July 29, 1909] 



NA TURE 



141 



dent pointed to the great advances which have been made 

 in sanitary reform in nearly every direction, he raised 

 the important question as to whether the present system 

 of elementary education is wholly good. " We are spend- 

 ing," he said, "large sums in elementary education; 

 would it not be well to pause awhile and see if we are 

 moving on right lines? We are cramming young minds 

 in frail and half-fed bodies with all the information we 

 can get into them, and most of it will soon be forgotten. 

 By all means let us teach what we can, but without 

 impairing physical development, which is much the most 

 important work to be seen to." 



In Mr. J. T. Quinton's (.Liverpool) address to the con- 

 ference of sanitary inspectors we were introduced to the 

 inner working of the local sanitary machine and to the 

 difficulties encountered by sanitary inspectors by the self- 

 interest of those in the council whom they serve. He 

 further touched on the subject of alcoholism, welcomed 

 the introduction of systematic instruction in public 

 elementary schools on its effects, and deprecated the view 

 advanced by some that alcohol constitutes an article of 

 food. He demanded further State interference in the 

 matter of alcoholism, and the repeal of the exemption of 

 patent and proprietary goods from the Food and Drugb 

 Act. 



One of the most thoughtful and comprehensive of the 

 sectional addresses was th.it deliverecf by Dr. Xewsholnic 

 (principal medical officer of the Local Government Board) 

 to the preventive medicine section on some conditions of 

 social efficiency in relation to local public administration, 

 which can only be appreciated by a full perusal. Dr. 

 Newsholme began by showing how closely interrelated are 

 the social and sanitary problems, and how a more accurate 

 knowledge and wider outlook will enable social problems 

 to be seen more nearly in their correct perspective. By 

 way of illustration he pointed out that " if the avoidable 

 loss of life and health from communicable diseases were 

 realised by the members of the sanitary authority, they 

 would be less likely to build extravagant town halls while 

 the water supply of the town is impure, or to provide 

 municipal Turkish baths while backyards and streets re- 

 main unpaved. . . . .\nd this more accurate knowledge and 

 wider outlook means the abandonment of the old hand- 

 to-mouth and empirical method of dealing with social 

 evils. The conception of poverty and destitution as an 

 element when it is, in fact, a complex compound will 

 disappear, and with it will disappear administration which 

 supplies doles to relieve the svinptoms of destitution, with- 

 out making efficient efforts to investigate its varving 

 causation and to initiate preventive measures against its 

 recurrence." " We have to realise the close interdepend- 

 ence of social evils, which often form a vicious circle where 

 evil effects become, in their turn, sources of evil." As 

 sickness is one of the main causes of sickness, poverty is 

 one of the most potent causes of poverty. The growing 

 tendency is to stop disease, whether communicable or not, 

 at its source, the prompt and early treatment being one 

 of the chief means of securing social efficiency, and the 

 better organisation for the treatment of the sick, from 

 whatever disease, must be regarded as a chief object of 

 the preventive medicine of the future. The monetary value 

 of lives lost, including cost of sickness, through phthisis, 

 enteric fever, and other diseases, is so large that measures 

 of prevention may "bo regarded as the best possible invest- 

 ment for the community. In the latter part of this sug- 

 gestive address Dr. Newsholme pointed out the insecurity 

 of tenure of medical officers, who are re-elected for periods 

 of one to five years, and, unlike district medical officers. 

 relieving officers, and vaccination officers, can be removed 

 without the consent of the Local Government Board. He 

 further referred to the overlapping and waste produced by 

 the great variety of authorities dealing with closely related 

 conditions. 



In the presidential address to the engineering and archi- 

 tectural section, by Mr. G. F. Bowman (Leeds), reference 

 was made to the question of back-to-back houses, and a 

 strong case was made nut for the erection of buildings of 

 the modern type already existing in Leeds ; but whether 

 in this connection the working classes " should be the 

 best judges of what is best for themselves " is a dictum 

 open to grave criticism. 



