of censors and other officers. It had a very successful meeting, papers of interest were read and discussed, and its entire proceedings, together with the papers read, were printed in pamphlet form. A beautiful lithographed certificate of membership was ordered printed on heavy parchment paper. As a heading it had the great seal of the State, and upon the other side pictures of Esculapius and Hygeia, together with the motto, "Palmam qui meruit ferat" ("Let him who has won it bear the palm"). In cutting the stone "Palmam" was converted by the artisan into "Palman." There was also a grammatical error in the text, and as no proof sheet had been submitted to the secretary, the printed certificates reached him, error and all, so it was decided not to issue them. Two copies, however, were subsequently issued, one to Benj. Robinson and the other to the writer, the last copy having the "n" in "Palman" so deftly converted into an "m" by Prof. A. B. Daugherty, of the University of Nevada, as to defy recognition.

The first meeting of the society was its most successful, many interesting papers were read, among them one on "Brain Tumors." and another on "Fibroid Tumors," both being accompanied by pathological exhibits. There were present from Virginia City Drs. W. W. Bronson, Henry Bergstein, F. W. Conn, F. M. Conn, Engles, Gillingham, Benj. Robinson, McLain and John W. Van Zant ; Gold Hill, Drs. Hall and John Manson ; Carson City, Drs. Davidson and Waters ; Genoa, Drs. Black and Smith ; Reno, Drs. A. Dawson and H. H. Hogan; Mason Valley, Dr. Leavitt; Eureka, Dr. Bazon, and many others whose names I cannot recall. However, owing to the sparsely settled condition of our State, it was difficult to bring about a successful meeting, and it hybernated, and was awakened a number of times between 1875 and 1894. In April of that year I visited San Francisco where I met Dr. Plummer who asked me, "What is your Nevada State Medical Society doing?" I answered, "It sleeps the sleep that knows no waking." "Well," he said, "you know the American Medical Association meets here in June. I am one of the local committee of arrangements. We are on the extreme western slope of the continent

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and we would like to have as many of the States represented as possible. I wish when you go home you would call the society together and send delegates." Accordingly, on my return to Reno I inserted a call through the press for a meeting at my office. We met, reorganized the society, and they did me the honor of electing me president and a delegate to the National Association, with Dr. James Guinan associate. The State society continued to hold successful annual meetings from that time until 1902. At the annual meeting following the discovery of the X-ray, at the meeting held in the University of Nevada building, the first radiographs were demonstrated before the assemblage by W. G. Caffray, the first picture being that of a deformed hand of a prominent local attorney, the pictures bringing it out beautifully, and the second was made of a purse containing a coin and a key, the result being perfect. Great credit was due to the fact that the apparatus was constructed by the operator.

In April, 1904, it was again called into life, reorganized and elected Dr. A. H. Huffaker president and J. L. Robinson secretary. It has continued in successful operation ever since. The last annual meeting was held in the rooms of the Washoe County Medical Society in the Reno Commercial Club rooms. It was largely attended, not only by physicians of Nevada, but by visitors from neighboring States, the latter being among those contributing valuable papers, as will he noted from the programme of the occasion, the sessions being held on the 8th, 9th and l0th of October, 1912:

Tuesday, 10:30 a.m.—Meeting called to order by the president, B. F. Cunningham. Invocation, Rev. Brewster. Address of welcome, by Mayor R. C. Turritin. Address of welcome, by Gov. Tasker L. Oddie. Response by H. Bergstein. President's address. Reports of committees. Report of State Secretary, M. A. Robinson. Reports of delegates to the American Medical Association.

Tuesday, 1:30 p.m.—"The Successful Treatment of Typhoid," W. A. Habday, Goldfield. Discussion opened by G. F. Pope, Battle Mountain. "A Few Problems in Infant Feeding," A. Huffaker, San Francisco. Discussion opened by Victor Hitch, Reno. "Over Medication," C. A. Hascall, Fallon. Discussion opened by J. E. Pickard, Reno. "Jammed Pelvis," J. B. Hardy, Reno. Discussion opened by R. W. Geron, Reno. "Criminal Abortion from a Moral and Business Standpoint," Henry Bergstein, Reno. Discussion opened by W. L. Samuels, Reno.

