The Contagious Diseases Act of 1866, and its extension to the civil population of the United Kingdom / by J. Brendon Curgenven.

  • J. Brendon Curgenven
Date:
1868
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The Contagious Diseases Act of 1866, and its extension to the civil population of the United Kingdom / by J. Brendon Curgenven. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    The Central Committee of Paris have sent a circular to all foreign members, asking them their views on the subject; the answers to be forwarded before April 15th, 1868. From all the views, and after full discussion in the 1 aris Committee, the latter will forward memorials to the different Governments, praying for such measures as may diminish the spread of venereal diseases. It was with a view to open the subject for discussion and inquiry in England that the Ilarveian Medical Society of London, in February, 1867, appointed a committee “to inves- tigate the extent of the spread of the contagious diseases, com- monly called venereal diseases, among the population of this country, to discuss the best means of preventing that widely extended evil, and to report thereon to the International Con- gress to be held this year in Paris.” This committee issued circulars to the surgeons of all the hospitals and nearly all the dispensaries and infirmaries in the United Kingdom, and to all the workhouses in London, Man- chester, and other large towns. By this means they gained a great amount of information as to the actual amount of venereal disease existing amongst the patients and applicants to these charities. The amount of the existing disease ex- ceeded their anticipations. At. St. Bartholomew’s Hospital about one-half of the surgical out-patients’ cases were venereal. At Guy’s Hospital, out of 295 surgical cases, seen by Mr. Cooper Forster, 174 were venereal and 121 non-venereal. At the other hospitals in London the proportion ranged from one- fifth to three-eighths of the surgical out-patients. At the Eye and Skin Hospitals the proportion varied from one-eighth to one-fifth of the cases seen. At the Children’s Hospitals the number amounted to one-fifth of the surgical cases. At Manchester and other large towns the amount of disease was about the same, averaging from one-eighth to one-third of the surgical cases. In addition to the great amount of venereal disease thus shown as being treated at the public charities, an equal if not greater number of cases come under the hands of chemists and quacks, to say nothing of those seen in the private practice of the profession. Thus the Committee at Manchester, co-operating with the Harveian Committee, in their report say, “We are fully convinced that the quacks and chemists attend a large proportion of the entire number of venereal cases occurring in Manchester.” The same is the case elsewhere, and there prevails in some places an extraordi- nary notion which prevents sufferers with this disease applying at the hospitals. Mr. Cardell, writing from Salisbury, says.
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