The verdict of the coroner's jury, following the opinion of the medical witness, was to the effect'That death arose from syncope of the heart,' brought on by running, after a hearty meal. Such was the end of a gentleman only thirty years of age. fatal symptoms of the heart, preceding ruptures are found at times with a clot blocking the opening. These are extreme cases truly, but they demonstrate beyond doubt that serious injury may be inflicted upon the heart without instantaneous consequences. A distinguished physician over-exerted himself some time ago in an Alpine climb of unusual severity, and had an attack of cardiac syncope of very serious character near the Æggischhorn, necessitating an instant resort to the recumbent posture. Great caution was required to reach the inn, though no general fatigue was complained of. At three o'clock in the morning a similar attack awakened him quite suddenly, showing how effort during the day may be followed by great disturbance of the heart afterwards. This physician is a young and healthy man, else that night attack might have been fatal to him; just as much so as the original attack during the alpine ascent. With elderly people sudden exertion during the day is undoubtedly one cause of failure of the heart's action during the night; so that the effort may really be only apparently made with impunity. : Nor are these fatal results the only untoward consequences of sudden demand upon the powers. Much more commonly the effort is followed by shortness of breath on exertion, by palpitation easily in The wonder is not that so many fatal cases are recorded, but that there are not more. The number of persons, not all young, who systematically delay till the last moment, and then make a rush for their train, is to be counted by hundreds on each of the great lines into London. A large majority of these are persons who are in no wise trained, or otherwise prepared for such efforts. The bulk of them are men whose ways are sedentary, and who rarely make an effort of any importance at any other time. There is no preparation on the part of the internal organs to undergo sudden strain; and when they are subjected to it, sooner or later untoward consequences result. In athletes long and careful preparation precedes violent effort, and even then unpleasant results are not unknown. But sudden strain upon organs not so trained is much more liable to induce disastrous sequelæ. Of course it must be admitted that the proportion of fatal accidents is very small compared to the large number of those who are given to the practice of having to rush for the train, and consequently many are strengthened thereby induced, by incapacity to undergo any violent effort, their injudicious procedure. But the present case shows that even with young and apparently if really not quite healthy persons there is danger and risk in so doing. The father did his run with impunity, while the younger man died; showing that it is not necessarily the aged whose tissues fail under sudden demand. So far as can be ascertained, the deceased gentleman was well and in good health. He certainly may have been the subject of some occult disease of the heart or great vessels, such as occasionally are found, unsuspected and giving no sign, but it is by no means necessary to assume that such was the case. He made a sudden effort after a hearty meal, and syncope of the heart followed. The hearty meal diminished the space in which the heart beats, and the organ, taxed by sudden effort at the same time, stopped, and the gentleman died. This is an accident which if rare, is one to which any of those persons who habitually tarry to the last minute and then have to make a sudden effort, is liable. It does not follow that there is only danger when the heart and arteries are the subjects of chronic changes, and so less able to support a sudden demand; it exists even for those who are too young to have entered upon degenerative changes. The dangers of such sudden strain are not confined to failure of the heart upon the spot. Very commonly in those cases where apparently healthy old people are found dead in bed there may be traced out a history of sudden effort made during the preceding day. The overstrain so put upon the heart does not manifest itself fully at the time, but during the sleep of the ensuing night. Even in cases of and even by enfeeblement of the powers for some considerable time after the effort which produced these consequences has been made. A chronic condition of impaired wind is often brought about by undue effort, even in the young and comparatively robust, who are accustomed to demands upon the powers. It is impossible, perhaps, to impress upon business men the risks that they run from their habits of delay until it becomes necessary to make a severe effort to catch their train. Doubtless it is done by a multitude of persons as a regular practice, but absolute impunity cannot be secured; and at intervals some one pays the penalty, and furnishes an illustration of the dangers which beset the practice. RAILWAY ACCIDENTS. WITHOUT wishing or intending to add to the troubles and anxieties the Great Northern officials and directors are naturally just now experiencing, we will venture to call attention to a few of the defects in their system which promote accidents. In the first place it has long been notorious that the brake-power in their long and fast trains is ridiculously inefficient, and the time that has elapsed since the Abbot's Ripton catastrophe has not been utilised as it might and should have been, in remedying this dangerous weakness. As if to still further