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66
having always shewn a desire to do their utmost for the preservation
of the public health, and having never hesitated to reconsider,
and if need be reverse, previous decisions, when once
convinced that by so doing they would more effectually serve the
great end for which they were appointed. The resolution referred
to was moved by Six E. H. Gurrie, to whose energetic action in
1884 we were indebted for facilities which enabled us to obtain
immediate admission for patients suffering from small-pox, and for
all the benefits to the Metropolis thence proceeding. The new
departure, however, is, I understand, mainly due to the initiative
of Mr. Scovell, Chairman of the Ambulance Committee, who has
found a zealous coadjutor in the Rev. C. Darby Reade, M.A.,
J.P., one of the Kensington Managers, who has recently retired
from the Chairmanship of the Hospital Ships Committee, after
four years of arduous service, in which he has seen the system
of direct removal of small-pox patients from their homes to the
Ships, carried to perfection, with the happiest results to the health
of the Metropolis. At the present writing (April), the Local
Government Board have not replied to the Managers' application,
and it is impossible to say what their immediate decision will be. I
do not doubt, however, that ultimately, if not at once, the application
will be granted. And then—under arrangements for free admittance
of the infectious sick upon the application of sanitary
officials and registered medical practitioners, as proposed—we may
fairly assume that the Metropolitan Hospital system, including
the Ambulance Service, regarded in the light of a provision against
epidemics, will be all that can be desired for the protection of the
public health.
COMPULSORY NOTIFICATION OF
INFECTIOUS DISEASES.
In previous Annual Reports reference was made to the need of
legislation to provide for the compulsory notification of infectious
disease, and in the report for 1880 (page 44) I described what had
been done in the shape of " Local Acts," to provide for notification
in provincial towns and boroughs. The subject was continued in