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BURGH POLICE AND HEALTH (SCOTLAND) BILL.
236 or
FouR years ago we published a special report on the Polish colony of Jew tailors, which in the East-end almost monopolises the sweating busines3 of the tailoring trade. This report occasioned considerable controversy at the time. The matter was taken up by the Woman’s Protective League, many meetings were held, and efforts made to establish a provident and trade society among the women victims ot the sweating system. Mr. D. F. Shloss, as a member of the committee of the league, was very active in the matter, and finally the agitation led the Jewish Board of Guardians to appoint a sub-committee on sanitary aNj.irs. Mr. Schloss was the secretary of this sanitary committee, and did very good work in persuading foreign Jews to conform with our English principles of hygiene. After more than four years of intimate acquaintance with the intricacies of the sweating system, Mr. Schloss appeared on Wednesday evening at the Society of Arts, and read a most elaborate and interesting paper on the subject. Sir Douglas Galton was in the chair; and Mr. Lakeman, Inspector of Factories, took part in the lengthy discussion which followed. Several workmen and workwomen, themselves sufferers, recorded how they had been compelled to contend with a method of production which contributes almost invariably to the moral and physical degradation of the workers. Mr. Schloss upheld our main contentionnamely, the extremely insanitary condition of the sweaters’ dens, and the fact that neither the Sanitary Acts nor the Factory Acts are eflbiently applied. Interference with the overcrowding of a workshop, he maintained, was a thing, practically speaking, unknown. The vestries seem to leave" such matters to the factory inspectors; but " sweaters escape under Section 61 of the Act. Thus, out of 1478 workshops recently visited, the inspectors had no jurisdiction in 724 cases. In 387 cases these inspectors had nc jurisdiction over the sanitary condition of the workshops. Thus, in 1111 cases out of 1478 the factory inspectors were powerless to effect any sanitary improvements. The Factory Act, in a word, does not apply to the sweating system, and those who drew it up can have had little knowledge of this system as now practised by foreign Jews in our midst. It is not too much to demand an immediate alteration, somE modification which will render it possible to carry out thE existing law and make it a practical reality. The Society of Arts, ani particularly Mr. F. D. Schloss, have rendered good public service in again bringing forward this olC but as yet unreformed grievance.
I
l r
"
pain, qud pain, is not necessarily such a serious significant thing in women as in men. It is also true that a little gentle sternness in the medical treatment often does the patient good, and not harm. But Mr. Hovell does good service in reminding us that neurasthenia has deeper men, and that
THE SOCIETY OF ARTS AND THE SWEATING SYSTEM.
apt to think, that it has close relations with graver neuroses, and that it may be well to be more chary in the use of a term which may narrow our conception of disease and may tend to mislead.
roots than we are
BURGH POLICE AND HEALTH (SCOTLAND) BILL. A memorial has been presented to the Marquis of Lothian, from the Sanitary Association of Scotland, on the subject of the Burgh Police and Health Bill, which it is presumed will be again brought before Parliament. The object of the Association is to bring under the consideration of the Secretary of State certain defects in the provisions of the Bill, and to suggest the general principles on which sanitary legislation for Scotland should be based. The Association objects strongly to the amalgamation in one Bill of the legislation relating to public health and to polce, and suggests that they should be dealt with separately. It also objects to the Bill in its present form, as confining the
sanitary legislation to burghs, and making no provision for the improvement of the health conditions of rural districts. It desires to see the country divided into large sanitary districts, to each of which a medical officer of health should be appointed, and which would be of suffi3ient extent to require him to devote his whole time to his official duties. This would of course imply an adequate salary to compensate him for giving up all private practice. Such an arrangement would tend to remove the objections which have been justly made to a compulsory notification of infectious
HYSTERIA."
