[On provident dispensaries as a means for promoting the public health].

  • Christie, James, 1829-1892.
Date:
[1880]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: [On provident dispensaries as a means for promoting the public health]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    On Provident Dispensaries as a Means for promoting the Public Health. By James Christie, A.M., M.D., Lecturer on Hygiene and Public Health, Anderson’s College, Glasgow. [Read before the Society, March 3rd, 18S0.] The establishment of Provident Dispensaries in the metropolis and provinces has, during recent years, excited much attention among social reformers; and the efforts put forth in this direction have been, if not eminently successful, hopeful, to say the least of them. Public attention was first called to this subject about twelve years ago, chiefly in consequence of the gross abuse of the metro- politan medical charities; and the first combined effort to remedy the existing evils was made exactly ten years ago, in March, 1870. At a meeting, presided over by the late Sir William Fergusson, at which 156 members of the medical profession were present, the following resolutions were passed:— “ That this meeting is of opinion that there exists a great and increasing abuse of outdoor relief at the various hospitals and dis- pensaries of the metropolis which urgently requires a remedy;” and “That, in the opinion of this meeting, the evils inseparable from the system of gratuitous medical relief administered at the outdoor department of hospitals, and in free dispensaries, can be in great measure met by the establishment, on a large scale, of Provident Dispensaries, not only in the metropolis, but throughout the kingdom, and by improved administration of Poor Law medical relief.” A large committee was then appointed, which apportioned the subject among four strong sub-committees on “ General Hospitals,” “Special Hospitals,” “Dispensaries,” and “Poor Law Medical Relief,” of which Dr. Meadows, Dr. J. E. Pollock, Dr. Stewart, and Mr. Spencer Wells were respectively chairmen, all of them men of the highest professional standing in the metropolis. In evidence of the great and increasing abuse of outdoor relief p'- AT-fSo yy UN'JVCRSiyy ubrary