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Board is of opinion it is not a disease to which compulsory notification
can with advantage be applied.
The Local Government Board for Scotland, on the other hand, in
their circular letter of 10th March, 1906, expressed the view that " for the
effectual application of the Public Health Act to pulmonary phthisis, a
system of notification is essential;" and stated that " it is open to the
Local Authority, with the approval of the Board, to add pulmonary
phthisis to the list of diseases notifiable under the Infectious Diseases
(Notification) Act, 1889, and that the Board will be prepared to give
favourable consideration to any application for their approval, provided
they are satisfied that the Local Authority are in a position, and are ready,
to deal effectively with the cases notified to them."
Dr. Koch in his " Nobel" lecture delivered at Stockholm, and
published in The Lancet, May 26th, 1906, after stating that " the starting
point for the combating of all pestilences is notification, because without
it most cases of disease would remain unknown, we must demand it for
tuberculosis too."
The Society of Medical Officers of Health (Metropolitan Branch) have
arrived at the conclusion that a system of compulsory notification is
desirable for the Metropolis, on the lines of the Sheffield Corporation Act,
1903, which have been followed in the Bolton and Rathmines Acts of
1905. It was ordered that a copy of the resolution be forwarded to the
Local Government Board, the London County Council, and the National
Association for the Prevention of Consumption and other forms of
Tuberculosis.
I understand that the Health Committee of Glasgow, the second city
in the empire, have unanimously recommended to the Corporation that
the compulsory notification of pulmonary phthisis should be adopted for a
period. The recommendation was adopted.
I also understand the Town Council of the City of Edinburgh acting
on the recommendation of the Health Committee decided on the 18th
December to apply to the Local Government Board for Scotland for
sanction to add consumption to the list of diseases scheduled in the
Infectious Diseases (Notification) Act, 1889.