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75
It was proposed in the Bill to pay a fee to the Medical
Officer of Health for the duty to be imposed upon him. The
proposal, however, was opposed, partly, it would seem, upon the
ground that the prospect of losing the fee, if the certificate were
not given, would impose too severe a strain upon the honesty of
Medical Officers of Health; a view which was somewhat strongly
enforced by certain members from the other side of the Channel.
Weakly, but reluctantly, the Government allowed the opposition
to prevail; consented to erase the proviso, and now no one can
allege that the Medical Officer of Health has any temptation to
give a false certificate.
COMPULSORY NOTIFICATION OF INFECTIOUS
DISEASE.
The Infectious Disease (Notification) Act, which has been in
operation since October, 1889, has worked with uniform success,
and without appreciable friction. It has been adopted by large
numbers of provincial sanitary authorities, and is now operative in
respect of urban and rural sanitary districts, containing some twothirds
or more of the population of the United Kingdom. In the
Metropolis notification has been compulsory from the first. At
page 43 a Table will be found, shewing the number of cases of
each of the scheduled diseases notified in 1890 to the several
Metropolitan Medical Officers of Health. It is the duty of the
Medical Officer of Health, under the provisions of the Act, to
forward to the Asylums Board, daily, copies of the medical
certificates or "notifications" received by him, and that
Board are, in effect, required to send to the County Council a
weekly return of the cases so reported to them. When the Act
came into operation the Board resolved to print a weekly fist of
the cases notified, and to send a copy thereof, not only to the
County Council, but also to each of the Metropolitan Medical
Officers of Health. They further resolved to issue, "for the
information of the Managers and the general public," a weekly
summary, shewing the number of cases of each of the notifiable