Dr. Newman (principal medical officer of the Board of 



NO. 2074, VOL. Si] 



Education) chose for the subject of his address in the 

 child-study section child mortality. He began by pointing 

 out that, of the annual half-million deaths in England and 

 Wales, one-third occur under the age of fifteen years, and. 

 of this third 85 per cent, are under five years of age. 



Whereas the death-rate at all ages above one year shows 

 a steady decline, there is no such indication below that, 

 period. The first two years of life "form a veritable 

 fire through which we pass the vast majority of the 

 children of the nation, losing in the process approximately 

 150,000 of them every year, and marking many of the 

 survivors with the signs of the flame." The three primary 

 causes, then, are the physique of the mother, infant mis- 

 management, and exposure. " It is idle," said Dr. New- 

 man, " to patch up children at school age if we first 

 make them all pass under damaging and devitalising con- 

 ditions at the beginning of their lives." 



In the industrial hygiene section Dr. Whitelegge 

 (London), as president, gave an address on the relation 

 of health to industry. He began by referring to the- 

 improvements in industrial conditions brought about by 

 the combined action of employers and employed, and to 

 the responsibilities thrown upon local authorities in 

 respect to initial construction of buildings. He pointed' 

 out the difficulties which attend an investigation into the 

 causes affecting health in certain complex trade processes 

 unless the different operations are separately grouped, and' 

 he further emphasised the importance of keeping safety 

 appliances in an efficient state. In this connection he 

 mentioned the importance of permanent local exhibitions 

 of safety appliances, such as exist abroad, especially in 

 textile centres, in metal and mining localities, and in the- 

 Potteries. Thus, in the removal of dust, as in metaf 

 grinding, there is no source of information, and unless- 

 expert advice is taken costly mistakes may result. There 

 are standards of ventilation, of humidity, and of soluble 

 lead in which employers and employed should have oppor- 

 tunities for instruction. Lead poisoning from glazing has 

 been reduced by three-quarters in the last twelve years, 

 but phthisis, or " potters' rot," from dust inhalation is 

 still prevalent. Clearer definitions as to factory lighting 

 and temperature in reference to humidity are required, 

 and further information should be obtained in reference to 

 fatigue in different arduous employments. The welf.-i'-e 

 of operatives in certain industries is affected by demar'ds 

 on the part of consumers. A large section of the public 

 had grown accustomed to phosphorus matches, and it- 

 was not until the match manufacturers agreed unanimon^!v 

 to the prohibition of phosphorus, coupled with prohibition 

 of import, that the Government was able to put an end 

 to this needlessly dangerous branch of industry. 



In his presidential address to veterinary surgeons, Mr. 

 H. G. Bowes (Leeds) welcomed the recognition accorded 

 by the President of the Local Government Board to the 

 necessity of proper veterinarv inspection of dairy cattle, 

 though, he continued, " why the farce of the M.O.H. 

 inspecting the cows, accompanied bv a veterinary surgeon, 

 should be kept up I don't know." nor whv the inspec- 

 tion of cowsheds and bvres should not be done by the 

 same inspector. He further advocated the appointment of 

 a veterinarv adviser to the Local Government Board, 

 whose advice in dealing with bovine tuberculosis would be 

 invaluable. He emphasised especially the necessity^ for 

 more rigorous treatment of this disease, which, it is 

 unanimouslv agreed, is transmissible to, and a recognised 

 cause of, disease in human beings. In view of the wide- 

 spread nature of the disease at present, the slaughter of 

 all tainted cattle would be impracticable, but a gradual 

 weeding out of the worst cases as centres of infection 

 might be initiated. \ most important step has been taken 

 in the Tuberculosis Order which comes into force on 

 January t, iqio, which requires compulsory notification 

 and slaughter of all rattle obviouslv affected. He claimecT 

 further attention to the condition of cowsheds_ throuehout 

 the countrv, as exercising an important effect in diminish- 

 ing the disease. In the conclusion of his address Mr. 

 Bower referred to the abuse of tuberculin by the indis- 

 criminate sale. 



The treatment of sewage was amons the subjects -vvhich 

 came uo for discussion at a joint meeting of the engineer- 

 ing, bacteriology, and chemistrv sections, when interest- 

 ing papers were contributed by Messrs. E. J. Silcock, 



