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prompt, in the earliest stages of the disease—hospitals for acute
and convalescent cases might and should be provided in isolated
places in the country: the Darenth experiment leaves no doubt of
their success.
COMPULSORY NOTIFICATION OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES.
In several of my Annual Reports I have referred to the need of
legislation, to secure immediate information to sanitary authorities
of the occurrence of cases of illness from certain of the more
dangerous infectious diseases, and in my last Annual Report I gave
a full account of the steps that had been taken by legislation in
the shape of local Acts, to secure such notification in respect of
certain provincial towns and boroughs. The desirability of the
extension of such legislation in the shape of a Public Act is now
very generally acknowledged, and it only remains for the responsible
Government to introduce a measure for the purpose. Probably
such a measure would have been introduced during the current
Session had the political atmosphere been a little clearer. As it
is, no fewer than three Bills have been introduced in the House of
Commons, two for Ireland, and one for England, by private
members, which, possibly, may be referred, as their promoters
desire, to a Select Committee. The principle involved in the
several measures is now so generally accepted that the passing
of an Act is only a question of time; of how much time, it is
impossible to predict. There is a considerable difference of opinion
on one point of moment, viz., as to who should report any given
case to the Sanitary Authority—the householder or the medical man?
It may be assumed that, as a very general rule, a medical man
would be called in to attend a person ill of small-pox or "fever,"
and the question in dispute is as to the extent of the responsibility
that should be cast on the medical man ? All admit that he should
give a certificate specifying the nature of the infectious disease, and
some contend that he should personally forward such certificate to
the Sanitary Authority so as to insure its immediate delivery, whilst
others would only require him to give his certificate to the householder,
or other person on whom a statutory liability to forward
it to the Sanitary Authority should be imposed. A third party
would make both doctor and householder, or head of family, equally
liable for the transmission. For my part I believe that the best plan