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Caravans under the Housing Acts
PUBLIC HEALTH.
193.5.
ventilating efficiency and expiratory force must all be reviewed to gain a useful estimate of respiratory function. For adoption he recommends a method requiring a minimum of training and producing a minimum of discomfort to the patient over a period of only five to six minutes. The results of the investigation of 86 patients are analysed, and from these it appears that some objective estimation of the degree and type of respiratory inefficiency can be made. Ii is the view of the Medical Research Council that the method will be useful in the clinical evaluation of respiratory efficiency in both medical and surgical cases, and that the report should be of great assistance as a detailed presentation of the known facts of this important problem, and should stimulate further investigation.
• • * The Rockefeller Foundation in 1933. *
T
*.
HOUG H the Rockefeller Foundation in 1933, according to the annual report for that year, appropriated round about $2,000,000 less than in 1932, the amount expended on public health, it is interesting to note, was over S3,250,OOO as against about $2,500,000. From this appropriation it provided support for laboratories for yellow fever research in Lagos, Brazil and New York: supported studies of Endamceba histolytica and Rocky Mountain fever and , in addition to helping national, state and city governments, assisted schools of hygiene and individual workers in the field in public health. In the medical sciences the Foundation, during 1933 appropriated $1,173,853 and helped, amongst other institutions, University College, London, the Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. During 1933, feIlowships in the medical sciences granted by the Foundation numbered 295. The total amount appropriated for projects in the social sciences during the year was $1,636,000. Out of this, support was given to 20 institutional centres in the United States, Canada, Europe, the Near East, and the Orient, for research in economic planning and control, in community organisation and planning, and so on. In support of studies of pressing economic problems, it is interesting to note that an .. emergency grant" was made to the Slum Clearance Committee of New York for its preliminary programme. As these quotations show, the greatest possible care is taken by the Trust to select for assistance
121
bodies, organisations and individuals that desire assistance and that it will be of value to the common weal to assist. Of the report it may be said that it confirms the view commonly held of the Foundation that its works are of incalculable value and that that value is certain to grow.
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Caravans Under the Housing Acts. of some interest to medical officers A CASE of health and others was heard at the Wolverharnpton County Court on December 3rd, 1934. The Wolverhampton Borough Council had made a demolition order under Section 19 of the Housing Act, 1930, on a van dwelling in their area. The chief grounds of appeal were that the demolition order was ultra vires as the caravan was not within the purview of the Housing Acts, 1925 and 19~JO. Appeals were also made on the grounds that the caravan was in reasonable repair and fit for human habitation, and that the appellant had no alternative accommodation. The appellant's evidence went to show that he had been living · in his present accommodation for the past eight years ; that it consisted, of two caravans placed in a line with one another so that the shafts of the two were touching, and that the front part of the two caravans were about five feet apart. This intervening space measuring about five feet square had been built in by a wood floor, sides and roof, and constituted the living-room, the caravans themselves each forming a bedroom. The space beneath the floor of the caravans had been partly covered in with wood in order to give additional storage accommodation. It was admitted that, although these caravans possessed wheels, neither of them had been moved for eight years, and that the dwelling could not be moved as a unit but only as two separate bedrooms . At the conclusion of the appellant's case, Judge Tebbs said that the first point he had to decide was whether this van dwelling came within the meaning of the word "dwellinghouse" as used in Section 19 of the Housing Act, 1930. If he was against the Wolverharnpton Corporation on this point, other grounds of appeal did not arise. The Deputy Town Clerk (for the Corporation) said that the law on the point was not very clear as there was no helpful definition in the Housing Acts of the word " dwelling-house." He referred to the cases of Davidson v, Birmingham Co-operative Society Ltd. (85 J.P. 73), Mitcham U.D.C. v, Sale
PUBLIC HEALTH.
122
(97 J.P. 295), and 'to Baker v. Kidderminster R.D.C., decided by Judge Rooke Reeve on August 14th, 1934. Judge Tebbs, without hearing any evidence from the Corporation's witnesses, held that this particular van dwelling was not within the meaning of the Housing Acts, 1925 and 1930, and therefore quashed the demolition order.
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Malaria in Europe.
