Perth Amboy evening news., 1904-01-27
OF DR.. W. E.
RAMSAY ON HIS SYS-
! TEN OF QUARANTINE.

until such times as bne laws anu reRu-
lations established by the Board of
Health authorities requiring disinfec-
tion, etc." in majority of places, that
word "shalI" has been changed to
s'may." f.
In other places 1 have found that
instead of reading "of the house
affected" it has been restricted to
ssthe apartment" and it is very evil
dent that the reasons for this has
been their unpopularity. l have re-
GENTLY been informed that in one city,
where the word apartment" had
been adopted, instead of "house, -
that the placard had been taken vel
into the bed-room'of the sick and nail
ed upon the inside of the closet door,
which fully complied with the laws,
but was another evidence of the good
that could be done on the part of the
attending physician and sanitary
officer, and so l have found that the
scheme is very generally ridiouled.
When the spirit of unpopularity of a
method developes in the relation be-
tween physician, patient and health
authorities, then does it become neces-
sary for the Board of Health to have
more police regulations and good work
ceases, your reports of contagious
diseases diminish, your mortality be-
" rs,c 70 inorooco in nrnnnrtinn RI tho
number of contagious diseases report
ed, which only goes to show that the
ihealth authorities are not working in
harmony with the medical officers,
and when such a condition arises, TIE
Board of Health remains in ignorance
of the true state of the health of the
community. This has been paovou
time and time again, and 4 wish to
quote pretty freely from DR.. Meigs,
of Philadelphia, in the Medical Rec
ord, an authority we'll known to the
medical profession.
"Last summer / took occasion in
London and Paris to make inquiries
in regard to what is done in the man.
agement of contagious diseases occurr-
ing in those cities. In London I was
referred by the embassy of the United
States to the local government board
for information, and in Paris tho
secretary of the consul-general advised
me to inquire of the Administration
Generate de l'Assistance Publique. l
was tola that no such thing as plaoard-
ing was done in either city. What
struck me more than anything else in
my interview was that in both cities
the officials seemed greatly impressed
with the necessity of avoiding running |
counter to the sentiment of the medic
al profession. In London the official
E smiled when l told him of yellow
pIacards, and said: Our people would
not submit to that In Paris it was
evident that the sentiment against
any intrusion anon family privacy is
SO strong that the government breads
trousing opposition upon this point. |
The feeling in France in regard to the |
sacredness of family privacy is well
known by every one who has bestow-
ed any consideration upon French
customs.
"There may be some here who will
say that it is nothing to us in the
United States what they do in Europe. |
Such a sentiment is very narrow mind
ed. Conceit in regard to the perfec-
tion of our own methods is as unbe-
coming as would be q slavish imitation |
of European customs. Our only wise
course is to acquire information when
ever we can get it, and to adopt i'm
Iprovements regardless OF THAR source.
1t is therefore very important that we
should be fully informed in regard to
what is doing in Europe. Sufficient
attention is not paid at present IN this
country to the opinions of physicians
in regard to questions of health. 1t
seems rs if the guidance of sanitary |
Legislation and its management had
passed into the hands of politicians, |
and that little or no reliance is placed
upon the statements of the physicians
who actually attend the sick. This is
a most foolish thing, for i'll the end it
Is upon the physician that municipal
and rural officers of the law must de-
pend for much of their information in