their liability to accident from deficient brake-power, it is the custom on the Great Northern to utilise their guards as parcels porters. Even in the fastest trains a guard will often be so crammed with parcels that from King's Cross to Peterborough his whole atten tion will be occupied, and should he hear the danger whistle he has to clamber through these parcels before he can begin to put on his brake. A guard should be a guard and nothing else. Had the guard in the train to which the late accident happened not been engaged with parcels he might have seen the signal at danger, and by promptitude have saved the train. Again, the space between the distant and the home signal is not enough to enable a train to pull up unless the distant signal is seen some distance before it is approached. Very often fogs, rain, snow, etc., render it impossible to perceive a signal until passing it, and even then indistinctly. With the brake-power the Great Northern trains as a rule possess, a quarter of a mile to pull up in is nowhere. This signal difficulty leads up to an all-important point in connection with the Block System. It is customary on the Great Northern to have north and south signal-boxes at their larger stations. Each of these boxes works a distant signal, and the object is to expedite the block system. The narrow escape an express experienced at Huntingdon a week or so ago will illustrate this well. A down passenger train arrived late at Huntingdon, and on entering the station was protected by the home and the distant down signals, but the signalman—and quite right, according to his rules-gave 'line clear' to Offord, the next block in order from behind. Accordingly, the Offord signalman allowed a following express to pass Offord on its way towards Huntingdon. This was all according to rule, but under the best of circumstances the train in the station depended for its safety on the driver of the express seeing the distant signal in time to come to a dead standstill before arriving at the station. What took place? The night was foggy-not very foggy-the signal was not seen, and by nothing short of a miracle and a porter's good sense both trains were saved by the very skin of their teeth. The porter acted contrary to rule and saved nobody knows how many lives. With the Great Northern's traffic a mere block of, in mildly unfavourable weather, under a quarter of a mile is criminal folly. The block system is a snare and a delusion unless absolutely and reasonably worked. Another matter requires looking into. No provision is made for emergencies, such as sudden fogs or snow-storms. The ordinary method is to send out already tired platelayers, and at the signals there is no shelter provided. So on the wakefulness and watchfulness of worn-out men exposed to the snow or sleet, the safety of the trains entirely depends. It would be a simple matter to provide each signal post with a revolving sentry-box. Even in endeavouring to lessen the liability to collide, the Great Northern is, we fear, laying by a rod in pickle for its own back. When the auxiliary lines are completed, most assuredly drivers will confuse the auxiliary and the main signals. The only way a driver at night can distinguish his signal is by its position, and the distance between signals is only a few feet. So at each block a driver will have to pass red or danger lights, and will have the greater difficulty of distinguishing between the tail lights of trains on the main and on the auxiliary line. We are not railway engineers; but at first sight it appears obvious that auxiliary trains should reverse the order of their running. If such were the rule a driver would never have to commit the anomaly of passing danger lights without regarding them. Of course in the space of an article, so important a subject as Railway Accidents can be merely generalised, but one more reform must be suggested, and that is, that all the telegraph instruments in use in the signal boxes should be self-recording. At present, the men in each box book or enter all messages and times, so there is always room for conflict of testimony between sender and receiver. Moreover larking' with the instruments cannot be checked. The labour involved in entering messages is immense, and a great strain on the signal-man. All this could be saved by the use of self-recording in struments. For the reasons stated, it is suggested (1) that a guard should be employed solely as a guard, and not burdened with parcels and their responsibilities; (2) that the present inefficient 'blocks' should be extended; (3) that organised provision should be made for emergencies that are of frequent occurrence; (4) that the confusion of signals at auxiliary junctions should be avoided; and (5) that sufficient brake power should at once be provided for each train. The accident at Arlesey siding and the narrow escape at Huntingdon were both due to the adoption of a block system, which could not but force an accident sooner or later. Notes of the Week. THE Hove Improvement Commissioners have resolved to erect a Town Hall at a cost of 16,000l., namely, 6,000l. for the land, and 10,000/. for the building. THE Observer understands that a committee of inquiry will be appointed by the Admiralty to inquire into the causes of the outbreak of scurvy in the late Arctic Expedition. THE Queen has presented to the inhabitants of Esher a drinking-fountain in place of the village pump, the water from which has been recently condemned as unfit for drinking purposes. ALFRED BERRY, practising as a doctor of medicine in Nottingham, has been fined two guineas for committing a breach of