clxviii MEMOIR 



authorities, and with the tradesmen usually employed in such busi 

 ness ; and that the officials were as ' confidential ' as regards the in- 

 firmities of a house as any physician consulted by a patient. The 

 strength of the engineering staff has been varied from time to time 

 as occasion required ; at the moment of writing employment is found 

 in Edinburgh and country districts in various parts of Scotland for 

 five engineers temporarily or permanently engaged. 



The position Jenkin claimed for the Engineers was a high one, 

 but not too high : thus he well defined it : 



' In respect of Domestic Sanitation the business of the Engineer 

 and that of the medical man overlap ; for while it is the duty of the 

 engineer to learn from the doctor what conditions are necessary to 

 secure health, the engineer may, nevertheless, claim in his turn the 

 privilege of assisting in the warfare against disease by using his 

 professional skill to determine what mechanical and constructive 

 arrangements are best adapted to secure these conditions.' I 



Flattery in the form of imitation followed in due course. A 

 branch was established at St. Andrews, and one of the earliest of 

 similar institutions was founded at Newport in the United States. 

 Another sprang up at Wolverhampton. In 1881 two such societies 

 were announced as having been set on foot in London. And the 

 Times of April 14th, in a leading article of some length, drew at- 

 tention to the special features of the plan which it was stated had 

 followed close upon a paper read by Professor Fleeming Jenkin before 

 the Society of Arts in the preceding month of January. The adher- 

 ents included such names as those of Sir William Gull, Professor 

 Huxley, Professor Burdon Sanderson, and Sir Joseph Fayrer. The 

 Saturday Revieio, in January, had already in a characteristic article 

 enforced the principles of the scheme, and shown how, for a small 

 annual payment, ' the helpless and hopeless condition of the house- 

 holder at the mercy of the plumber ' might be for ever changed. 



The London Association, established on the lines of the parent 

 society, has been followed by many others year by year ; amongst 

 these are Bradford, Cheltenham, Glasgow, and Liverpool in 1882 ; 

 Bedford, Brighton, and Newcastle in 1883 ; Bath, Cambridge, Cardiff, 

 Dublin, and Dundee in 1884 ; and Swansea in 1885 ; and while we 

 write the first steps are being taken, with help from Edinburgh, to 

 establish an association at Montreal ; sixteen Associations. 



Almost, it may be said, a bibliography has been achieved for 

 Fleeming Jeiikin's movement. 



1 Healthy Houses, by Professor Fleeming Jenkin, p. 54. 



