Epidemiological Society, for the Investigation of Epidemic Diseases.

  • Epidemiological Society of London.
Date:
[1852]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Epidemiological Society, for the Investigation of Epidemic Diseases. 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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    orio'inating and prevailing in public liospitalsj have held several meetings at the house of the Chairman, Dr. Addison, and have drawn up a tabular form of queries, which they purpose sending to all the British hospitals. For this purpose, they have applied to the Council for a grant of money. The last Committee that was formed is that styled the Epizootic Committee, its object being, the investigation of those diseases which are found to prevail exten- sively among the lower, and more especially the domesticated animals. The working of this Committee has been undertaken by Professor Simonds, of the Royal Veterinary College, who will be aided in his labours by gentlemen of the veterinary profession in London and in the provinces. Already several veterinary surgeons in the provinces have been announced as Corresponding Members of the Epidemiological Society. In compliance with a desire expressed by Professor Simonds, that some members of the medical profession should unite with the veterinary members in carrying out the objects of the Epizootic Committee, several members of Council have already given in their names to be placed upon that Committee. As connected with these Committees, more especially with the Common Lodging-houses Committee, I must not forget a debt of gratitude we owe to some of the laity, members as well as non-members of the Society. The gentlemen of the City Mission readily tendered their valuable assistance to the Common Lodging-houses Committee, and greatly facilitated their inquiries regarding the influence which the receptacles of the lowest and most depraved portions of society exerted in originating and spreading epidemic disease. Valuable information, I am thankful to acknowledge, has also been rendered to the Common Lodging-houses Committee by Mr. Charles Cochrane, a lay member of the Society, distinguished as we all know, for his philanthropic exer- tions in the cause of sanitary improvement. To the medical journals the gratitude of the Society is eminently due, for the facility they have afforded to the Honorary Secretaries and Secretaries of Com- mittees, in giving notices of meetings, publishing reports, and impressing the Pro- fession with the necessity of sending in answers to the queries issued by the respective Committees. The editor of the Veterinarian, in his journal of September last, has dedicated a leading article to the Epidemiological Society. Some important articles have also appeared in the Assurance Magazine, urging in strong terms the cause of the Society, and the benefits that must accrue to as- surance societies by a due appreciation of those sanitary principles and laws which may be directed towards the mitigation, not only of sweeping epidemics such as cholera and influenza, but also of other diseases, which are silently, constantly, and even more fatally operating to the destruction of human life. The publicity given to the objects of the Epidemiological Sociej^ in the Assu- rance Magazine, has procured for us a favourable notice in a German journal, the Rundschau der Versicherungen, edited by Herr E. A Musius, of Leipsic. To the General Board of Health, and to the Poor-law Board, the best thanks of the Society are due, for the permission given by these bodies to the members of the Small-pox Committee, to have access to documents in their possession re- garding the subject of small-pox; and to the Registrar-General we are greatly beholden for the facilities he has afforded us by the distribution of our papers among his subordinate officers. For the information of those members of the laity who seldom if ever see the Medical Journals, I have much pleasure in stating that, at the Nineteenth Anni- versary Meeting of the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association, held at Brighton m August last. Sir Charles Hastings, the founder of the Association spoke highly of the objects and claims of the Epidemiological Society, and called upon the members of the association to give it their warm support. The field of inquiry open to tliis Society is not limited to Great Britain alone • for It comprehends all parts of Europe, and extends even to India (the cradle, so to speak, of epidemic diseases), and to every portion of the habitable globe. Impressed with this view, and feeling the necessity of establishing cominuiiica-