Half a century of sanitary progress, and its results / by H. Franklin Parsons.

  • Parsons, H. Franklin (Henry Franklin), 1846-1913.
Date:
1899
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Half a century of sanitary progress, and its results / by H. Franklin Parsons. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    TRANSACTIONS Cije CjptDemiol0gifal ^0 INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF SES Half a Century of Sanitary Progress, and its Results. By H. franklin PARSONS, M.D., President. (Read: November l^ih, 1898). Gentlemen,—In the first place let me thank you for the honour which you have done me in electing me President of the Epidemiological Society: an honour which I should scarcely have felt myself entitled to accept, had I not re- garded it as intended for the Medical Department of the Local Government Board rather than for myself personally in virtue of any merits or qualifications of my own for the position. Conscious as I am of the difficulty of following worthily in the footsteps of the distinguished men who have preceded me in the office of President, I must crave your kind indulgence, and ask you to take the will for the deed. In casting about for a subject on which I might profit- ably address you this evening, I remembered that it is now fifty years since the first general Public Health Act, that of 1848, was passed. The Annual Report of the Registrar General for 1896, published this year, completes also a fifty years’ record of the deaths from different causes in England and Wales; since the classification of the causes of death, which had been suspended for several years, was resumed in 1847. It has occurred to me, therefore, that in this age of Jubilee celebrations it might not be inap- propriate to take stock of our position, and endeavour tq ascertain what measure of success has attended the legis- lative and administrative efforts which have been made during the past half century to improve the sanitary con- dition of this country, and to ward off the causes of prevent able—and especially of epidemic—diseases. In so doing I am well aware that a similar task has been already B