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ROYAL INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC HEALTH: ANNUAL CONGRESS.
117 few steps had been taken to put these regulations into force. There should be inspection apart from local authorities. After some discussion Dr. Hope proposed the following motion which was adopted :-That in the opinion of this meeting powers should be conferred on I county councils and city councils to appoint inspectors to supervise the THE annual Congress of the Royal Institute of Public production and transport of milk and that great advantage would the appointment by the Local Government Board or the Board Health, of which His Majesty the King is patron, was held attend of Agriculture of a staff of medical or veterinary inspectors to cooperatein Queen’s College, Cork, from June 27th to July 3rd. with the officers and the authorities named.
ROYAL INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC HEALTH: ANNUAL CONGRESS. -
In the
Presidential Address.
course
of the discussion Mr. DONOVAN said that
a
deal of difficulty lay in the way of dispensary medical The inaugural meeting was held in the large hall of great officers in Ireland doing their duty in this matter, as if Queen’s College, where the President, Professor BERTRAM they were to carry out their duties thoroughly they would C. A. WINDLE, F.R.S., delivered his address. He said that frequently have to prosecute their masters and their patients. if there was a country in the world which should be healthy, Port Sanitary Administration. happy, and prosperous, filled with strong men and women, lusty children, and smiling homesteads, it was Ireland. In Dr. J. WRIGHT MASON (medical officer of health of Hull) respect to health Ireland was, however, very far from being read a paper on this subject in which he advocated a more ,
where it should be. Year by year the death-rate from tuberculosis was steadily declining in England and in Scotland and as steadily increasing in Ireland. Side by side with this advancing rate of mortality from tubercle there was in the number of the insane. an alarming increase Many attempts had been made to explain why Ireland should suffer so severely from these terrible scourges. Drink and bad housing might be factors in the cause but they did not explain everything. There was another factor which in England was not operative to anything like the same extent as it was in Ireland-namely, emigration-which year by year drained away the life-blood of the race in the shape of its youngest, its most promising, and its most valuable members. It has well been said that what was happening in Ireland was a survival of the unfittest and one might well ask what would be the fate of a stock farm where the best animals were sent away every year in large numbers and a large proportion of the comparatively unfit retained for the purpose of keeping up the breed. England perhaps owed Ireland a debt for industries destroyed in the past; but in this as in some other cases he thought it would be more profitable for the people to consider what they could do for themselves to ameliorate their position. He would like to ask the local authorities whether they were doing all that was in their power to stem the tide of disease ? Were they taking all the advantages that they could from the Public Health Acts, from the Housing Acts, and from the other enactments ? Were they making use of the provisions for the notification of disease and particularly of tuberculous disease from the ravages of which they were so severely suffering ? Were they helping the medical profession in its struggle against the enemy by appointing bacteriologists in the towns and in the counties ? Why, he asked, did Ireland wait for an excellent English society, like that which was paying it a visit, to take pity on the people of that country and stir them up to consider things which they ought to be considering for themselves ? If the coming of the present Congress to Cork led Ireland to reflect on these things, and if, above all, it should lead to the formation of a society for Ireland, doing its useful work year by year in different parts of the island, then indeed they would have great reason to be grateful to the Royal Institute of Public Health for coming there. SECTION
OF
close and minute inspection of the food-supply and watersupply on board vessels. The powers at present invested in the Board of Trade for the inspection of food should, he said, be transferred to the port sanitary authorities. A motion was then carried to the effect that the clauses of the Public Health Acts or any other Acts relating to the inspection of foods should be extended to all port sanitary
authorities. - Mo&
Arising proposed by Miss MAY YATES (secretary League) was adopted which stated-
important subject. Ignorance about food, Miss YATES contended, led directly and indirectly to infantile mortality and physical degeneration. ’
Mr. DENIS DEMPSEY DoNOVAN (superintendent medical officer of health of Cork), the president of the Section of Preventive Medicine, in his opening address referred to the geological position of Cork as well as to the meteorological conditions prevailing in that city. Referring to typhoid fever, he said that the most important point in the improvement of the health of the city during the past 25 years was the great diminution of that disease, due in a large measure to the action of the corporation which had carried out many important sanitary improvements.
Supervision of Milk-supplies. Liverpool)
of the Food Reform
That this Public Health Congress recommends that an educational food campaign be started to spread scientific information about this.
