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be diss ociated from it; and, to the most superficial observer, it must
be clear that an improvement in housing, in a purer milk and food
supply, and better sanitary conditions generally, will all aid the direct
efforts that are being made by Medical Officers and Health Visitors
and others in their work for the well-being of the mothers and
children.
The earlier limited work of Sanitary Authorities in dealing with
environmental conditions has become enlarged and widened by
modern developments and with the spread of knowledge. The application
of well thought-out schemes for the local administration of laws
and regulations affecting the personal health of members of the
Community has brought the present-day Health Authorities into close
personal contact with the inhabitants of their districts. Though much
has been achieved in the past, there yet remains much to be done in
the future, both as regards improving upon the existing methods of
preventing ill-health and premature death, and in the development of
new avenues along which attacks may be made on things which act
adversely on personal well-being, whether they be insanitary environmental
surroundings or preventable diseases and ill-health. To cease
to progress is to commence to stagnate; the Health Authority that is
truly alive to its responsibilities will always be progressive, and will
refuse to be "closely wed to musty laws lined out with wretched rule
and compass vile." The fact must ever be remembered that the two
methods of protection of the health of the community, through the
environment or through the individual, are largely interwoven, and
that progress in one direction reacts favourably upon the other. The
ideal is, of course, to maintain a well-balanced advance along both
avenues. It would be, for instance, as unwise while conducting a
vigorous campaign for maternity and child welfare, to allow insanitary
and uninhabitable houses to exist, as it would be to concentrate upon
perfection in bricks and mortar and yet to neglect the personal health
of the occupants of the houses.
To a very large degree the science of local government, like all
government, is an experimental science, and therefore is a progressive
science. Since the formation of the late Vestry (the predecessor of the
present Borough Council), consequent upon the passing of the
Metropolis Management Act, 1855, and the appointment of the first
Medical and Sanitary Officers, many measures, having for their object
the improvement of personal and environmental hygiene, have been
adopted, and we must confess, on looking back, that we have made