On the comparative prevalence of filth-diseases in town and country / by James B. Russell.

  • Russell, James Burn, 1837-1904.
Date:
[1877]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the comparative prevalence of filth-diseases in town and country / by James B. Russell. 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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    On the Comparative Prevalence of Filth-Diseases in Town and Country. By James B. Russell, M.D., Medical Officer of Health, Glasgow. C- _____ [Read before the Philosophical Society of Glasgow, December 19, 1877.] Mr. President and Gentlemen,—My first duty is to thank the members of the Sanitary Section of the Philosophical Society for making me their President, and so enabling me, from the elevation of that position, to address the parent Society to-night. Sanitary Science is not one which progresses by its principles or basement facts being the property of a few. The intelligence of the majority will always mark the farthest limit of sanitary advancement. Every opportunity, therefore, afforded to a man in the official position which I have the honour to occupy, of imparting informa- tion to the general public, should be welcomed. Therefore, apart from the personal honour, I value my elevation to the presidency for its useful opportunity. The thought has probably occurred to many of you—how little do we know of the contemporary prevailing diseases and general health of Scotland at large. There are eight little areas within which all is made luminous from week to week by the Registrar- General’s returns, and in some cases by the reports of local officials, but outside, over the general surface of the country, all is darkness. Unless when an epidemic in the country discloses itself by sending some sparks into the midst of a large town, or when a local corre- spondent is sufficiently independent of local influences to let the truth out in a city newspaper, the mass of the public have no opportunity of ever knowing what is going on. Even officials like myself, whose business it is to have such knowledge, must wait for three or four years until the Annual Detailed Report of the Ar