an Act of Parliament, by which he was rendered liable to a penalty of 20%. ACCORDING to Gibraltar news, small-pox having appeared in an epidemic form among the flocks of goats near Los Barrios, orders have been issued for preventing the coming into Gibraltar. milk or goats' flesh or live stock from the infected districts A competent person has been appointed to visit the district and report. THE Vaccination Laws now in operation are so effective that the authorities who are charged with enforcing them are able to account for 95 per cent. of all the children born in England and Wales. JOHN SIMPSON, butcher, of Oldham, prosecuted by the medical officer of health for selling unsound meat, having before been convicted in fines amounting to rol., was sent to prison for three months. He was also fined 51. for having deficient scales. DR. C. MEYMOTT TIDY, Public Analyst for the County of Essex, reported to the Epiphany Court of Quarter Sessions, at Chelmsford, that no samples had been submitted to him for analysis during the past quarter. AT the last meeting of the health committee of the Liverpool Town Council, the question of the spread of small-pox was considered. During the preceding week twenty-seven deaths had resulted from this disease in the town and suburbs, showing a continued increase. The deputy medical officer of health expressed regret that the THE Manchester Guardian reports an outbreak of public were not availing themselves to the extent which it typhoid fever in Salford. A number of cases have ocwas their duty of the facilities offered for revaccination. curred; and as nearly all the families in which the disease has appeared are supplied from the same dairy farm, it is thought that the milk has become polluted. UNDER the name of the North Seaton Co-operative Farming Society, the pitmen resident in that locality have united together, established a Colliery Cow Dairy, and are at present in the enjoyment of a supply of pure milk, which would, a very few years ago, have been totally beyond the reach of at least nine out of ten of the inhabitants of the place. THE Liverpool magistrates, at their quarterly meeting, received a communication from their head constable respecting the safety of the theatres in the town. After some discussion, they resolved to require in future the certificate of an official surveyor before renewing the licenses. Steps are to be taken to have an immediate inspection by the borough surveyor. How to meet the small-pox epidemic and the action of the Local Government Board thereon formed the principal subject of discussion at the last fortnightly meeting of the managers of the Metropolitan Asylums. The reports from the various hospitals were of an alarming nature, and resolutions were passed having for their object the provision of proper means to meet the emergency. IN the course of an address on 'Sanitary Measures,' lately delivered to the Edinburgh Architectural Association, Councillor Gowans dwelt upon the necessity of cisterns of sufficient capacity being erected in all houses, and that it was the duty of architects, who had so much in their power, to design such buildings as would give their inhabitants every chance of living in a healthy condition. Ir is stated that the following precautions against fire in theatres appear to meet with much favour in New York: that the scenes be painted in water colours and coated with a solution of silicate of soda, the free supply of water-pipes among the scenes, an iron curtain to shut off the fire from the audience, and that a trained fire brigade should be attached to each place of amusement. THREE chemists were prosecuted at Runcorn on the 26th ult., for having sold adulterated milk of sulphur. The defence was taken up by the Chemists' and Druggists' Trade Association, the contention being that the milk of sulphur was far more beneficial when mixed with sulphate of lime than without it. The bench decided to convict in a penalty of 20s. and costs in each case, but notice of appeal was given. At the Colchester board of guardians there has been considerable discussion as to the refusal of the Rev. Carter Moore, the chaplain, to visit the fever hospital annexed to the workhouse, he considering that it is not part of his duty to do so, while he alleges that his having a large family is a reason for his not incurring the danger of infection. The Rev. W. J. Irvine, vicar of St. Mary, Colchester, has volunteered to visit the patients. A PARADISE FOR INFANTS. IN the village of Harbottle, Northumberland, no child has died during the last twenty years; a farmer and his three shepherds have between them forty-seven children, and during the past thirty years not a death has occurred in their families. THE KEIGHLEY GUARDIANS. A LETTER has been received at Keighley from the Local Government Board with reference to the resignation of the nine anti-vaccinating guardians. In it the Board points out that, by the statute 5 and 6 Vic., cap. 57, sec. 11, the Board are only authorised to accept the resignation of a guardian when it is tendered to them for some cause which they may deem reasonable. The Board have considered the reason assigned by the guardians above named for tendering their resignations, but they are unable to regard it as a reasonable one, within the meaning of the statute referred to, and they must therefore decline to accept their resignations. PRECAUTIONS AGAINST SMALL-POX. IN consequence of the present prevalence of small-pox, the authorities of the Royal Naval School at Greenwich felt themselves compelled to suspend the usual custom of permitting the boys to visit their friends