Wednesday, 10:30 a. m.—"The Principles Governing the Operative Treatment of Infantile Paralysis," James T. Watkins, San Francisco. Discussion opened by W. H. Hood, Reno. "Artificial Pneumothorax," Max Rothschild, San Francisco. Discussion opened by Raymond St. Clair, Reno. "Unusual Urinary Calculi," R. L. Rigdon, San Francisco. Discussion opened by George McKenzie, Reno. Subject to be announced, W. S. Holmquest Ely. Discussion to be opened by H. Osthoff, Reno. "What the Physician Owes to the Tuberculous Patient," Robert A. Peers, Colfax California. Discussion to be opened by W. S. Holmquest, Ely.

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Wednesday, 1:30 p. m.—Address, Hon. Cole L. Harwood, Reno. "Deafness in Adults Due to Neglected Nose and Throat Diseases," Edward L. Williamson, Reno. Discussion opened by Karl Pischel, San Francisco. "Concerning the Operative Treatment of Claw Foot," with demonstration of an original screw traction appliance, special permission, James T. Watkins, San Francisco. Discussion opened by B. F. Cunningham, Reno. "Use and Abuse of Bone Plating," J. R. Masterson, Tonopah. X-ray work exhibition, M. R. Walker, Reno. Discussion opened by S. K. Morrison, Reno. "Tick Fever," G. F. Pope, Battle Mountain. Discussion opened by Henry Bergstein, Reno.

Thursday a. m.—Subject to be announced, W. Ophuls, San Francisco (who also delivered a public address that evening at the Methodist Church on "The Advance of Scientific Medicine." Discussion opened by O. P. Johnstone, Reno. "Tonsils," J. La Rue Robinson, Reno. Discussion opened by Ed. L. Milliamson, Reno. Subject to be announced, O. P. Johnstone, Reno. Discussion opened by W. Ophuls, San Francisco. "Possible Cause, Effect and Treatment of Gingivitis," C. E. Rhodes, D.D.S., Reno. Discussion opened by Bruce Saulter, D.D.S., Reno. "Reports of Surgical Cases," George McKenzie, Reno. Subject to be announced, J. A. Lea, Reno. Discussion opened by C. E. Mooser, Reno.

Thursday p. m.—"Newer Glancoma Operations," Kasper Pischel, San Francisco. Discussion opened by H. A. Brown, Reno. "Uterine Fibroma," Raymond St. Clair, Reno. Discussion opened by P. J. Mangan, Winnemucca. "Diagnosis of Gall-Bladder Disease," Wm. F. Cheney, San Francisco. Discussion opened by C. W. West, Elko. "Plague," G. B. Hamilton, Reno. Discussion opened by R. K. Hartzell, Reno. "Diphtheria," Victor E. Hitch, Reno. Discussion opened by A. E. Hershizer, Reno.

Wednesday night the annual banquet was held at the Riverside Hotel and on Thursday night a smoker given by the Washoe County Medical Society occurred at the Commercial Club.

At the present time the following county organizations are affiliated with the State organization: Esmeralda County Medical Society, E. J. Howland president and acting secretary; Humboldt County Medical Society, P. J. Mangan, president and C. E. Swezy, secretary ; Nye County Medical Society, J. R. Masterson, president, and P. D. McLeod, secretary; Washoe County Medical Society, W. H. Hood, president, and E. L. Williamson, secretary. The present officers of the State Medical Society are: M. R. Walker, president, Reno; A. L. Lewis, first vice-president, Reno; P. J. Mangus, second vice-president, Winnemucca; M. A. Robinson, secretary-treasurer, Reno.

The Medical Law of 1875 continued in force until 1899, when the following enactment was passed:

An Act providing for the creation of a State Board of Medical Examiners, and to regulate the practice of medicine and surgery in the State of Nevada. (Approved March 15, 1899.)

