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Notification of venereal disease
6
pUBLIC HEALTH.
By Section 28, H . T . P . Act, 1919, the Local Authority has statutory powers to cause to be made fit for human habitation in all respects any house, suitable for persons of the working classes, whether such house is occupied or not. Mr. Justice Lush expressed the view that Section 28 seemed specially designed to meet the case in which the " owner " chooses to keep a house suitable for persons Of the working classes in such a condition of disrepair as to be uninhabitable. The ease has not been taken to the Court of Appeal, so that, at present, as the Law stands, Section 28 may be made a very useful section by which to secure the repair of working class dwellings, if all the details necessary to make it operative are strictly complied with.
NOTIFICATION
OF
VENEREAL
DISEASE.
Dr. D o u g l a s White, o f H a r r o w , at a recent conference at O x f o r d , d e a l t with c o m p u l s o r y versus v o l u n t a r y m e t h o d s in the t r e a t m e n t of venereal diseases. He opposed compulsory notification a n d t r e a t m e n t o f this d}sease not only on the question o f morals, but on the g r o u n d s of social expediency. T h e c o m p u l s o r y enactments r e g a r d i n g the diseases in foreign countries a n d in our colonies were, he said, inoperative. H e knew o f no punishment having been inflicted for non-compliance with the orders. I t was p e r f e c t l y obvious t h a t a person could not be called on to diagnose his own disease. As self-declaration of the diseases was f u n d a m e n t a l to the c o m p u l s o r y system, its f o u n d a t i o n was laid on quicksand. Dr. W h i t e p o i n t e d out how u n d e r compulsion the public m i g h t be p l a c e d at the mercy o f informers whose identity need not be disclosed, and, discussing the transmission of the diseases, contended t h a t to penalise k n o w i n g transmission was almost impossible. Such transmission, he remarked, was a wicked a n d brutal crime in the social sense, but it w o u l d be a m i s t a k e to m a k e it a s t a t u t o r y crime if there were no means o f enforcing the penalty. A n o t h e r difficulty w o u l d be the s t a n d a r d i s a t i o n of cure, a n d it was h a r d to say when the cure was effective and definite. Our educative policy here, he declared, h a d p r o d u c e d better results t h a n the coercive policy of the Dominions. In compulsion the door w o u l d be o p e n to blackmail. W e should
OCTOBER,
develop our v o l u n t a r y system, create a public intelligence on the subject, a n d with that a n d the co-operation of m o d e r n medicine a n d rational sexual ethics the diseases w o u l d no longer be a menace to our social life.
T H E N O T O R I O U S M I L K C I R C U L A R 325.
The principles embodied in the above Circular are apparently more widespread in application than would appear at first sight, and we congratulate " L o n d o n Opinion " upon the following indication of some results which would follow the extension of similar principles to other spheres. " A new rule for cricket, .based on this principle, •should be popular (with batsmen)." " If the bowler discharges a ball which is judged strictly'legal by the umpire that is, the projectile is not thrown, kicked, hit with a golf club, or hurled from any lethal Weapon, such as a trench m o r t a r - - a n d the opposing b a t s m a n ' s wicket is struck so as to cause the stumps j~o recline in a position horizontal to the turf, or pitch, causing the dislodgment of the bails, then the bowler is liable to be requested to repeat this feat for not less than three consecutive times. Then, if the umpires, the scorer, and the man who rings the bell for the luncheon adjournment are in thorough agreement that the bowler has succeeded in penetrating the defence of the batsman, the latter will be declared to be thoroughly out, the senior umpire to announce this decision in a voice audible to all."
" S W E A T I N G " BY C O U N T Y C O U N C I L S . The attention of all members of the Public Health Service, and also all those who are desirous of entering the same, is eatled to the effort now being made by the Somerset County Council to secure the services of a whole-time medical practitioner, with post-graduat e experience, for a salary of £300 plus a bonus, which stands at present at £149, but w'hich wil disappear as the cost of living goes down. Anyone who may be tempted to accept such terms should remember that by so doing, he is reducing the whole standard of professional incomes, and that if he were employed f o r the whole of his tim e in treating panel patients at the standard rate he would receive not less than .£1,500 a year,
pUBLIC HEALTH.
