Volume 8

The Health Exhibition literature : Health in relation to civic life. Vol. VIII.

  • International Health Exhibition (1884 : London, England)
Date:
1884
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The Health Exhibition literature : Health in relation to civic life. Vol. VIII. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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    water on to the water-closet, and for that purpose there was no limit in regard to expense, and in that way they got over the difficulty, because if water was laid on to the water-closet it was available for domestic purposes generally. He agreed with the observation of Mr. Boulnois with regard to ventilation, and the necessity for providing it automatically. If ventilation depended on human agency to be kept going, it would certainly be neglected. Arrange- ments should be made so that the air brought into the house might be warmed, for it was of little use having fires if you chilled the atmosphere by bringing in cold air. By a very simple plan, easy of introduction in houses in course of erection, fresh air might be brought in and warmed, and all the heat of the fire utilised to preserve warmth as well as to ventilate the room. With regard to the question of the Medical Officer of Health being debarred from private practice, there was a great deal to be said on both sides. There was a great difference between the position of such a man in a large urban district and in a country district. Medical practitioners in country districts were thrown very largely on their own resources, and were as a rule exceed- ingly well qualified, men of independent minds, capable of meeting almost any emergency. He did not think it would be possible to any large extent to restrict Medical Officers of Health in rural districts from private practice ; but in large towns and in London, if they were remunerated sufficiently, it would be very desirable that Officers of Health should be restricted to their official duties. To pay them well would cost very little. In London, for instance, there were forty Officers of Health, quite enough too; and what would 40,000/. a-year be for the sanitary service of London in that particular department ? But, as a matter of fact, salaries varied from a minimum, almost too ridiculous to mention, to a maximum which was not enough, in London, to enable a medical man to maintain the position which the dignity of his office required, and so private practice of some kind was the'rule. There were no means of compelling a Board to give any particular salary, and, except in very rare