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infectious disease occurring in a registered house. The same
Act conferred power on the Local Government Board to declare
the enactment to be in force in any district. The sections,
nevertheless, remained practically a dead letter in most of the
metropolitan districts, the Board not exercising its power. I
brought the subject to the notice of your vestry in 1878, when
the Sanitary department had been reorganised and the staff
enlarged; and in April, 1879, I was requested to make an
enquiry as to the working of the Acts in places where they had
been put into operation. Meanwhile, 1 had introduced the
subject at the Society of Medical Officers of Health, which resolved
(1) That the Acts are practicable, (2) That they should
be put in operation in London and other large towns, (3) That
a uniform code of regulations for the Metropolis was desirable,
and (4) That the Society should undertake the framing of such
a code. The Council of the Society, to which the matter was
referred, requested me to draft a code. This draft code, with
slight alterations, was adopted by the Society, and in May, 1879,
the regulations were published" for the guidance of Urban
Sanitary Authorities." Your Vestry, finding that the Acts
were carried out in very few places, decided that it was not
expedient, at the time (July, 1879) to proceed any further in
the matter. In a Presidential Address to the Society of Medical
Officers of Health, delivered in October, 1883, I drew attention
to the Acts, and to the desirability of their being put in force
This address was printed and widely circulated by the Society.
In November your Vestry resolved, unanimously, to take steps
for carrying out the provisions of the Acts, and at once set to
work to frame regulations. In the following month, December,
1883, the Local Government Board, exercising the power conferred
by section 47 of the Sanitary Law Amendment Act, 1874,
declared the enactment contained in section 35 of the Sanitary
Act, 1866, to be in force in every district of the Metropolis, the
Authority of which had not previously made application to the
Board for powers to enable it to make regulations. Early in
1884 your Vestry made regulations, which, after modifications