The People of the State of Nevada, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

Section 1. A State Board of Medical Examiners, to consist of five practicing physicians, is hereby created, whose duty it shall be to carry out the purposes and

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enforce the provisions of this act. The members of said board shall be appointed by the Governor; they shall each be a reputable practicing physician, duly licensed as such by some legally chartered medical college of the United States, and who shall have been actually engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery in the State of Nevada at least five years immediately prior to their respective appointments. Three of whom shall be appointed from the school of medicine known as the "regular" physicians, and one of whom shall be of the school known as the "Homeopathic," and one of whom shall be of the school known as the "Eclectic," whenever the resident physicians of the State shall afford sufficient members of these respective schools. They shall be appointed by the Governor for the terms, respectively, one for five years, one for four years, one for three years, one for two years and one for one year, from the date of their appointments. In case of a vacancy occurring in said board through death, resignation or permanent removal from the State, such vacancy shall be filled by the Governor by the appointment of a person duly qualified under this act to fill the unexpired term of the person in whose stead the appointment is made. Each appointment, after the expiration of the terms for which appointments shall first be made, shall be for five years next ensuing the period for which the said first appointments are made.

Sec. 2. Said board shall choose one of its members president and one thereof secretary, who shall hold their offices for one year from the date of their selection. The first members appointed on said board shall meet and organize at the State Capitol in Carson City, Nevada, on the first day of May, 1899, and thereafter they shall meet twice in each year, on the first Monday of May and November, at such places as shall be most convenient to the said board and the applicants for authority to practice in this State. And due notice shall be given by publication in a newspaper of all such meetings.

Sec. 3. Said board shall procure a seal and shall receive through their president or secretary applications for examinations or certificates. The president and secretary shall have authority to administer oaths and the board to take testimony in all matters relating to its duties; it shall issue certificates to all who furnish satisfactory proof of having received diplomas or licenses from reputable and legally chartered medical institutions of the United States which are in good standing, or from the State Examining Board of any State of the United States, providing the holder of said State certificate has been practicing in this State for at least five years. It shall prepare two forms of certificates, one for persons who present to it satisfactory diplomas or licenses, and the other for candidates who may be examined by the board, and whenever a certificate is issued by said board, it shall notify the respective County Clerks of the several counties within this State of the issuance of such certificate or certificates; and it shall be the duty of said clerks to keep and file said notices and also keep a list of the persons to whom issued.

Sec. 4. Said board shall also issue a certificate to any person who shall have been regularly engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery within this State for five years immediately preceding the passage of this act, and who, after an examination by said board, shall be found to be qualified to practice medicine and surgery. It shall also issue a certificate to any person who has had issued to him a diploma or license from any reputable school or college of medicine and surgery which is located without the United States, upon the applicant being found competent after having passed a satisfactory examination by the said board. When the board is not in session its secretary may issue a temporary certificate whenever an applicant shall have deposited the usual fee and filed his diploma or license with him, and such temporary certificate shall entitle the holder to practice until the next regular meeting of said board. And all examinations of applicants to practice shall be thorough and searching, and shall be in the following branches: Anatomy, physiology, chemistry, materia medica, therapeutics, principles and prac-

618      THE HISTORY OF NEVADA

tice of medicine, principles and practice of surgery, gynecology, obstetrics, opthalmology, pathology and all subjects relating to the practice of medicine and surgery. The board may judge whether the college and institution which issued any diploma or license presented to it is reputable and legally chartered and worthy of recognition, subject to the action of the courts in cases of abuse of its discretion in this respect.

Sec. 5. With each application for authority to practice medicine and surgery there shall be deposited with the board, its president or secretary, the sum of twenty-five dollars ($25), lawful money of the United States, and all money collected by said board shall be used by it to defray its legitimate expenses.

Sec. 6. It shall be unlawful for any person to present to said board any forged or fraudulent diploma or license, or one which was not issued to the person presenting the same, and any person who shall so present such a diploma or license, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of not less than five hundred dollars or by imprisonment in the county jail for a period of not less than fifty nor more than one hundred and eighty days, or by both such fine and imprisonment for each and every such offense.

Sec. 7. Any person to whom a diploma or license has been issued may present the same in person, by letter or by proxy, to the board, accompanied by proof to the satisfaction of the board that such diploma or license was issued to the person presenting the same, and if the board shall be satisfied with such proof, and also satisfied as to the character and standard of the college or institution within the United States which issued said diploma or license, said board shall thereupon issue its certificate to the applicant.