THAT the use of the word hysteria" has been too indiscriminate, and has led to errors of practice has been the contention of many practitioners, but especially of Mr. D. de Berdt Hovell, whose paper before the Hunterian Society last week revives the subject. Mr. Hovell does not deny that there are cases of ovarian and uterine irritation to which the old word is not inapplicable, but he maintains that the old habit of attributing all sorts of neuroses in females to hysteria is fraught with cruelty and mischief. In a large proportion of these cases he holds that thera is a veritable neurasthenia, with a history of shock, or of exhaustiod, or of injury, which must be recognised in the treatment. lIe also defends the bona fides of hysterical patients, or would at least attribute their mala fides to morbid physical conditions not disentitling them to pity. There is much humanity in -Alr. Hovell’s view of this large class of cases, and much sound sense. It cannot, of course, be denied that women have nerves strung to finer issues and more multiplied sensations than are those of
diseases in to wns or districts where the health officer is also in active private practice. If this suggestion were adopted, it would be necessary to make the appointment of a health officer permanent, and subject only to the control of the central authority as regards suspension or dismissal. The Association also points out the necessity for an adequate staff, under the direction and control of the medical officer, to carry out the duties in an efficient manner. These recommendations all seem calculated to improve sanitary legislation. When the Bill comes again before the House, we shall, as in former years, notice in detail those points which appear to us to require amendment.
JOSEF HOFMANN. IT will hardly surprise the majority of our readers to learn that recent reports of Josef Hofmann tend to show that the strain of his extraordinary musical performances has begun to tell seriously upon the boy’s health. How far these rumours are capable of proof we cannot say. The evidence afforded by the daily press is certainly somewhat contradictory. It must be remembered also that popular on the score of health are not always reliable; but there is enough, nevertheless, in the statements respecting his condition to justify the suspicion that fatigue, if not the actual beginning of illness, is counselling a more moderate expenditure of energy than has been usual hitherto. There is an unfortunate tendency, even among otherwise judicious trainers of children, to make the most-which is always too much-of any intellectual precocity which may have shown itself. It is much to be hoped that Josef Hofmann’s most singular capacity will not be prematurely obliterated or his health ruined, as now appears but too probable, by any such mistake in management. No temporary blaze of fame, and no money consideration whatever, would compensate for an error so culpable. The Mayor of New York, we
impressions
FouR years ago we published a special report on the Polish colony of Jew tailors, which in the East-end almost monopolises the sweating busines3 of the tailoring trade. This report occasioned considerable controversy at the time. The matter was taken up by the Woman’s Protective League, many meetings were held, and efforts made to establish a provident and trade society among the women victims ot the sweating system. Mr. D. F. Shloss, as a member of the committee of the league, was very active in the matter, and finally the agitation led the Jewish Board of Guardians to appoint a sub-committee on sanitary aNj.irs. Mr. Schloss was the secretary of this sanitary committee, and did very good work in persuading foreign Jews to conform with our English principles of hygiene. After more than four years of intimate acquaintance with the intricacies of the sweating system, Mr. Schloss appeared on Wednesday evening at the Society of Arts, and read a most elaborate and interesting paper on the subject. Sir Douglas Galton was in the chair; and Mr. Lakeman, Inspector of Factories, took part in the lengthy discussion which followed. Several workmen and workwomen, themselves sufferers, recorded how they had been compelled to contend with a method of production which contributes almost invariably to the moral and physical degradation of the workers. Mr. Schloss upheld our main contentionnamely, the extremely insanitary condition of the sweaters’ dens, and the fact that neither the Sanitary Acts nor the Factory Acts are eflbiently applied. Interference with the overcrowding of a workshop, he maintained, was a thing, practically speaking, unknown. The vestries seem to leave" such matters to the factory inspectors; but " sweaters escape under Section 61 of the Act. Thus, out of 1478 workshops recently visited, the inspectors had no jurisdiction in 724 cases. In 387 cases these inspectors had nc jurisdiction over the sanitary condition of the workshops. Thus, in 1111 cases out of 1478 the factory inspectors were powerless to effect any sanitary improvements. The Factory Act, in a word, does not apply to the sweating system, and those who drew it up can have had little knowledge of this system as now practised by foreign Jews in our midst. It is not too much to demand an immediate alteration, somE modification which will render it possible to carry out thE existing law and make it a practical reality. The Society of Arts, ani particularly Mr. F. D. Schloss, have rendered good public service in again bringing forward this olC but as yet unreformed grievance.
