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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    lead to the production and continuance of fevers. An undue consumption of intoxicating liquors leads to disease and poverty, and usually goes pari passu with defective nourishment. Idleness, ignorance, debauchery bring want, vice, and crime. Hence, as good or bad personal habits abound, so will be the causes of disease and the necessity for watchfulness on the part of the sanitary authorities. It is desirable under this head to refer briefly to the Contagious Diseases Acts, for, in certain localities, the dis- eases which they are intended to abate exert no little influ- ence upon public health. The first Act was passed in 1864 (27 & 28 Vict. c. 85), but was of temporary duration, and in 1866 a permanent Act was issued (29 & 30 Vict. c. 35), which contains nearly all the important provisions which are now in force. Two short amending Acts were, however, passed in 1868 and 1869 (31 & 32 Vict. c. 80, and 32 Sz: 33 Vict. c. 96). They have not been appHed to the whole country, but are strictly limited to certain localities where there are many sailors and soldiers. They are not placed under the superintend- ence of medical officers of health, but the Admiralty and the Secretary of State for War have power to appoint visiting surgeons and inspectors. As, however, the diseased women may be treated in certified hospitals other than military and naval, they will often come under the cognisance of medical officers of health; and since such women, when at large, may infect civil as well as military men, officers entrusted with the supervision of public health are interested in the operation of these Acts. The following are extracts from the Acts referred to :—