during the Christ mas holidays. They even went so far at first as to stop all visiting to the boys, but this prohibition has been relaxed, and the friends of the boys are now permitted to see them on the proper days. At the Clerkenwell and other work. houses, notice has been given that no person is to be allowed to see any patient in the infirmary, unless provided with a medical certificate stating that death is to be apprehended. At the Clerkenwell station for vaccination a large number of adults of both sexes presented themselves to be revaccinated during the last few days. SHAMPOOING RISKS. EVERY hairdresser who practices shampooing ought to be able to show his customers a medical officer of health's certificate, that the waste-pipes of all his basins are effectually disconnected from the drains. We have reason to suspect that this most needful precaution has not been taken in all establishments where shampooing is carried on as the sequel of hair-cutting, or, in combination with hairbrushing by machinery, a mild form of sensuous indulgence. And it can be scarcely necessary to point out that when the pipes from the basins are continuous with the drains, the circumstances of shampooing are altogether favourable to the inhalation of whatever foul and pernicious vapours the sewers may be able to afford. Gusts of sewer gas are displaced upwards by the escaping water, and pervade the basin and the surrounding atmosphere, while the mouth and nostrils of the person being operated upon are held directly over the orifice from which these gusts proceed. The scented soap covers any odour which might proclaim the presence of dangerous gases, and the douche causes deep inspirations, so that if mephitic air be present it is copiously taken in. We have little doubt that in some mysterious cases of typhoid fever and blood poisoning the disease has been communicated during shampooing, and we conceive it to be our duty to call attention to this danger of the toilette. THE ARCTIC COMMITTEE OF INQUIRY. WE understand that the Admiralty Committee of Inquiry which is to be appointed in connection with the outbreak of scurvy in the Arctic Expedition will be presided over by Admiral Sir James Hope. The constitution of the committee is not otherwise announced. It is, however, a significant fact that the resolution to appoint a committee on a purely medical question has been arrived at without conference with the Medical Department of the Navy, and that it is not to be presided over by a medical officer. This is the more important because the Director-General of the Medical Department is an old Arctic officer of great distinction, and because the secretary of the Admiralty, in his public letter addressed to Captain Nares immediately after the return of the expedition and the indiscriminate distribution of promotions, announced that their lordships suspended their opinion as to the outbreak of scurvy until they had received the report of the Medical Director-General. That report having long since been sent in, and being now withheld from public knowledge, it is fair to presume that it is of a character not altogether agreeable to the administrative authorities at the Admiralty, and when we find that their lordships, after this lapse of time, are having resort to a private Committee of Inquiry on this medical question, of which they are selecting the composition without reference to their official medical adviser, we cannot but feel that they are apparently seeking a means to cover their retreat from the untenable position which they took up, in the attempt to convert a public disaster into a means of glorifying their administration, and in the indiscriminate distribution of medals without preliminary inquiry as to the bearing of the facts, from their own official advisers and heads of department. At any rate the proceedings, as well as the composition, of such a committee will require to be watched with great jealousy. SANITATION IN CARLISLE. DR. ELLIOT, the medical officer of health for Carlisle, has lately called attention to the unventilated state of the sewers of that city, and from what we can see, not before it became very necessary. He pleaded the want of urgent attention even, for at the House of Recovery alone they had had thirty-two cases going through the wards there. Of these, twenty-four were cases of typhoid fever. The causes of typhoid fever were now well known, he urged; and among these was sewer gas delivered into houses, by rainwater spouts or through water-closets, in pulling the handle of which sewer gas belched into the interior of the houses. Of the twenty-four cases named, four had proved fatal. An amusing discussion followed the introduction of the subject before the town council, one of the members contending that there were no bad smells of a gaseous kind in the sewers, but simply bad smells. He considered that it was impossible that there should be, seeing that sewage travels from the furthest point to the lowest outlet in less than four hours. There were plenty of stinks; and if they are deleterious to health, why expose them to poison the people as they walk down the streets? This is simply preparing a lot of stink-pots, and not diluting the gas, because there is no gas in the sewers. There is a difference between stinks and gases; gases are deleterious and stinks are not even assafoetida is not; and it has been discussed before the highest engineers in this kindom that nothing will decompose naturally, whether by exposure to the air or by any other means, within twenty-four hours.' This is certainly not what might be expected in these days, we should