AUTHORITIES' RESPONSIBILITIES : DISCUSSION 155 



it which he first named that of notification had been tried 

 in more than one district. His (.Dr. Moore'sJ predecessor 

 at Huddersfield secured the compulsory notification of 

 measles there, and he devoted very special attention to an 

 attempt to limit its ravages. That work was carried on for 

 a number of years, but .he regretted to say that the epidemics 

 recurred with unabated virulence and in undiminished 

 numbers. After a time the members of the Health Com- 

 mittee ordered an inquiry to attempt to show that no good 

 results had accrued. At that time he (Dr. Moore) succeeded 

 Dr. Annis, and he could give the Conference his sincere 

 assurance that he examined the figures with the very greatest 

 possible care, with the single view to show that some benefit 

 in some direction had resulted from the time, trouble and 

 expense which had been expended, but he was quite unable 

 to do so, and in consequence of that the compulsory noti- 

 fication was abandoned. He would like to say a word with 

 regard to Alderman Cresswell's suggestion that they should 

 attempt to establish immunity. That was a far more hopeful 

 way of dealing with the problem. If it were possible to dis- 

 cover a vaccine that would have that effect, he ventured to say 

 that that would be one of the greatest benefits that could be 

 conferred upon mankind, only comparable with the benefits 

 which had resulted from inoculation against small-pox. The 

 first difficulty was that they had not yet discovered the germ 

 of the disease. They had reason to suppose that there was 

 some germ, but it had not yet been discovered. He would 

 like to add to the general discussion on infant mortality an 

 expression of opinion at which he had arrived, namely, that 

 the diminution of deaths among infants resulted rather in- 

 directly than directly from their work. They did many 

 things; they all knew what they were, but he would like to 

 tell them what he had found as a result of his own experi- 

 ences. They were told that the baby died, and that it 

 was the will of God. It w r as sometimes said, " Poor little 

 thing, it missed a lot of trouble, and it was better dead," 

 and the death was regarded as inevitable. Happily, to-day 

 public opinion had altogether changed. When a baby died 

 now the neighbours and public opinion counted for a great 

 deal amongst them felt that something had happened which 

 ought not to have happened, and hence it was that the direct 

 measures which were available were taken advantage of. 

 He was in cordial agreement with the speakers, and notably 

 with Mr. Turner, when they established the fact that infant 

 mortality was a result of malnutrition. He was rather 

 inclined to think that the same was true of tuberculosis. It 

 was a fact that for the last fifty years of the past century 



