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40
It will be seen that the results of the Voluntary Notification of
Consumption during the past year have been no more satisfactory
than those recorded in previous years. The system of voluntary
notification has been tried in Edinburgh, and proved a failure, and
in Glasgow the Corporation of that city has lately resolved to add
the disease to the list of those compulsorilv notifiable. It is desirable
that notification should be made compulsory in London and generally
in our large cities; but the Local Government Board are still of
opinion that Consumption is not a disease to which compulsory notification
should be applied, and this view appears to be shared by the
London County Council. Personally, I see no difficulty in its
adoption. In Sheffield, where the scheme has been practically applied
for some two years, it has been found to give rise to no friction or
hardships; and the principle has received the approval of the lnternational
Congresses of London and Paris, the Metropolitan Branch
of the Society of Medical-Officers of Health, and a host of medical
experts. I have no doubt that compulsory notification is essential to
success in the administrative control of Phthisis, a disease which is
the cause of more suffering and death than the whole of those other
diseases the notification of which is compulsory.
Judging from the deaths from Consumption, which numbered
48, there must have been at least 150 sufferers from the disease in the
Borough during the year, and of these only 25 were notified under
the voluntary system.
In connection with the Compulsory Notification of Consumption
and the difficulty experienced by the Local Government Board in
meeting the wishes of Metropolitan Medical-Officers of Health with
reference to the adoption of that measure, a very good compromise
has been suggested, viz., that such notification should be compulsory
at first only with regard to cases coining under the Poor Law MedicalOfficers
or attending Public Institutions. In this way we should
learn the number and distribution of those cases of Consumption
which were most dangerous to the community, and thus extend the
application of the necessary precautionary measures.