By Section 28, H . T . P . Act, 1919, the Local Authority has statutory powers to cause to be made fit for human habitation in all respects any house, suitable for persons of the working classes, whether such house is occupied or not. Mr. Justice Lush expressed the view that Section 28 seemed specially designed to meet the case in which the " owner " chooses to keep a house suitable for persons Of the working classes in such a condition of disrepair as to be uninhabitable. The ease has not been taken to the Court of Appeal, so that, at present, as the Law stands, Section 28 may be made a very useful section by which to secure the repair of working class dwellings, if all the details necessary to make it operative are strictly complied with.
NOTIFICATION
OF
VENEREAL
DISEASE.
Dr. D o u g l a s White, o f H a r r o w , at a recent conference at O x f o r d , d e a l t with c o m p u l s o r y versus v o l u n t a r y m e t h o d s in the t r e a t m e n t of venereal diseases. He opposed compulsory notification a n d t r e a t m e n t o f this d}sease not only on the question o f morals, but on the g r o u n d s of social expediency. T h e c o m p u l s o r y enactments r e g a r d i n g the diseases in foreign countries a n d in our colonies were, he said, inoperative. H e knew o f no punishment having been inflicted for non-compliance with the orders. I t was p e r f e c t l y obvious t h a t a person could not be called on to diagnose his own disease. As self-declaration of the diseases was f u n d a m e n t a l to the c o m p u l s o r y system, its f o u n d a t i o n was laid on quicksand. Dr. W h i t e p o i n t e d out how u n d e r compulsion the public m i g h t be p l a c e d at the mercy o f informers whose identity need not be disclosed, and, discussing the transmission of the diseases, contended t h a t to penalise k n o w i n g transmission was almost impossible. Such transmission, he remarked, was a wicked a n d brutal crime in the social sense, but it w o u l d be a m i s t a k e to m a k e it a s t a t u t o r y crime if there were no means o f enforcing the penalty. A n o t h e r difficulty w o u l d be the s t a n d a r d i s a t i o n of cure, a n d it was h a r d to say when the cure was effective and definite. Our educative policy here, he declared, h a d p r o d u c e d better results t h a n the coercive policy of the Dominions. In compulsion the door w o u l d be o p e n to blackmail. W e should
OCTOBER,
develop our v o l u n t a r y system, create a public intelligence on the subject, a n d with that a n d the co-operation of m o d e r n medicine a n d rational sexual ethics the diseases w o u l d no longer be a menace to our social life.
T H E N O T O R I O U S M I L K C I R C U L A R 325.
The principles embodied in the above Circular are apparently more widespread in application than would appear at first sight, and we congratulate " L o n d o n Opinion " upon the following indication of some results which would follow the extension of similar principles to other spheres. " A new rule for cricket, .based on this principle, •should be popular (with batsmen)." " If the bowler discharges a ball which is judged strictly'legal by the umpire that is, the projectile is not thrown, kicked, hit with a golf club, or hurled from any lethal Weapon, such as a trench m o r t a r - - a n d the opposing b a t s m a n ' s wicket is struck so as to cause the stumps j~o recline in a position horizontal to the turf, or pitch, causing the dislodgment of the bails, then the bowler is liable to be requested to repeat this feat for not less than three consecutive times. Then, if the umpires, the scorer, and the man who rings the bell for the luncheon adjournment are in thorough agreement that the bowler has succeeded in penetrating the defence of the batsman, the latter will be declared to be thoroughly out, the senior umpire to announce this decision in a voice audible to all."
" S W E A T I N G " BY C O U N T Y C O U N C I L S . The attention of all members of the Public Health Service, and also all those who are desirous of entering the same, is eatled to the effort now being made by the Somerset County Council to secure the services of a whole-time medical practitioner, with post-graduat e experience, for a salary of £300 plus a bonus, which stands at present at £149, but w'hich wil disappear as the cost of living goes down. Anyone who may be tempted to accept such terms should remember that by so doing, he is reducing the whole standard of professional incomes, and that if he were employed f o r the whole of his tim e in treating panel patients at the standard rate he would receive not less than .£1,500 a year,