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•
R. 1.. W. HACKETT, Assistant Director of the International Health Division of the Rockefeller Foundation, a malariologist of worldwide repute and Heath Clark Lecturer in 1934, in a series of five lectures entitled " Malaria in Europe," at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, submitted the results of investigations in which he has been engaged for a number of years, and in the course of which he has made contributions to the knowledge of malaria of the greatest importance. For several centuries, he explained, malaria had steadily decreased in many parts of Europe, though in some places, such as Holland, Italy and the Baltic, it had persisted. After the Great War. there was a considerable increase of malaria in Europe, particularly in Russia, Italy and the Balkans, and this induced the League of Nations to investigate the subject through their Malaria Commission. In their first report on malaria (1924) the League stated there was no correlation between the number of anopheles and the amount of malaria: in some places there were enormous numbers of anopheles and no malaria; in other places, a relatively small number of anopheles produced intense malaria. In these circumstances anti-larval measures seemed irrelevant. and the Commission advocated social measures on the lines of improvement in housing and nutrition, and medical assistance. The researches of Hackett, Missiroli, Swellengrebel and others in Italy, Holland and elsewhere, supplied the explanation. It was that some races of anopheles maculipennis preferred to feed on animals rather than on man, while others were more or less indifferent. The races which fed regularly on man were those which gave rise to malaria; their distribution was found to be identical with the places in which malaria existed. The various races could be distinguished by their eggs, but not in the adult stage. The lecturer also spoke of the ways in which the mosquito and the parasite survive the long
JANUARY,
winters of Europe when no transmission of malaria takes place, and he devoted one lecture to the complexities of the malaria parasite. There are, as is well known, not merely four spe<:ies of human malaria paras~tes, but. many strains of each of these four species; an mdividual may be immune to one strain but not to others. During an outbreak of malaria an individual is liable to he infected by many strains, and it is consequently more difflcult for him to acquire adequate tolerance. Ten years' experience of practical work had convinced the Rockefeller Foundation that they could delay an outbreak of malaria by means of drugs; they could reduce the amount of sickness and the number of deaths; but drugs alone could not permanently stamp out the disease. They had found it more expensive to cure malaria than to prevent it. Prevention could be accomplished only by reducing the mosquito, either by temporary or by permanent measures. Temporary measures include oiling or dusting with Paris Green; the permanent measures are drainage, or some biological process such as making the water brackish where the mosquito requires fresh water, or by converting brackish water into fresh water where the mosquito requires brackish water. Of the lectures it may be said that they were very well attended, and of Dr. Hackett as a lecturer that he proved most attractive, and succeeded in making a complicated subject clear and interesting even to those who are not experts.
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•
Pasteurisation and Milk-Borne Diseases. N G to a recent report of the A CCORDI United States Public Health Service, 41 outbreaks of milk-borne disease were reported in the United States in 1933. Typhoid fever heads the list of diseases with 25 outbreaks (289 cases, 26 deaths). In addition to this there Was one outbreak due to paratyphoid infection (17 cases with no deaths). Scarlet fever Occurred in two outbreaks (143 cases, 3 deaths); septic sore throat in seven (515 cases,S deaths), and there was one outbreak of scarlet fever and sore throat (95 cases with I death). Finally, there were two outbreaks of diphtheria (19 cases, 3 deaths), two of milk sickness (10 cases, 1 death) and one due to staphylococcus toxin (248 case~ with no deaths). In not a single outbreak had the milk been pasteurised. Most of the outbreaks occurred in
193.5.
ventilating efficiency and expiratory force must all be reviewed to gain a useful estimate of respiratory function. For adoption he recommends a method requiring a minimum of training and producing a minimum of discomfort to the patient over a period of only five to six minutes. The results of the investigation of 86 patients are analysed, and from these it appears that some objective estimation of the degree and type of respiratory inefficiency can be made. Ii is the view of the Medical Research Council that the method will be useful in the clinical evaluation of respiratory efficiency in both medical and surgical cases, and that the report should be of great assistance as a detailed presentation of the known facts of this important problem, and should stimulate further investigation.
• • * The Rockefeller Foundation in 1933. *
T
*.
HOUG H the Rockefeller Foundation in 1933, according to the annual report for that year, appropriated round about $2,000,000 less than in 1932, the amount expended on public health, it is interesting to note, was over S3,250,OOO as against about $2,500,000. From this appropriation it provided support for laboratories for yellow fever research in Lagos, Brazil and New York: supported studies of Endamceba histolytica and Rocky Mountain fever and , in addition to helping national, state and city governments, assisted schools of hygiene and individual workers in the field in public health. In the medical sciences the Foundation, during 1933 appropriated $1,173,853 and helped, amongst other institutions, University College, London, the Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. During 1933, feIlowships in the medical sciences granted by the Foundation numbered 295. The total amount appropriated for projects in the social sciences during the year was $1,636,000. Out of this, support was given to 20 institutional centres in the United States, Canada, Europe, the Near East, and the Orient, for research in economic planning and control, in community organisation and planning, and so on. In support of studies of pressing economic problems, it is interesting to note that an .. emergency grant" was made to the Slum Clearance Committee of New York for its preliminary programme. As these quotations show, the greatest possible care is taken by the Trust to select for assistance
121
bodies, organisations and individuals that desire assistance and that it will be of value to the common weal to assist. Of the report it may be said that it confirms the view commonly held of the Foundation that its works are of incalculable value and that that value is certain to grow.