Sec. 8. Every person to whom a certificate from the Board of Examiners shall have issued, shall, before he enters upon the practice of medicine or surgery in this State, have such certificate recorded in the office of the County Recorder of the county in which he resides.

Sec. 9. The board may refuse a certificate to any individual guilty of unprofessional or dishonorable conduct, and may revoke any certificate for a like cause. In all cases of refusal or revocation the party aggrieved may appeal to the courts for adjudication of the controversy.

Sec. 10. Any person shall be regarded as practicing medicine, within the meaning of this act, who shall profess publicly to be a physician or surgeon, or who shall prescribe for the sick or profess to cure the sick by the administration of drugs or other means, or shall append to his name the letters "M.D.," but nothing in this act shall be construed to prohibit any gratuitous services in cases of emergency or to commissioned surgeons in the United States Army or Navy.

Sec. 11. All moneys received by this board shall be paid out on its order for its actual necessary expenses and the expenses of its members incurred in attending its meetings, and in case the money received by said board shall be insufficient to meet its actual expenses and the actual traveling expenses of its members in attending its meetings, then the board shall certify to the State Controller, under is seal and over the signatures of its president and secretary, the amount actually necessary to meet the remainder of the traveling expenses of its members for attending such meetings, and upon the receipt of such certificate the Controller shall draw his warrant upon the State Treasurer for the same, which shall be payable out of any funds in the State Treasury not otherwise appropriated.

Sec. 12. A majority of said board shall constitute a quorum to transact all business. All certificates issued by said board shall bear its seal and the signatures of the president and secretary and shall authorize the person to whom it is issued for that purpose to practice medicine or surgery in any and all counties in this State upon complying with the requirements of this act.

Sec. 13. Any person practicing medicine or surgery in this State without first

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complying with the provisions of this act shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of not less than one hundred ($100) dollars, or by imprisonment in the county jail for not less than fifty days nor more than one hundred and eighty days for each and every such offense, or by both such fine and imprisonment. Any person may institute proceedings at law provided for in this act, and it shall be the duty of the Board of Medical Examiners, or any member thereof, whenever satisfied that any of the provisions of this act have been violated, to institute or cause to be instituted the proper proceedings for a punishment thereof.

Sec. 14. No member of the Board of Medical Examiners of this State shall receive any compensation for any service or services rendered under the provisions of this act.

Sec. 15. All acts and parts of acts in conflict with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed.

Sec. 16. This act shall take effect, so far as the certificates provided for are concerned, and be in force in that respect, on and after the first day of May, 1899, and in all other respects it shall take effect upon its approval.

This law was a decided improvement over its predecessor, and like it, had an extraneous clause. In this case it was the desire of a political boss to pay a political debt. The "cullud gemmen in the woodpile" will be found in that portion of Section 3 which provides that "licenses may be issued to those who hold licenses from the State Examining Boards of any State of the United States, providing the holder of said certificate has been practicing in this State for at least five years," and although the facts were well known, the enactment was so much better than the law of 1875 that no fight was made against it; in fact, so great was the power of the political boss that a fight would have been futile.

The enactment of 1905 does away with the requirement of a five years' residence in appointees on the Board of Medical Examiners; also changes the term of examiners from five to four years; empowers any member of the board to administer oaths in pursuance of duties; has a reciprocity clause providing for the issuance of a license to practice in this State to any licentiate of other States whose requirements for certificates are equal to ours, and who accepts our licentiates on the same terms; also requires identification by two freeholders of the county in which the applicant resides certifying that he is the person named in the diploma or certificate; gives right to appeal to the courts in case of rejection of an applicant; defines "unprofessional conduct" and does away with temporary license to practice until board meets.

The Act of 1907 amends Section 7 of the Act of 1905, doing away with the standing of college issuing the diploma and the affidavit setting forth the number of terms and their duration that the applicant was re-

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quired to attend; simply requires that the diploma of license to practice shall have been issued by a legally recognized college.