PREVENTIVE MEDICINE.
Dr. E. W. HOPE (medical officer of health of
Aeform anu the rreventzon of -L neoptery. out of a discussion on this subject a motion
read a paper on Directions of Possible Improvement in the General Supervision of the Milk-supply. He said that although admirable steps had been taken by the Local Government Board and the Board of Agriculture in this matter not one of them approached in importance the necessity of some central authoritative supervision of the: milk-supply. Local authorities had power to make regulations for the control of cowsheds but in rural districts very
After were
a
discussion
adopted
Cheap Sanatoriums. on this subject the following
motions
:-
1. That in the opinion of this Congress the time has come when the Government should encourage and contribute towards providing and maintaining a sanatorium for consumptives. 2. That it is desirable that every health authority should appoint a, skilled bacteriologist whom any medical practitioner might consult in
suspicious cases of consumption. Prevention and Cure of Tuberculosis. Professor E. J. MCWEENEY contributed a paper giving an account of the defensive methods adopted in other countries against tuberculosis, its object being to enable the public health authorities in Ireland to submit for trial those methods which might seem most suitable to the conditions which prevailed in that country. SECTION OF BACTERIOLOGY AND CHEMISTRY. Dr. ARTHUR E. MooRE (lecturer on bacteriology in Queen’s College, Cork), the President of this section, spoke of the necessity of adopting means whereby the sale of diseased meat should be made impossible. With regard to tuberculosis he said that sanatoriums afforded the only chance to those sufEering from this disease short of emigration to another climate. SECTION OF CHILD STUDY AND SCHOOL HYGIENE. In this section Professor H. CORBY (Cork) read a paper entitled " Medical and Educational Aspects of our Schoolsthe Springs from which National Prosperity should Flow." The teacher, he said, should understand the elementary principles of sanitary science and strive to become an apostle and an evangelist of hygiene. School-rooms were fruitful sources of illness, much of which could be avoided by the most ordinary precautions and, indeed, the health of the whole community largely depended on the regulations and sanitary condition of our schools. Damp, ill-lighted, and dirty schools were forcing-beds for consumption and other diseases and he thought it would well repay the Government or the local authorities to provide periodical medical inspection of schools. He hoped that no one would think he was unfairly criticising the Irish schools, for he considered the national schools of Ireland had been so far the salvation of the country. At the annual meeting it was decided that the next Congress should be held in the Isle of Man.
ROYAL INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC HEALTH: ANNUAL CONGRESS. -
In the
Presidential Address.
course
of the discussion Mr. DONOVAN said that
a
deal of difficulty lay in the way of dispensary medical The inaugural meeting was held in the large hall of great officers in Ireland doing their duty in this matter, as if Queen’s College, where the President, Professor BERTRAM they were to carry out their duties thoroughly they would C. A. WINDLE, F.R.S., delivered his address. He said that frequently have to prosecute their masters and their patients. if there was a country in the world which should be healthy, Port Sanitary Administration. happy, and prosperous, filled with strong men and women, lusty children, and smiling homesteads, it was Ireland. In Dr. J. WRIGHT MASON (medical officer of health of Hull) respect to health Ireland was, however, very far from being read a paper on this subject in which he advocated a more ,
where it should be. Year by year the death-rate from tuberculosis was steadily declining in England and in Scotland and as steadily increasing in Ireland. Side by side with this advancing rate of mortality from tubercle there was in the number of the insane. an alarming increase Many attempts had been made to explain why Ireland should suffer so severely from these terrible scourges. Drink and bad housing might be factors in the cause but they did not explain everything. There was another factor which in England was not operative to anything like the same extent as it was in Ireland-namely, emigration-which year by year drained away the life-blood of the race in the shape of its youngest, its most promising, and its most valuable members. It has well been said that what was happening in Ireland was a survival of the unfittest and one might well ask what would be the fate of a stock farm where the best animals were sent away every year in large numbers and a large proportion of the comparatively unfit retained for the purpose of keeping up the breed. England perhaps owed Ireland a debt for industries destroyed in the past; but in this as in some other cases he thought it would be more profitable for the people to consider what they could do for themselves to ameliorate their position. He would like to ask the local authorities whether they were doing all that was in their power to stem the tide of disease ? Were they taking all the