•
•
•
•
•
Caravans Under the Housing Acts. of some interest to medical officers A CASE of health and others was heard at the Wolverharnpton County Court on December 3rd, 1934. The Wolverhampton Borough Council had made a demolition order under Section 19 of the Housing Act, 1930, on a van dwelling in their area. The chief grounds of appeal were that the demolition order was ultra vires as the caravan was not within the purview of the Housing Acts, 1925 and 19~JO. Appeals were also made on the grounds that the caravan was in reasonable repair and fit for human habitation, and that the appellant had no alternative accommodation. The appellant's evidence went to show that he had been living · in his present accommodation for the past eight years ; that it consisted, of two caravans placed in a line with one another so that the shafts of the two were touching, and that the front part of the two caravans were about five feet apart. This intervening space measuring about five feet square had been built in by a wood floor, sides and roof, and constituted the living-room, the caravans themselves each forming a bedroom. The space beneath the floor of the caravans had been partly covered in with wood in order to give additional storage accommodation. It was admitted that, although these caravans possessed wheels, neither of them had been moved for eight years, and that the dwelling could not be moved as a unit but only as two separate bedrooms . At the conclusion of the appellant's case, Judge Tebbs said that the first point he had to decide was whether this van dwelling came within the meaning of the word "dwellinghouse" as used in Section 19 of the Housing Act, 1930. If he was against the Wolverharnpton Corporation on this point, other grounds of appeal did not arise. The Deputy Town Clerk (for the Corporation) said that the law on the point was not very clear as there was no helpful definition in the Housing Acts of the word " dwelling-house." He referred to the cases of Davidson v, Birmingham Co-operative Society Ltd. (85 J.P. 73), Mitcham U.D.C. v, Sale
PUBLIC HEALTH.
122
(97 J.P. 295), and 'to Baker v. Kidderminster R.D.C., decided by Judge Rooke Reeve on August 14th, 1934. Judge Tebbs, without hearing any evidence from the Corporation's witnesses, held that this particular van dwelling was not within the meaning of the Housing Acts, 1925 and 1930, and therefore quashed the demolition order.
•
•
Malaria in Europe.
D
•
•
•
R. 1.. W. HACKETT, Assistant Director of the International Health Division of the Rockefeller Foundation, a malariologist of worldwide repute and Heath Clark Lecturer in 1934, in a series of five lectures entitled " Malaria in Europe," at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, submitted the results of investigations in which he has been engaged for a number of years, and in the course of which he has made contributions to the knowledge of malaria of the greatest importance. For several centuries, he explained, malaria had steadily decreased in many parts of Europe, though in some places, such as Holland, Italy and the Baltic, it had persisted. After the Great War. there was a considerable increase of malaria in Europe, particularly in Russia, Italy and the Balkans, and this induced the League of Nations to investigate the subject through their Malaria Commission. In their first report on malaria (1924) the League stated there was no correlation between the number of anopheles and the amount of malaria: in some places there were enormous numbers of anopheles and no malaria; in other places, a relatively small number of anopheles produced intense malaria. In these circumstances anti-larval measures seemed irrelevant. and the Commission advocated social measures on the lines of improvement in housing and nutrition, and medical assistance. The researches of Hackett, Missiroli, Swellengrebel and others in Italy, Holland and elsewhere, supplied the explanation. It was that some races of anopheles maculipennis preferred to feed on animals rather than on man, while others were more or less indifferent. The races which fed regularly on man were those which gave rise to malaria; their distribution was found to be identical with the places in which malaria existed. The various races could be distinguished by their eggs, but not in the adult stage. The lecturer also spoke of the ways in which the mosquito and the parasite survive the long
JANUARY,
winters of Europe when no transmission of malaria takes place, and he devoted one lecture to the complexities of the malaria parasite. There are, as is well known, not merely four spe<:ies of human malaria paras~tes, but. many strains of each of these four species; an mdividual may be immune to one strain but not to others. During an outbreak of malaria an individual is liable to he infected by many strains, and it is consequently more difflcult for him to acquire adequate tolerance. Ten years' experience of practical work had convinced the Rockefeller Foundation that they could delay an outbreak of malaria by means of drugs; they could reduce the amount of sickness and the number of deaths; but drugs alone could not permanently stamp out the disease. They had found it more expensive to cure malaria than to prevent it. Prevention could be accomplished only by reducing the mosquito, either by temporary or by permanent measures. Temporary measures include oiling or dusting with Paris Green; the permanent measures are drainage, or some biological process such as making the water brackish where the mosquito requires fresh water, or by converting brackish water into fresh water where the mosquito requires brackish water. Of the lectures it may be said that they were very well attended, and of Dr. Hackett as a lecturer that he proved most attractive, and succeeded in making a complicated subject clear and interesting even to those who are not experts.
•
•
•
•
•
Pasteurisation and Milk-Borne Diseases. N G to a recent report of the A CCORDI United States Public Health Service, 41 outbreaks of milk-borne disease were reported in the United States in 1933. Typhoid fever heads the list of diseases with 25 outbreaks (289 cases, 26 deaths). In addition to this there Was one outbreak due to paratyphoid infection (17 cases with no deaths). Scarlet fever Occurred in two outbreaks (143 cases, 3 deaths); septic sore throat in seven (515 cases,S deaths), and there was one outbreak of scarlet fever and sore throat (95 cases with I death). Finally, there were two outbreaks of diphtheria (19 cases, 3 deaths), two of milk sickness (10 cases, 1 death) and one due to staphylococcus toxin (248 case~ with no deaths). In not a single outbreak had the milk been pasteurised. Most of the outbreaks occurred in