On the qualifications and duties of an officer of health / by H. Letheby.

  • Letheby, H. (Henry), 1816-1876.
Date:
1867
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the qualifications and duties of an officer of health / by H. Letheby. 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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    to an existing evil, stating what sanitary rule, measure, or appliance he deems best for its mitigation. “ 6. He will attend the local board when required, will be present at some convenient appointed place as often as may be needful for the receiving of complaints, and in whatever is to be done for the abatement of unwholesome conditions, will give all fitting instructions, superinten- dence, and aid. “ For the proper performance of these duties, special qualifications in science are required. These lie in patho- logy, including vital statistics, and in chemistry, with natural philosophy :— “In pathology, because the science implies an exact study of the causes of disease, in their relation to the liv- ing body—a study of what they are, and how they act, and why they seem to vary in operation. “ In vital statistics, properly a section of pathology, be- cause by analyzing the compositions of various death-rates, and by learning how the pressure of particular diseases differs under different circumstances of climate, season, dwelling, age, sex, and occupation, definite standards of comparison are gained, without which the Officer of Health could not estimate the healthiness or unhealthiness of the population under his charge. “In chemist; /, accompanied by microscopical observa- tion, because without such aid there can be no accurate judgment as to impurities of air and water, dangerous im- pregnations of soil, or poisonous admixtures in food ; and because the same science also guides the application of deodorizing and disinfectant agents. “In natural philosophy, because many nuisances are traced, and many questions as to ventilation and over- crowding, are answered by its laws; further, because by its aid the Officer of Health studies the atmospheric changes, and learns the climate of his district, important steps in proceeding to speak of its diseases ; and, finally, because natural philosophy, in conjunction with chemistry, renders him competent to report on many manufacturing processes