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30
In the main devoted to the taking of measures for the prevention
of Pulmonary Consumption as distinct from measures for the
treatment of individual sufferers. Only in a few of the largest
and wealthiest towns were concerted means for treatment
forthcoming, and in these the Municipal Authorities were often
aided by local voluntary organizations. In the vast majority
of the districts the actual treatment of consumption may be said
to have been restricted to the large Voluntary Hospitals and to
the Poor Law Infirmaries.
Nevertheless, the death-rate from consumption had steadily
and continuously fallen, a fact attributed by many sanitarians
to the increasing use made of the Poor Law Infirmaries, whereby
the segregation of persons in an advanced and generally
infectious stage of the disease tended to limit the amount of
infectious material both in public places and in the homes of
the people, and this fact must be steadily borne in mind when
considering the proposals for a complete scheme of treatment.
The Councils of Sanitary Authorities, under the provisions
of the Public Health Acts and the Tuberculosis Regulations,
have had the power of treating cases of Pulmonary Tuberculosis
both in their homes and in institutions such as dispensaries,
sanatoria, and hospitals, but have not to any great extent utilized
those powers, probably by reason of the expense involved. The
combined effect of the Finance Act, 1911, and the National
Insurance Act, 1911, is the provisions of such sums of money
from the Treasury and the Insurance Committee as shall offer
a sufficient inducement to the Sanitary Authority to enter themselves
upon a large expenditure with a view to dealing with
Tuberculosis in a comprehensive manner, and the chief difficulty
which fronts the Council is the inability to form even an
approximate estimate of what that expenditure may be.
Some idea, however, in this direction may be gathered from