Commonwealth of Massachusetts. State Board of Health. Boston, May 28, 1897.

MR. JOSHEPH H. BEALE, JR.,DEAR SIR:

In reply to yours of May 26, asking information as to the existence of malaria in the region about the Soldiers Field;- the Board examined the territory, in which the Field is situated, in 1893, and found the following conditions, as reported by the inspector who made the examination. The only place in the neighborhood where any cases were known to have occurred, was at Barry's Corner, where it was stated that there had been six cases in the course of three years. With reference to the Soldiers Field itself I quote the inspector's words:

"Some forty-five men were employed here trenching the field to improve it for the athletic purposes of Harvard College. The foreman reported that no illness had occurred among the men under him. The next district includes that part of Brighton near the abattoir and Faneuil Station. On the whole, this was very free from illness. The abattoir men (upward of a hundred in number) were reported as exceptionally healthy. Two cases, both imported, were found near Faneuil Station among workmen. Auburndale appeared to be responsible for them, as the men lived there. Moreover, as farther down the river, the Brighton physicians, of whom I inquired, knew of no cases in the vicinity."

I have made inquiries of the chairman of the Board of Health of the City of Boston with reference to reported malarial disease in the neighborhood in question, and he reports that he has no knowledge of its existence in that district.

Respectfully yours,

SAMUEL W. ABBOTT, Secretary.