[On the clauses in the draft Glasgow Police Bill which have reference to the prevention and mitigation of disease ...].

  • Duncan, Eben.
Date:
[1882]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: [On the clauses in the draft Glasgow Police Bill which have reference to the prevention and mitigation of disease ...]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

    14/26 page 10
    That during the prevalence of the extensive milk epidemics which have occurred in the past eight years, although there was an unusually large amount of the typhoid poison circulating in the drains and sewers of Glasgow, there was no extension of the fever along the lines of drainage or into the neighbouring houses ; 2nd, That in many instances the house-drains and soil-pipes in these neighbouring houses were very defective, and freely per- mitted of the flow of sewage gases from these soil-pipes and house- drains, containing the typhoid poison, into these houses—the obvious conclusion is that (in Glasgow) epidemics of typhoid fever do not now arise from the inhalation of sewer gases. I do not deny that dust particles of typhoid excreta may be carried back from our sewers, but on the bases of these facts I do assert that the cases of typhoid which are so produced must be comparatively few. Therefore, 1st, Because four or five weeks must usually elapse, after the poisoning of the community begins, before the Sanitary Authority can become acquainted with its cause. 2nd, Because the statistics of other towns in which the clauses proposed in the Glasgow Police Bill are enforced do not on the whole give any evidence of progressive improvement in the death-rate from this disease. 3rd, Because the poisonous particles which give origin to the bulk of the cases of typhoid are not propagated within the jurisdiction of the City Authorities, but come from without. And lastly, because typhoid fever is not an infectious disease in the popular sense, and may safely be treated at home without the slightest fear of its spreading, if the dis- charges from the bowels of the patient are properly disinfected. On these four grounds I hold that neither compulsory notification, nor the milk clauses in question, will materially diminish the prevalence of/typhoid fever in Glasgow. What will diminish it ? Although that question need not be answered in connection with this argument, it has some bearing upon it. Two years ago I was asked by a milk agent to visit with him some dairy farms from which lie thought of taking the dairy produce to supply his customers in Glasgow, and in the suburb in which I live. He wished me to give him my opinion as to their sanitary condition. I visited five farms. They differed very much in their size, appearance, and surroundings, but they all agreed in this, that the kitchen opened directly into the byre, and the byre opened directly into the milk-house. The result of
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3