£ Dr. Canniff's first report, based "Spitting in public was accepton the survey by the six policemen, able then . . . probably getting the noted that most city sewage dispos- spittoons out of public places was al consisted of privies, "many little no easier than our battles against better than pits in the earth; too smoking (in public places)," Dr. many are shallow and often over- Macpherson said philosophically in flowing into the yard or street. In an interview. some cases families were found A soft-spoken, rumpled Newwith no such necessary conve- foundlander with gentle eyes that nience, and the street became the gleam with quiet humor, Dr. Macpherson, 50, is a psychiatrist whose receptacle of the excrement." determination to "humanize" hosWorried about contamination of pital treatment finally led to a denearby wells supplying drinking sire to move out into the total water, Dr. Canniff proposed, as the j health needs of the community, lesser of two evils, piping sewage causing him to acquire additional out into the lake, even though "it is public health qualifications. For six far from a pleasant contemplation years he was in charge of Monthat the sewage of a population of treal's public health activities. nearly 100,000 should be poured into Since his appointment as Toronthe Bay to gradually convert it into to's medical officer of health in a cesspool. . ." 1981, Dr. Macpherson has carried Dr. Canniff increasingly found out decentralization of the health himself battling business interests department into four regional as he fought for a modem sewerage and water supply system, sought to close down cow byres and pigsties within.the city, to clean up filthy slaughter houses and to outlaw bad meat and adulterated milk. Heather MacDougalPs studies show that he became caught between the rising expectations of Torontonians, which led to press criticism of inaction, and "growthoriented business men and parsimonious aldermen" on whom the health department was dependent for the support that made action possible. This no doubt contributed to his resignation in 1890. Miss MacDougall says that in his seven-year tenure, Dr. Canniff and his staff "laid the foundations for the advances of their 20th-century successors/' Pollution is still the Toronto public health department's major concern. Dr. Canniff s solution to sewage disposal was dilution in the lake. According to Dr. Macpherson, "dilution is still used -- every smokestack is removing waste by dilution, chemical industries that pour waste into the Niagara River are using dilution, but we are almost at the stage where we have to say that dilution is not appropriate for the disposal of any form of human waste." The struggle against pollution goes on, even though the fight won by Dr. Canniff and his immediate successors against outright filth and contaminated drinking water allowed the health department to expand its focus. Today's concerns include aid for teen-age mothers, help for the aged and for the mentally ill, and prevention of "lifestyle diseases" such as cancer and heart disease. Dr. William Canniff (