think, and as might be supposed, an appeal to Mr. Rawlinson, C. E., only resulted in pointing out the great importance of ventilating the sewers, and in confirming the plans of the surveyor for an immediate plan of ventilation. SMALL-POX AND RELIEVING OFFICERS. DR. DUDFIELD reports that small-pox broke out in September in three families in one road, without anything being known of it until a death took place, but the first case occurred from the child going to a house which was infected for the purpose of writing a letter. One case occurred in which the relieving officer would not remove a club, so that Dr. Dudfield ordered his removal to the Highcase because the man received 14s. a week from his sick gate Small-pox Hospital. Dr. Dudfield refers to the removal of the servants of rich people to the Asylum Hospitals, and proposes that the vestries of the metropolis should provide hospital accommodation for non-paupers who are suffering from infectious diseases. He refers to deaths from typhoid fever, which had been traced to sewer gas escaping from a soil-pipe of glazed earthenware closed into a wall and covered with plaster. He also presented a report on the nuisance arising from the purification of gas. The correspondence between the clerk to the vestry and the clerk of the board of guardians respecting printed in extenso, in which the latter justifies the action of the non-removal of the small-pox case just mentioned, is the relieving officer. There is no doubt that an unexpected strain has been thrown upon the hospitals of the Asylum Board, and that many non-paupers have been admitted, and thus compelled the board to instruct their officers not to admit any but pauper cases unless there was danger to be apprehended by a refusal. The vestries and boards of the metropolis are bound to provide for the non-pauper cases, when, as in this instance, there is not proper lodging and accommodation; but something more than this is required, namely, that there should be means of isolation provided for those who are willing to pay, and have what may be called proper lodging at home. There are many cases, as in large establishments, where, although the patient can have a separate room, yet it is not prudent to keep him at home, for fear of spreading the infection; but for these there is no provision in London except at Highgate, which is not always available. In the present state of the law the sanitary authority is not justified in fitting up hospitals, except for persons without proper lodging and accommodation, at any rate until the Local Government Board shall put into force the provisions of the Diseases Prevention Act and declare small-pox to be epidemic in the metropolis, and thus confer extraordinary powers on the vestries and district boards. DROITWICH WATER AND SEWERAGE THE Town Council of Droitwich have approved of the scheme and plans proposed by Mr. E. Pritchard, C. E., for carrying out works of sewerage, drainage, sewerage outfall, and the utilisation of sewage of the borough, and for supplying the borough with a sufficient supply of water; and the necessary steps are at once to be taken for obtaining the consent of the Local Government Board thereto, and for borrowing the money necessary to carry out the works. It was also resolved, that application be made to the Public Works Loan Board for a sum of 13,000/. for the carrying out of Mr. Pritchard's schemes. Mr. Pritchard stated that no successful results had been obtained in the utilisation of sewage sludge excepting by disposal upon the land; and he instanced Coventry and several other places in support of this assertion. He also stated that a system of tanks and filtration for Droitwich would entail an annual expenditure of 300l., or equal to a capital of 6,000l. At the proposed works at Droitwich, the sewage sludge will be conveyed in a state of suspension to the fallow land, or growing crops, requiring it; and will be immediately deodorised by the soil with much less annoyance than what would be experienced by the application of ordinary farmyard manure, whilst the clarified sewage will be conveyed by underground carriers to the land in a fresh and almost inodorous state. This would not be the case with works similar to those at Bromsgrove, for whilst the clarified sewage may be readily disposed of, the deposited sludge in bulk speedily becomes an intolerable nuisance, as up to the present time no satisfactory way has been discovered for treating this obstinate residuum, excepting its application in a fluid state to the land. With regard to the water, Mr. Pritchard contemplates a good supply. At Warwick, where he had a surface supply of 60,000 gallons, it had, by the shafts and adits made, been converted into a supply of 500.000 gallons, and the strata was similar to that of Droitwich. Moreover, it would be seen within a few days of the commencement of their works what their supply was, and there would be a provision in the contract that if the supply was deficient the works should cease; so that very little expense would be incurred. In answer to further questions, Mr. Pritchard said that 3247. 5s. 6d. per annum would repay in fifty years the contemplated cost of expenditure in regard to sewerage, and 2297. 