1867.] The Public Health. 599 



accepted the office of President of the Health Department, but 

 unavoidable engagements prevented the Doctor from taking the 

 chair the first few days of the Congress. According to the plan 

 generally adopted by the Association, certain questions were pro- 

 posed to be discussed, and papers bearing on them read. The chair 

 was taken on Thursday by Dr. Lankester, who opened the meeting 

 with some remarks on the question to be discussed : — What 

 measures are necessary to secure efficiency and uniformity in the 

 working of the sanitary laws throughout the kingdom ? He 

 drew especial attention to the want of anything like central 

 authority for health-matters in the offices of the Government. He 

 pointed out the different health -functions performed by the 

 Registrar-General, the Poor Law Board, the Home Secretary, and 

 the Privy Council ; also the various local boards, such as vestries, 

 boards of guardians, corporations, town councils, and sanitary 

 committees, which were organized to carry into effect the multi- 

 tudinous and contradictory Acts of Parliament, which proposed 

 to give some people permission to preserve the health and life 

 of others. Three papers were read on the general question: 

 the first by W. H. Michael, Esq., the second by Dr. Elliott, of 

 Carlisle, and the third by W. B. Caulfield, Esq. A very interesting 

 discussion followed the reading of the papers. Dr. Stephenson 

 McAdam, of Edinburgh, said that an Act had been passed for 

 Scotland during the last session of Parliament, putting it in the 

 power of any ten inhabitants to complain of nuisances, and also 

 enabling them to insist on the local authority performing the 

 necessary works, and compelling the owners of the property 

 to pay for them. Dr. Browne stated they had no health 

 officer for Belfast. Dr. Trench defended the action of the Cor- 

 poration of Liverpool in health-matters, and thought their fault 

 was a tendency to do too much in that direction. The result of 

 the discussion was in favour of some plan by which there should 

 be a central board or officer having a power of watching over the 

 health-interests of the whole population. Every speaker was in 

 favour of appointing medical officers of health for both town and 

 country districts. Several of the speakers expressed themselves 

 very strongly on the difficulty of proceeding in certain cases of 

 nuisance under the various health-acts. Dr. Morris, of Baltimore, 

 U.S., surprised the meeting somewhat by stating that they had no 

 sanitary laws in America, and that the inhabitants of the large 

 towns of America carried out all necessary sanitary actions of their 

 own accord. In Baltimore, for instance, they had a board of health 

 composed entirely of medical men, who, by the sanction of the 

 inhabitants, exercised quite arbitrary powers. The board appointed 

 two medical men as health-officers, and every policeman was made 

 an inspector of nuisances. Whenever the police discovered a 

 vol. iv. 2 it 



