Manual for medical officers of health / by Edward Smith.

Date:
1873
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Manual for medical officers of health / by Edward Smith. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    pended on conditions capable of removal or mitigation, he must have been able clearly to connect the disease with a particular condition, and have overcome the difficulty just pointed out, but, having determined the fact to his satis- faction, it will be necessary for him to personally inspect the supposed cause, and determine how far it may be removed or mitigated. The results of this may not be any action to be immediately taken by himself, but it should appear in his diary or reports to be subsequently referred to, and may lead to a modification of the by-laws if of a general character, or to some specific action if it apply to a house or to a special locality. It will be observed tliat the direction is not limited to mortal diseases, but to all diseases, and as he cannot know of his own knowledge every case of sickness and its nature, it is clear that,, if this is to have its due force, he must be able to obtain such information by other means. No other appear available or efficient but the medical practitioners of the district.—the whole of them, and not merely the Poor Law medical officers; but no provision is made in the Acts by which this can be universally obtained, and if any material omissions occur, the results will be valueless for the purpose in question. Hence there is too much reason to fear that without further legislation this clause will be of little prac- tical value. If the diseases were limited to those which are mortal, or of a contagious or epidemic character, the infor- mation might be more readily obtained, but the scope of the enquiry is much beyond that, by embracing all diseases, and has an important bearing on national wealth. By Clause 3 it is expected that not only will the medical officer of health carry out the directions of Clause i, on