I
l r
"
pain, qud pain, is not necessarily such a serious significant thing in women as in men. It is also true that a little gentle sternness in the medical treatment often does the patient good, and not harm. But Mr. Hovell does good service in reminding us that neurasthenia has deeper men, and that
THE SOCIETY OF ARTS AND THE SWEATING SYSTEM.
apt to think, that it has close relations with graver neuroses, and that it may be well to be more chary in the use of a term which may narrow our conception of disease and may tend to mislead.
roots than we are
BURGH POLICE AND HEALTH (SCOTLAND) BILL. A memorial has been presented to the Marquis of Lothian, from the Sanitary Association of Scotland, on the subject of the Burgh Police and Health Bill, which it is presumed will be again brought before Parliament. The object of the Association is to bring under the consideration of the Secretary of State certain defects in the provisions of the Bill, and to suggest the general principles on which sanitary legislation for Scotland should be based. The Association objects strongly to the amalgamation in one Bill of the legislation relating to public health and to polce, and suggests that they should be dealt with separately. It also objects to the Bill in its present form, as confining the
sanitary legislation to burghs, and making no provision for the improvement of the health conditions of rural districts. It desires to see the country divided into large sanitary districts, to each of which a medical officer of health should be appointed, and which would be of suffi3ient extent to require him to devote his whole time to his official duties. This would of course imply an adequate salary to compensate him for giving up all private practice. Such an arrangement would tend to remove the objections which have been justly made to a compulsory notification of infectious
HYSTERIA."
THAT the use of the word hysteria" has been too indiscriminate, and has led to errors of practice has been the contention of many practitioners, but especially of Mr. D. de Berdt Hovell, whose paper before the Hunterian Society last week revives the subject. Mr. Hovell does not deny that there are cases of ovarian and uterine irritation to which the old word is not inapplicable, but he maintains that the old habit of attributing all sorts of neuroses in females to hysteria is fraught with cruelty and mischief. In a large proportion of these cases he holds that thera is a veritable neurasthenia, with a history of shock, or of exhaustiod, or of injury, which must be recognised in the treatment. lIe also defends the bona fides of hysterical patients, or would at least attribute their mala fides to morbid physical conditions not disentitling them to pity. There is much humanity in -Alr. Hovell’s view of this large class of cases, and much sound sense. It cannot, of course, be denied that women have nerves strung to finer issues and more multiplied sensations than are those of
diseases in to wns or districts where the health officer is also in active private practice. If this suggestion were adopted, it would be necessary to make the appointment of a health officer permanent, and subject only to the control of the central authority as regards suspension or dismissal. The Association also points out the necessity for an adequate staff, under the direction and control of the medical officer, to carry out the duties in an efficient manner. These recommendations all seem calculated to improve sanitary legislation. When the Bill comes again before the House, we shall, as in former years, notice in detail those points which appear to us to require amendment.
JOSEF HOFMANN. IT will hardly surprise the majority of our readers to learn that recent reports of Josef Hofmann tend to show that the strain of his extraordinary musical performances has begun to tell seriously upon the boy’s health. How far these rumours are capable of proof we cannot say. The evidence afforded by the daily press is certainly somewhat contradictory. It must be remembered also that popular on the score of health are not always reliable; but there is enough, nevertheless, in the statements respecting his condition to justify the suspicion that fatigue, if not the actual beginning of illness, is counselling a more moderate expenditure of energy than has been usual hitherto. There is an unfortunate tendency, even among otherwise judicious trainers of children, to make the most-which is always too much-of any intellectual precocity which may have shown itself. It is much to be hoped that Josef Hofmann’s most singular capacity will not be prematurely obliterated or his health ruined, as now appears but too probable, by any such mistake in management. No temporary blaze of fame, and no money consideration whatever, would compensate for an error so culpable. The Mayor of New York, we
impressions