Motion for repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts / speech of Dr. Lyon Playfair in the House of Commons ; with a letter from a clergyman at Devonport.

  • Playfair, Lyon, Baron, 1818-1898.
Date:
1870
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Motion for repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts / speech of Dr. Lyon Playfair in the House of Commons ; with a letter from a clergyman at Devonport. 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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    is transmissible by descent to his innocent offspring. The Acts have had small effect on the minor form, but they have been most beneficial in repressing the major form of the disease. The statistics which I intend to offer are furnished to me by Dr. Balfour, the eminent statistician at the head of the statistical department of the army. It is well known that he was not favourable to the introduction of tlie Acts, and that at first he doubted their success; but he has informed itie himself, and has authorized me to state, that he has been obliged to change his opinion, from the favourable results which have followed their operation. In 1869 there were 7 protected stations and 15 unprotected stations of our home army. A partial protection had been given to some of them by the experimental Act of 1864; and in the period of three years ending 1866, we find a small difference in their favour, for the ratio of the major disease in its primary form, to 1,000 men was 93 in the protected and 107 in the unprotected stations. The first efficient Act was passed in 1866, but was only brought into operation at the end of that year. In the next period of three years eudiug 1869 we find a large reduction, for the ratio in the protected stations is 71, as against 111 in the unprotected.* Tou_ will observe that the average ratio in the unprotected stations is sensibly the same in the two periods, but it is continually decreasing at the protected stations, lor in 1867 it was 86, in 1868 it was 70, and in 1869 only 58 ; while in the unprotected stations it had re- mained constant, varying only between 110 and 112. The mode of comparison adopted eliminates all sources of error from the varying character of the disease. If it be true, that there is a progressive diminution of the disease, the protected and un- protected districts will be equally affected by it; but it is quite untrue, for the entries at 9 of the 15 unprotected stations are higher in 1869 than in 1868. The Eegistrar-General tells us • Mr. Henley, in his reply, accused me of want of candour in not going back further than the year 1864. I could not do so for two reasons. In the first place, there are no separate returns for primary sores, or what I term the major disease in its primary form, previous to that year; and in the second place, as I was comparing three years before the Acts of 186G with the three years subsequent to the Acts, I was obliged to take 1864 as my initial year. Mr. Henley's contention, as I understood it, was that as the personal examination of soldiers was discontinued in 1859, a large increase of disease followed. This is not the case, as the following ratios, supplied to me by Dr. Balfour, will show. They relate to all classes of cnthetic diseases:-1860, 369; 1801, liCA; 1862, 330: 1863,307; 1864, 291; 18C5, 283; 1866,258; 1867, 291; 1868, 282.