338 OUtuary Notices of Fellows deceased. 



was established, Simon presented a "reasoned programme"* of the 

 sanitary improvements which he considered to be most necessary a 

 programme which was faithfully carried out during the succeeding 

 years of fruitful administrative work. Among the inquiries which 

 were then initiated, one may be mentioned which was of special 

 importance, namely, that which was entrusted by Mr. Simon to 

 Dr. Buchanan, F.R.S., his distinguished successor.! Its purpose was to 

 ascertain the condition of towns in which, during the preceding decade, 

 works of sanitary improvement had been carried out in a thorough 

 and efficient manner, as compared with that of others in which no 

 such improvements had been made. The results of this investigation 

 afforded stronger evidence than had ever before been obtained of the 

 saving of life by good sanitation, and were of great value in quickening 

 popular interest in the subject, as well as affording a secure basis for 

 future legislation. After twelve years of successful progress, the 

 function of the Privy Council as Central Authority was, in its turn, 

 brought to an end by the legislation of 1871. By the Local Govern- 

 ment Act of that year, the previously existing Poor Law Board was 

 replaced by the newly constituted Local Government Board, of which 

 the organisation and functions did not differ materially from those of 

 its predecessor, the Poor Law Board. To this Board the future 

 sanitary administration of England was committed. The lines on 

 which it was organized were inconsistent with the principles by which, 

 on taking office, Mr. Simon had, in harmonious co-operation with 

 successive ministerial chiefs, been guided in the discharge of his 

 official duties. These principles were first, that the sanitary adminis- 

 tration of the country should be under the direct supervision of the 

 medical department; secondly, that the relations of the department 

 with local sanitary authorities should be such as to enable it to bring 

 its influence promptly to bear on them in case of default of duty ; and 

 thirdly, that the saving of human life by the prevention of disease 

 should be regarded as the highest motive of official action. As in all 

 these respects the system of sanitary government initiated in 1871 

 seemed to be inconsistent with the efficient working of the medical 

 department, Simon, after a few years of contest, during which he 

 endured with, perhaps, too little patience the constantly recurring 

 pinpricks of official interference, asked and obtained leave to retire. 



The investigations which Simon set on foot during the first half 

 dozen years after his appointment, although, in the strictest sense, 

 scientific, were intimately connected with the administrative work of 



* " English Sanitary Institutions," London, 1897, p. 269. 

 f " Public Health Keports," loc. cit., pp. 262-272. 



