Report from the Select Committee of the House of Lords on the Contagious Diseases Act, 1866 : with the proceedings of the Committee, minutes of evidences, and appendix.

  • Great Britain. Parliament. House of Lords. Select Committee on the Contagious Diseases Act, 1866.
Date:
1871
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report from the Select Committee of the House of Lords on the Contagious Diseases Act, 1866 : with the proceedings of the Committee, minutes of evidences, and appendix. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    REPORT. BY THE SELECT COMMITTEE appointed to consider the Contagious Diseases Act, 1866, and to Report to the House; and to whom were referred two Petitions relating to the subject-matter of the Inquiry. ORDERED TO REPORT, That the Committee have considered the subject-matter referred to them; and beg to report to the House the result of their inquiry as to the working of the Contagious Diseases Acts of 1864 and 1866, and as to the extension of the latter to places to which it does not already apply. The Committee do not think it necessary to refer at length to the circumstances under which those Acts originated, taking it for granted that the House is aware of the extent to which the disease in question prevailed, especially among Her Majesty’s naval and military forces. As instances, however, it may be mentioned that in the year 1860, one in four of the Foot Guards in London suffered from syphilis, while in the same year only one in 56 of the troops in Brussels suffered from the same cause, and in 1863, 1,482 cases of venereal disease were admitted into Haslar Hospital alone. To remedy such a state of things, the Act of 1864 was intro- duced by the First Lord of the Admiralty and the Secretary of State for War. The Petitions referred to them having prayed for the extension of the Act to the civil population, the Committee have not confined their inquiry to the naval and military stations. According to the Registrar General’s Returns, the deaths from syphilis, principally among children, had increased from 67 in the million of the population in 1861 to 94 in the million in 1865. This is partially to be accounted for by the fact that the medical discoveries of late years have proved that this fearful disease not only infects the man, and too often his innocent wife and children, but that a train of diseases result from it, of which the source has till lately been unsuspected. The effects of this disease cannot be better stated than in the words of Sir William Jenner, who says, “ I have arrived at the con- clusion that syphilis is one of the most fatal diseases that we have in this country; rather, I should say, it stands very high among them; and every day’s advance in our medical knowledge raises its position in that respect. Again, I think that it is a disease entirely* preventible ; children and other persons suffer largely from it, without any sin of their own, and therefore it ought to be prevented.” Some eminent medical witnesses also have stated that, from the action of this disease upon the general system, and upon the vital organs, the progress of physical degeneracy among all classes may be apprehended in the absence of preventive measures. The Committee propose to confine their Report to the three following points : (1) The effects already produced by the late Act; (2) the propriety and practicability of extending its operation ; (3) and the measures which the Committee recommend to be adopted. First. As to the results of the Act.—The Act of 1864 proved in some par- ticulars inefficient; no power was given to the Government to build hospitals, and no provision was made for the periodical examination of the women; it was therefore amended and rendered more effective in 1866; the amended Act has not yet been in operation two years. In no place in this country, except at Sheerness, has it been fully tested; but at Malta and in the Ionian Islands the principle of the Act has been applied with complete success. At Aldershot the amended Act has been fully carried out for only two months, and already the decrease of cases among the troops has been nearly one-third. (46.) a 2 At Mr. Acton, 956, 957. Mr. J. B. Cur- genven, 910-12. Sir W. Jenner, 1075. 1085, 1086. Mr. Acton, 934-6. Mr. Prescott Hewett, 1125. 1130. Mr. Paget, 641-3. 656. 676. 697. Sir H. Storks, 230. Letter to Mr. Skey. Appendix A. Mr. Leonard, 353.