"The first general health law of Nevada was passed by the Legislature during the session of 1893, and approved by Governor R. K. Colcord on March 6th of the same year. Although a sovereign State for nearly thirty years, the above was the first legislative enactment looking toward the protection of public health, and even this recognition of a need long denied was born of fear. Asiatic cholera was then raging in Europe, and our Atlantic seaboard was threatened by its invasion, so the better to protect our people from its ravages, the law was passed. The Act of 1893 has been several times amended, but the amendments were designed to meet some special condition, rather than general in their application. The law was narrow in scope, and the appropriation too small, $1,000 per annum, to accomplish any particular good, so Nevada trailed along in the wake of her more ambitious and progressive sisters until 1911, when a new era dawned, and a new order of things was inaugurated.

During the session of 1911, the Legislature passed, with but one dissenting vote, a vital statistics law, similar in its provisions and character to that formulated by the United States Census Bureau. The Act was approved by Governor Tasker L. Oddie on March 27th, 1911. Up to this time no reliable registration of births or deaths had been kept. True, a law had been passed in 1887, and approved by Governor C. C. Stevenson on February 26th, following, which required physicians and midwives to report to the several County Recorders all births, and undertakers to report all interments to the same officers, but the penalty for failure to comply with the provisions of the Act was nominal, so the law, was more honored in the breach than in its observance. The necessity for a human statistics law, and a vigorous enforcement of the same, is apparent. By reason of such lax legislation, and failure on the part of physicians, midwives and undertakers to report, and the recorders to keep proper histories, estates legally due to native born children of foreign parentage have escheated to the crowns of European kings, princes or potentates, where the possession of a legally executed birth certificate would have protected the heir from such spoilation. For like reasons estates have been diverted or withheld from those morally entitled to them, because their claims were not supplemented with a duly executed death certificate.

Native born children returning from abroad on emigrant ships, have been held for weeks on Ellis Island as indigent foreigners, and subject to deportation for the want of a birth certificate to prove their nativity. Our people are denied the marriage license in European countries if unarmed with the same. American students are refused matriculation in the Universities of France for a like reason. The necessity for vital statistics is felt in nearly every phase of human existence. Especially is this true in matters of demography, in that of estates, in establishing property rights of inheritance, insurance and pensions. They are important factors in a medico-legal sense, i.e. in their bearing upon the laws governing child labor, the age of consent, etc., etc.

At the semi-annual meeting on July 1st, 1912, the Board issued the following rules and regulations; "The better to aid the State Mining Inspector in protecting the lives and health of miners and mine employes, the following rules and regulations are hereby passed:

Whereas, The mining industries constitute a large part of the industries of the State, and give employment to a large portion of her population, and

Whereas, A number of diseases are peculiarly incident in origin or spread to mining conditions, and

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Whereas, The health of the miners and mine employes is of importance to the State at large as well as to the individual, Therefore be it

Resolved, That the following rules and regulations be recommended by the State Board of Health for adoption in the various mines of the State to protect the lives and health of the miners and mine employes, and of others outside the mines to whom such diseases may be communicated.

DUST.-I. All machine drilling operation in metalliferous mines shall be conducted in such a way as to prevent dust. 2. Where work is carried on in dusty stopes or ore houses, the same shall be provided with adequate facilities which must be used for wetting down the ore and rock to prevent the escape of dust into the air during handling. 3. Blasting shall be so arranged that men working in other places shall be exposed as little as possible to dust and smoke arising from such blasting. 4. Where workmen are required to enter places in which dust and smoke exist, they must be provided with aspirators, and be required to wear them. All working places must be provided with adequate ventilation.

SANITATION.—1. Bath and change houses must be provided at mines where more than twenty (20) men work underground, and these must be kept in sanitary condition. 2. Warning cards, concerning indiscriminate spitting, and the danger arising therefrom, must be posted in all mines. 3. All persons infected with tuberculosis of the lungs must be excluded from underground workings. 4. On the surface and underground in all mines employing twenty (20) or more men, suitable accommodations in the way of sanitary conveniences must be provided, and must be kept disinfected and in sanitary condition at all times. 5. For construction camps, and where a large number of laborers are housed under the control of a mine, the sanitary code in use by the U. S. Reclamation Service should be observed."