19s. 3d. in respect to water, but this was exclusive of the cost of land. He considered the works would be self-supporting. SEWER VENTILATION. At Doncaster, IN reply to questions sent by the surveyor of Carlisle, Mr. Morley, to a great many co-professionals in England, the following valuable and interesting information had been obtained. The system adopted by Mr. Morley had been to send out circulars making inquiries as to population, acreage, length of main sewer, average distances between manholes, number of manholes, whether ventilated and how, general system of ventilation, whether tall chimneys and rain-water spouts are utilised for ventilation, average extent of daily supply of water per head, the number of water-closets, private house drainage, method of flushing sewers, disposal of sewage, and velocity of travel of the sewage. Dr. Yeld, Sunderland, had stated that in that town there are 1,000 open ventilators placed forty yards apart, and that no inconvenience results from them. At Smethwick, near Birmingham, at Walsall, Lincoln, Tipton, Dudley, and many other places there is not yet any system of main drainage in operation; and that is the case even at Bradford, where the authorities are about to apply for borrowing powers. with an estimated population of 20,000 and an acreage of 1,690 (rather more than that of Carlisle) the length of the main sewers is 9 miles, average distance between manholes about 100 yards, all manholes ventilated, no charcoal used in the cylinders, and in addition to the manholes there are metal shafts used for ventilators. There are very few water-closets compared with the size of the place. At Bilston the manholes are all ventilated in direct communication with the streets, and no effluvia rises. The same is done at Wolverhampton (population 72,000) where tall chimneys are not used for ventilation, where a hose is kept for flushing sewers when required, and where the water-supply is 18 gallons per head per day. At Rochdale (population 70,000, length of main sewers 10 miles) a manhole is placed at every change of line or gradient and at every junction of streets. All the manholes now put in are ventilated, but some of the old ones are not. No charcoal boxes or side chambers are used, and no inconvenience is felt. All new private drains are ventilated. The rate at which sewage travelled there is 3 to 12 feet per second, and the water-supply is 13 gallons per head per day. At Kendal, with a population of 14,200, acreage 2,621, though the town proper only covers 450 acres, the main sewers are 7 miles in length, and the average distance of manholes is 170 to 500 feet. All the manholes are ventilated, and side chambers but no charcoal used. Tall chimneys and rain-water spouts are not utilised. Velocity of the sewage, 128 feet per second; water-supply 25 gallons per head per day. At Kidderminster the ventilation is by open gratings over the manholes in the centre of the streets. At Henley the same system has been adopted, with cans suspended to catch the rubbish that falls through instead of side chambers, which are thought to interfere with ventilation and certainly add to the cost. These are specimens of one class of replies received, but many contained no information of any value to the Carlisle authority, others had no sewer system, others a sewer system but no means of ventilation, others just beginning to ventilate by putting open grids on new manholes, and so on. A few reported that they ventilate by means of metal shafts run up above the gables of houses, a few use rain-water spouts where they do not come within a certain distance of windows. The supplies of water vary from about 13 gallons per head per day at Rochdale to 48 gallons at Salisbury and 50 at Wakefield. On this point Mr. Milburn suggested that probably a brook ran through each of the towns and the authorities reckoned the whole of that water as a supply. At Croydon, with a population of 63,000, 900 manholes about 150 yards apart, open grids without charcoal are used and no inconvenience arises. The water-supply is 45 gallons, and the rate of mortality rarely exceeds 18 per 1,000 per annum. At Over Darwen only one manhole at the highest point is ventilated. We have given these returns in some detail, affording as they do some of the latest information as to these places. Special Reports. NORTH-WESTERN ASSOCIATION OF MEDICAL OFFICERS OF HEALTH. THE quarterly meeting of the North-Western Association of Medical Officers of Health was held in the Townhall, on the 23rd ult., Dr. J. M. Sutton (Oldham), vice-president in the chair. The sub-committee appointed to consider and report upon the desirability of memorialising the Local Government Board to provide for the medical inspection of schools, reported that while approving of the main portion of the memorial, they considered that any new legislation for preventing the spread of infectious disease must, to be effective, provide for the compulsory reporting of all cases of such diseases to the medical officers of health. An enactment of this nature being most desirable, they recommended that a memorial be forwarded to the Local Government Board, praying that they would cause a bill to be introduced to the House of Commons next session, providing: 1. That on the occurrence of a case of zymotic disease, the medical attendant shall, under penalty for neglect, inform the head of the family, by certificate, of the nature of the complaint, and that the person so informed be compelled to report the case to the medical officer of health for the district. 2. That as regards schools, as means of spreading infectious disease, it may be lawful (a) for the local sanitary authority to close all day schools during the prevalence of infectious disease; (6) for the local sanitary authority to inhibit the attendance at school of children from infected houses; (c) for all schools, public and private, to be under the supervision of the local sanitary authority in the same manner as common lodging-houses and slaughter-houses. |