A plea for a minister of public health : the evolution of our sanitary institutions / by F.G. Bushnell.
- Bushnell, F.G.
- Date:
- 1870
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: A plea for a minister of public health : the evolution of our sanitary institutions / by F.G. Bushnell. 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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![[Reprinted, with additions, from the Journal of The Royal Sanitary Institute.] V I**/ I ' • \ ‘ t . V ;v A PLEA FOR ^ MINISTER OF PUBLIC HEALTH. THE EVOLUTION OE OUR SANITARY INSTITUTIONS. By F. Q-. BUSHNELL, M.D., ID.B.H., Pathologist, Sussex County Hospital; Vice-President, Devon and Cornwall Sanatorium for Consumptives. I BELIEVE that my subject is one of interest to all, as well as one of practical politics, so that I do not hesitate to introduce it. I will deal with it as follows :— 1. The evolution of our organisation in State Medicine up to the present day in this country. 2. The constitution and role of the proposed Health Ministry and the co-ordination of the public medical services, whereby our system may be extended and strengthened. 3. An outline of the problems which would confront a Minister of Public Health. I need not apologise for the dryness of the bones of sanitary history, as I hope to clothe them with vital substance. Its progress, as you are aware, has been always allied to that of the British medical profession. I should say that the classic in which one must study English sanitary history is the work of the late Sir John Simon, “ English Sanitary Insti- tutions.” evolu- From this we learn that up to the reign of William IV., 1830-1837, D°fa°ur the Statute Book contained no general law of sanitary intention if one tary excepts a Quarantine Act and an annual vote of £2,000 to the National imsa yaccine Board. What national wave of feeling gave the impetus to sanita- tion in this land % Pure panic, which this country shared with others when Cholera Asiatica appeared in Europe, and still more so when it entered I England in 1831. Such an unreasoning motive power is still, it is feared (at least, up to 1884, when cholera last threatened us), the most effective, if temporary, stimulus to progress. It resulted in 1831 in the formation of a Consultative Board of Health, consisting of the President and four Fellows of the College of Physicians, the Superintendent-General of](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22416973_0005.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
