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148
the case to which reference has been made at page
47. Occasionally, I have received a certificate from a
medical practitioner who had not been "called in," and was
not "attending" the patient, but who, having personal knowledge
of the illness, felt it to be his duty to notify the case.
In one such case a notification was received 24 hours before the
certificate of the practitioner "called in " to and " attending "
the sufferer came to hand. Both practitioners had seen the
patient, independently, on the same day. The first to notify
the illness was a police surgeon who went to the house because
a police constable lived there, by whom the case was reported
to his superior officer, in conformity with the Order of the
Chief Commissioner. This gentleman could not have fulfilled
his duty—which, doubtless, involved temporary release of the
constable from duty—without seeing the case to ascertain that
it was one of infectious disease. The information given was
valuable, and the fee was paid ; but, technically, payment
might have been refused without infraction of law.
THE LONDON SCHOOL BOARD AND
NOTIFICATION.
In former reports, extending over some seventeen years,
I had occasion to refer to the action of the School Board for
London, taken at my instance, with the object of preventing
the spread of infectious disease through the agency of public
elementary schools. The Visitors first, and subsequently the
Head Teachers, were instructed to inform the Medical Officer
of Health with regard to any children absent from school,
when there was reason to suspect that such absence was due
to illness of an infectious character. When the Notification
Act came into operation, the Board and their Medical Officer
manifested a commendable desire to utilize its provisions to
the utmost, for preventing the spread of disease through Board
Schools. The Public Health Act, 1891, makes provision for