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\%\ 20 MAY US
ANNUAL REPORT^ GIF HEALTH YEAR 1907,
To the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor, Aldermen and Commons
of the Corporation of London.
Public Health Department,
Guildhall, E.C.,
24th March, 1908.
Gentlemen,
In conformity with the requirements of the Local Government Board,
I have the honour to present my eighth Annual Report as Medical Officer of
Health for the City of London.
In reviewing the work of sanitary administration during 1907 and previous
years, it has been interesting to note the gradual evolution of the attitude of
the citizens towards progressive hygiene. The public have by slow degrees
learnt to recognise the value of practical sanitary science, and this growing
knowledge has tended to increase the responsibility attaching to those whose
duty it is to carry out the obligations imposed by the ever-increasing statutory
requirements which come into being, pari passu, with the spread of
education.
Ministers of State and the Heads of Government Departments responsible
for the health and well-being of the community are at the present time
taking an active interest in all that relates to the subject, and many local
authorities are finding that if the work is to be performed efficiently, their
staffs of officials are inadequate to cope with the fresh duties cast upon
them.
The various sections of this report dealing with the administration of the
Sale of Food and Drugs Acts, the Factory and Workshop Acts, the steps
taken for preventing the spread of infectious diseases, the control of food,
supplies, &c., illustrate the wide range of subjects included in State hygiene.
Year by year some fresh matter for special supervision is added to the list,
the two latest being in the direction of the reduction of infantile mortality,
and the medical inspection of school children.
As an illustration of the change that has taken place in public opinion
with regard to personal hygiene, it may be mentioned that last year a Bill