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plague, but no attempt to deal with Small-Pox in a similar fashion
appears to have been made until the last quarter of the 18th
century. This was in all probability largely due to the adoption
of inoculation as the recognised defence against Small-Pox, and
the acceptance of Sydenham's doctrine of epidemic causation may
have exercised an influence in the same direction.
Prior to the year 1866 there was no provision made by law
for enabling sanitary authorities to establish hospitals for infectious
diseases and thus to promote the isolation of such cases. The
only institutions of that description then existing were the result
of private effort. So far as regards Small-Pox there was,
practically speaking, no provision for its treatment by means of
isolation.
The Sanitary Act of 1866 empowered, though it did not
compel, local authorities throughout England and Wales, Scotland,
and Ireland, to provide or to join in providing isolation
hospitals for the use of the inhabitants of their districts. There
was further legislation on the subject by the Public Health Act,
1875; the Public Health (London) Act, 1891; the Public Health
(Scotland) Act, 1867; and the Public Health (Ireland) Act, 1878,
into the details of which it is not necessary to enter. The most
recent Act relating to the matter is the Isolation Hospitals Act of
1893, which applies to the small towns and rural districts of
England and Wales.
In London, the local authorities to whom the power to
provide isolation hospitals was given by the Sanitary Act of 1866
were, in the City, the Commissioners of Sewers, and in other metropolitan
districts the Vestriesor District Boards. With few exceptions,
these authorities did not exercise the powers conferred on them,
and, speaking generally, it may be said that the Sanitary Act of
1866 had practically no effect in London as regards the provision
of hospital accommodation for Small-Pox. Some few of the
metropolitan workhouses, however, had infectious wards attached
in which cases of Small-Pox were treated, and the guardians of