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135
Report of the Medical Officer of Health.
"These regulations also point out that this Council may:
(i) take all such measures as are authorised with regard to
the destruction and disinfection of infected articles or the
cleansing or disinfection of premises; (2) take all such
measures as are appropriate or necessary for the safe disposal
or destruction of infective material or otherwise for the prevention
of the spread of infection from such material;
(3) afford or supply all such assistance, facilities or articles as
will obviate, remove, or diminish the risk of infection arising
from the condition of the sleeping apartment, and (4) furnish
-on loan or otherwise any appliance which would assist in
preventing the spread of infection.
"These regulations were supplemented by a Memorandum
from the Medical Officer to the Local Government Board
which dealt with the pathology of the disease and also with
the administrative measures that can be taken and the assistance
that can be given to the patient.
"It does not come within the scope of this Report to discuss
the pathology of the disease as that has been dealt with
fully in the Memorandum, but it will be necessary to point
out to this Council what has been done during the past five
years' administration to prevent the disease, and also what
additional measures might be adopted to still further limit its
spread.
"The Memorandum states that the measures which may
be adopted are educational measures, which comprise means
for instructing the general community, those more directly
exposed to the infection of tuberculosis, and those suffering
from the disease. For instructing the general community there
is no doubt that the teaching of hygiene in the elementary
schools would prove most beneficial, but to the rest of the
general public the difficulty of imparting the necessary
information is at present a serious one. Much may be done
by voluntary work by church societies, friendly societies, and
by public lectures generally, but these agencies would not, in
my opinion, be sufficient or even capable of reaching the
careless and ignorant poor, among whom cases of this
•disease are very common.