advantages that they could from the Public Health Acts, from the Housing Acts, and from the other enactments ? Were they making use of the provisions for the notification of disease and particularly of tuberculous disease from the ravages of which they were so severely suffering ? Were they helping the medical profession in its struggle against the enemy by appointing bacteriologists in the towns and in the counties ? Why, he asked, did Ireland wait for an excellent English society, like that which was paying it a visit, to take pity on the people of that country and stir them up to consider things which they ought to be considering for themselves ? If the coming of the present Congress to Cork led Ireland to reflect on these things, and if, above all, it should lead to the formation of a society for Ireland, doing its useful work year by year in different parts of the island, then indeed they would have great reason to be grateful to the Royal Institute of Public Health for coming there. SECTION
OF
close and minute inspection of the food-supply and watersupply on board vessels. The powers at present invested in the Board of Trade for the inspection of food should, he said, be transferred to the port sanitary authorities. A motion was then carried to the effect that the clauses of the Public Health Acts or any other Acts relating to the inspection of foods should be extended to all port sanitary
authorities. - Mo&
Arising proposed by Miss MAY YATES (secretary League) was adopted which stated-
important subject. Ignorance about food, Miss YATES contended, led directly and indirectly to infantile mortality and physical degeneration. ’
Mr. DENIS DEMPSEY DoNOVAN (superintendent medical officer of health of Cork), the president of the Section of Preventive Medicine, in his opening address referred to the geological position of Cork as well as to the meteorological conditions prevailing in that city. Referring to typhoid fever, he said that the most important point in the improvement of the health of the city during the past 25 years was the great diminution of that disease, due in a large measure to the action of the corporation which had carried out many important sanitary improvements.
Supervision of Milk-supplies. Liverpool)
of the Food Reform
That this Public Health Congress recommends that an educational food campaign be started to spread scientific information about this.
PREVENTIVE MEDICINE.
Dr. E. W. HOPE (medical officer of health of
Aeform anu the rreventzon of -L neoptery. out of a discussion on this subject a motion
read a paper on Directions of Possible Improvement in the General Supervision of the Milk-supply. He said that although admirable steps had been taken by the Local Government Board and the Board of Agriculture in this matter not one of them approached in importance the necessity of some central authoritative supervision of the: milk-supply. Local authorities had power to make regulations for the control of cowsheds but in rural districts very
After were
a
discussion
adopted
Cheap Sanatoriums. on this subject the following
motions
:-
1. That in the opinion of this Congress the time has come when the Government should encourage and contribute towards providing and maintaining a sanatorium for consumptives. 2. That it is desirable that every health authority should appoint a, skilled bacteriologist whom any medical practitioner might consult in
suspicious cases of consumption. Prevention and Cure of Tuberculosis. Professor E. J. MCWEENEY contributed a paper giving an account of the defensive methods adopted in other countries against tuberculosis, its object being to enable the public health authorities in Ireland to submit for trial those methods which might seem most suitable to the conditions which prevailed in that country. SECTION OF BACTERIOLOGY AND CHEMISTRY. Dr. ARTHUR E. MooRE (lecturer on bacteriology in Queen’s College, Cork), the President of this section, spoke of the necessity of adopting means whereby the sale of diseased meat should be made impossible. With regard to tuberculosis he said that sanatoriums afforded the only chance to those sufEering from this disease short of emigration to another climate. SECTION OF CHILD STUDY AND SCHOOL HYGIENE. In this section Professor H. CORBY (Cork) read a paper entitled " Medical and Educational Aspects of our Schoolsthe Springs from which National Prosperity should Flow." The teacher, he said, should understand the elementary principles of sanitary science and strive to become an apostle and an evangelist of hygiene. School-rooms were fruitful sources of illness, much of which could be avoided by the most ordinary precautions and, indeed, the health of the whole community largely depended on the regulations and sanitary condition of our schools. Damp, ill-lighted, and dirty schools were forcing-beds for consumption and other diseases and he thought it would well repay the Government or the local authorities to provide periodical medical inspection of schools. He hoped that no one would think he was unfairly criticising the Irish schools, for he considered the national schools of Ireland had been so far the salvation of the country. At the annual meeting it was decided that the next Congress should be held in the Isle of Man.