"It is a question whether the greatness of countries will not in future to a very large extent depend upon the standard of public health." One of the very best and most experienced of the men who held the responsible office of Medical Officer of Health during the last half century--Dr. Bateson, the Medical Officer of Health for St. George in Southwark--in his reports often dwelt upon this aspect of the subject:-- "The only true and lasting foundation upon which the glory and safety of a nation can be built must be upon the cultivation of the moral and physical powers belonging to man." "... The quality of a race is of far more importance than the quantity." "Health to the majority of the population is their only wealth; without it they become pauperised." "The welfare and safety of this country need a healthy, stalwart race of men--men who can labour and endure." And in his last report (1878), after twenty years' service as Medical Officer of Health, he quoted the Prime Minister (Lord Beaconsfield) as saying:-- "The health of a people was really the foundation upon which all their happiness and all their powers as a state depended. If the population of a country was stationary, or that it yearly diminished, or that whilst it diminished it diminished also in stature and strength, then that country was ultimately doomed." "Nothing," said Dr. Bateson, "could be more solemn and emphatic." "For the success and permanence of national existence a high standard of health is absolutely necessary. To maintain in its integrity the vast power which England now wields, and to retain the high position which she now holds will depend upon the nation's health." Before considerations such as these, how lamentable the blindness of those who could not see that even a measurable expenditure in health matters would have been productive of immeasurable benefits; how reprehensible the conduct of those who refused to administer laws which it was their duty to administer, and the administration of which would have been of inestimable value to their fellow citizens; and how disastrous their studied inaction to the great metropolis, and through it, to the nation itself. FOOTNOTES: [117] Select Committee on Metropolitan Buildings and Management Bill, 1874. P.P., vol. x. [118] Evidence of G. Vulliamy, Select Committee, 1874. Superintending-Architect to that Board. [119] See Report of Select Committee, &c., 1874, Q. 23,445. [120] Select Committee of 1867. [121] P.P., 1868-9, vol. xxxiii. [122] 32 and 33 Vic. cap. 70. [123] See P.P. 1863, vol. xxv. Report by Tremenheere on Bakehouses, p. 113. [124] Adulteration of Food and Drink and Drugs Act, 1872, 35 and 36 Vic. cap. 74. [125] P.P. 1874, vol. vi. [126] Issued on the 17th of September, 1872, and renewed the 25th of March, 1873. [127] Final Report of the School Board for London, 1870-1904. [128] See Select Committee on Noxious Businesses, 1873. P.P., vol. x.