"County Clerks should be required to submit to the Secretary of the State Board on or before the l0th day of each month, a list of marriage licenses issued from their offices during the preceding month. In concluding I am pleased to say that the local registrars in most of the counties have exhibited praiseworthy zeal in the discharge of their duties, so creditably, in fact, that I feel safe in saying that during the eighteen months since the law went into effect, fully 95 per cent of births and deaths have been reported, whereas in the State of New York, after ten years work under the most approved system, and supported by a stupendous appropriation for its execution, 90 per cent. of births is as high a rate as they have ever been able to secure."

There was an amendment passed in 1911. It is of doubtful character, for all of its predecessors had been in the line of progress toward the protection of the public. The portion of this enactment providing for the licensing of the practitioner by the "drugless system" opens a fine field for quackery.

Through the kindness of Dr. S. L. Lee, secretary of the State Board of Health, we are enabled to give the following history of health laws passed by the State:

And while this headway was being made in medical legislation and the passing of laws of health, it must not be supposed that facilities for the proper treatment of the sick and injured were not keeping step with the law-making powers. Of course, under our constitution, every county

622      THE HISTORY OF NEVADA

made provision for the care of the indigent sick, but in most instances they were makeshifts, which were hardly fitted for human habitations, much less for hospital purposes. The hospital most important in the State is the Nevada Hospital for Mental Diseases, which was completed and received its occupants in July, 1882. Prior to that time our insane had been kept in California, first at Woodbridge, and subsequently at Stockton. It was in 1875 that the writer, chairman of the joint committee of the Legislature, visited Woodbridge, where our insane were then kept on contract with Langdon & Clarke, at a cost of one dollar each per day. I made a report condemning the farming system and suggested the advantages financially and otherwise of the State caring for its insane at home, and in 1899, when addressing the State Legislature on the needs of our insane, it afforded me great pleasure to call attention to the fact that in the sixteen and one-half years of the existence of our State Hospital, the State had saved twice its cost, to say nothing of the fact that the moneys expended for its maintenance had been spent among our own people and the comfort of relatives and friends being able to frequently visit their afflicted. The care of its inmates and results of treatment averages well with similar institutions. The last report (January 1, 1913) showed 238 inmates, 175 male and 63 females. It is under the care of a medical superintendent who is appointed by and under the control of the Board of Commissioners for the Care of the Indigent Insane, consisting of the Governor, State Controller and State Treasurer. The first hospital worthy of the name was St. Mary's, erected in Virginia City by the Sisters of Charity, about 1880. The ground was presented by the late Mrs. Theresa Fair to the sisters, who raised the money for the building of the hospital, which was well equipped at that time for its purpose. It was supported mostly by a monthly subscription of one dollar, paid by the miners, who for that sum were entitled to medical and surgical treatment and hospital care. It must not be supposed that they were the only patients received; other pay patients, to say nothing of many charitable cases, found relief, not only for their physical, but for their mental sufferings as well. Race or creed made no difference in the treatment received by patients. Dr. John Grant was the attending physician and the writer attending surgeon up to 1883, when he removed to Reno. If "evil associations corrupt good morals," the reverse is equally true, and I had a

MEDICAL HISTORY            623

number of proofs of that fact during my attendance at St. Mary's in the mountains.

The hospital continued in service until the late '90s, when times became too dull for its support, and when, some years later, the Storey County Hospital burned down, the county purchased the building and has since used it as a county hospital. Pay patients, however, are received.

There is a modern hospital at Ely and similar miners hospitals at Goldfield and Tonopah, but it is in Reno that thoroughly equipped hospitals, three in number, can be found. Here the most modern treatment, medical as well as surgical, is to be had. The Reno hospitals are prepared to furnish operating rooms where thorough "aseptic" conditions may be secured. They have trained nurses and have all arrangements complete to enable the surgeon to perform the most difficult operations, including the X-ray apparatus, a thoroughly competent bacteriologist who not only makes examinations, but prepares autogenous bacterins for the most modern and successful treatment of infectious and contagious diseases, with competent physicians and surgeons to make use of both hospitals and serums. The hospitals are the County, St. George and St. Mary's. Hence Reno has become the Mecca of the afflicted to which are turning not only those of Nevada, but from our neighboring States—Utah, Oregon and nearby sections of California.