Different people look at NEHA's history of 50 years and see different things. For some, NEHA has been a story of some amazingly dedicated people. For others, it has served as an ever-developing continuum of learning and/or fellowship opportunities. For still others, NEHA has offered recognition, whether by conference presentation, published manuscript or special award. In my view, these all rerresent worthy and valid assessments, but to a one, all miss a significant reason for the association's existence. In short, in the absence of a profes sional society, there can be no profession! It is a professional society which both nutures and sustains a profession. Moreover it is a professional society that serves to crystalize a collective vision of the profession's future. As a former theology professor of mine once remarked, a cup of coffee without the cup has no purpose, meaning or value. In other words, content without form, substance without structure equals nothing. So too, a profession without a professional society. The seeds of environmental health can be traced back to the Minoan culture in 1600 B.C. For those who enjoy "history," it was the ancient Minoans who were credited with pioneering drainage systems, water closets and water flushing systems. Notions of personal hygiene and cleanliness were rooted deeply enough in the Greek and Roman civilizations to give rise to the great public works projects we all read about which involved safe water supplies, drains and street gutters, and even garbage removal. The unfolding of the environmental health story took a backward turn with the dawn of the Christian era and through the middle ages. In rejection of the paganism of Rome, a "mortification of the flesh" sense prevailed. Notions of personal hygiene and sanita tion were utterly disregarded. Not surprisingly, concurrent with the accumulation of body waste around dwellings and in communities, were epidemics of cholera, typhoid, dysenteries, and of course, the plague which was responsible for 25 million deaths in one seige alone in the mid fourteenth century. It is more than interesting that with AIDS in mind, the conventional wisdom in the middle ages held that disease represented punish ment for sin. As the Renaissance and Age of Reason began to take hold with changing views on the dignity of man, the entrenched fatalism of previous centuries gave way to notions that we could actually influence our destiny. From these circumstances, it was possible for some of the great names in the early days of public health to appear - Farr, Chadwick, Shattuck. An actual base of knowledge tested repeatedly using the scientific method began to appear. Control of environmental pollution was shown to lead to reductions in many of the dreaded com municable diseases of the day.
It was against this backdrop that governmental bodies soon created the first boards of health. It was also with the mission of sanitation clearly in mind that communities
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