View report page

2
During the past year the same activity in regard to public
health has been displayed as of late years, and it is satisfactory to
know that zeal in this direction is not abating. According to the
quarterly returns of the Registrar General the health of the
inhabitants of England and Wales during the year 1896 has been
generally good.
The death-rate has been below the average. Some
diseases, such as Scarlet Fever, Typhoid Fever, Relapsing Fever and
Diarrhoea have decreased, their fatality also has been less. In regard
to Sanitary administration, it is a fact that the increase or decrease
of such fevers and infantile diarrhoea in a district is a true indication
as to whether that administration is bad or good. Fever and
diarrhoea are preventable diseases, inasmuch as they are encouraged
by defective drainage, bad water and filth. The year 1896 will be
marked by the increased deaths from Small-pox; in the City of
Gloucester alone over 400 persons died from that disease during
the year. Such a terrible experience forcibly illustrates the result
of neglect as regards vaccination. It will be remembered that in
the summer of 1896 the Royal Commission on Vaccination, which
had met on several occasions during seven years, issued its report,
and the pith of the report may be stated in the words of an
authority who says "the proof of the value of vaccination as a
preventive of Small-pox was never more strongly put forward
than it has been in that document."
Another Royal Commission which is sitting at the present
time, and which is likely to find means to control food-supplies in
order to prevent the spread of consumption caused by the flesh or
milk of animals affected by Tuberculosis, is the Commission on
Tuberculosis
Acts of Parliament passed during the year 1896 relating to
Public Health have been few; the only Act of importance is the
"Public Health Act, 1896," which repeals the Acts relating to
Quarantine. Two very complete reports, one dealing with
"Measles" and the other "on oyster culture in relation to disease"
have been issued by the Local Government Board. In regard to
Measles, it has been noticed that the fatality from this disease has
been on the increase during the last few years, nearly 13,000 deaths
are caused through Measles in England and Wales yearly, a greater
number than by Small-pox, Scarlet Fever or Typhoid. Undoubtedly
the cause of this fatality is due to want of knowledge on
the part of parents to look upon the illness as infectious and
serious, to its rapid spread by means of schools, and to its being
confined chiefly to young children. The Medical Officer to the
Local Government Board suggests the importance of compulsory
notification of Measles combined with prompt systematic visitation,
and information obtained from school authorities, together with