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diseases, such as small-pox, scarlet fever, &c., provision should be made by
legislative enactment to secure the compulsory disclosure to the said
Authorities of all cases of such diseases immediately after their occurrence.
2. That the provisions of the 26th Section of the Sanitary Act, 1866 (Section
124, Public Health Act, 1875), are insufficient for the protection of the
public health, and should be so amended as to empower any justice to
direct the removal to a hospital, within the district of the Nuisance
Authority, of any person suffering from any dangerous infectious disorder,
and being without proper lodging or accommodation, which would enable
him to be properly isolated, so as to prevent the spread of disease to other
inmates of the same house, and to be properly treated.
3. That the admission into hospitals for the purpose of isolation of persons
suffering from infectious diseases, and being without proper lodging or
accommodation, is eminently desirable in the interests of the public and
should be encouraged : that payment for the assistance given in hospitals
to such persons, removed thereto for isolation by the Nuisance or PoorLaw
Authority, should not be enforced; that the giving of such assistance
should not entail on the recipients the loss of any social or political
status; and that the cost of hospital treatment of such infective sick
persons should be made a charge on the Metropolitan Common Poor
Fund.
4. That the President of the Local Government be asked to receive a
Deputation to present the foregoing resolutions, and make request that
he would be pleased to bring under the notice of the Government the
desirability of taking measures for giving effect to them by legislation."
(4) "Defective Sanitary Government of the Metropolis.—
London is grievously in need of a Central Sanitary Department
to establish something like unity in the sanitary arrangements of
its 89 divisions. Information of the occurrence of scheduled
infectious diseases, with all particulars, should be notified to the
local Medical Officer of Health, and be at once transmitted by him
to a central office, whence information should be forwarded to
the Medical Officers of other districts whom it may concern; and
generally to all Medical Officers of Health.
"In my judgment the long continuance of small-pox in London,
apart from the question of vaccination, is largely due (1) to concealment
of cases; (2) to non-isolation, and especially to exposure
of mild cases and infected clothing; (3) to delay in removal of
cases to hospital; and (4) generally to the want of solidarity in