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6
The Public Health Service and the War.
In the autumn of last year the question which was in the mind of
every medical officer of health in London was whether there was any
work in which he could share which would be of use to his country;
whether he could make his special knowledge available to those who
direct the military forces of the British Empire in such a way as to be
of value in the great undertaking upon which this country had entered.
When war was declared the London medical officers of health
offered their services to the Deputy Director of Medical Services of
the London military district. This offer was at once accepted,
and without loss of time these officers were engaged in the work of
inspection of all billets and encampments, in looking into the conditions
under which troops are housed, the sanitary arrangements of
the buildings, the supervision of food supplies, and, indeed, all the
circumstances which would have come under the notice of these officers,
had their sanitary authorities statutory powers in this connection. In
this work they are associated with the late county medical officer of
health, a member of the deputy director's staff.
It is important to note that the medical officers of health thus acting
have no executive functions, but are in the position of advisers of the
commanding officers whose units are in the several cities and boroughs
of London. The whole intention of the introduction of sanitary thought
into military life is to look to the combatant force as executive. From
the private soldier who is taught to have regard to personal hygiene
and to carry into effect the teaching which he receives, to the commanding
officer who is responsible for the health conditions under
which his men live, the duty of action remains with the combatant.
The part of the medical officer is that of adviser, and this position has
been carefully maintained in the London arrangements.
There are other branches of work which may fall to the medical
officers thus acting in London. As yet there has been no indication of
introduction of disease from abroad, as the result of the return of those
who come home from the seat of the war. The future only can show
whether we shall remain exempt. Soldiers have returned with bowel
disturbances due to exposure, and to irregularity of diet incidental to
war, but true dysentery is not known to have manifested itself among
them. Enteric fever has not been conspicuous, and nothing has been
heard of cholera except certain occurrences of this disease in Hungary
among wounded soldiers returning from Galicia, and more recently in
Vienna, where, it has been stated in the press, it has appeared among