HH62/2/LANARK/19

Transcription

[Page] 18

Under certain conditions neither of these methods can
be employed, and then it is necessary to fall back upon
one of the numerous precipitation processes. Of these,
that in which lime is the principal agent has not been in
my experience altogether successful, even with the improved
methods of mixing the lime with the sewage. A lime
effluent discharged into a river is apt to cause further
fermentation and decomposition.
One of the best effluents I have seen is that from the
Acton Sewage Works, where "ferrozone" and "polarite"
are employed under the system of the International Sewage
Purification Company. It is right to point out, however,
that the sewage at Acton is not difficult to treat compared
with that of a manufacturing community, and whether
it would be as effective in dealing with trade refuse is
another question. The same system has been adopted
lately, I believe, at Larbert Asylum. One drawback
appears to me a somewhat serious one, viz., that the sale
of the materials used is, so far as I am aware, in the hands
of the one company, who, I presume, are at liberty to fix
their own prices. A great many other agents have been
recommended, and even electricity has been pressed into
the service, but except the experimental works at Cross-
ness, Salford, and Bradford, I am not aware of the system
having been adopted.
In no single instance, so far as I know, has the sewage
from any district been subjected to treatment before
entering the streams. In the two localities named, how-
ever - Larkhall and Strathaven - for which drainage
plans have been prepared, the necessity for a pure effluent
has been recognised, and the plans so arranged that irriga-
tion or intermittent downward filtration can be carried out.

Hospital Accommodation. - On this subject also I have
entered at length in my accompanying reports on each of
the wards. There are at present nine hospitals in the
county to which the District Committees are entitled to


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send patients, but of these seven are combination hospitals
with different burghs, and two only (both within the Middle
Ward) are under the control of the Council. Of the nine,
one is in the Upper Ward, seven in the Middle, and one in
the Lower.
The inadequacy of the present hospital accommodation
has been recognised by each District Committee. In the
Middle Ward the Committee has adopted a comprehensive
scheme, which I have fully described at page 49; in the
Lower Ward the Committee has practically agreed to
provide at least 30 beds; while in the Upper Ward no
definite scheme has as yet been agreed upon.

Notification of Infectious Disease. - Throughout the
whole of the landward portion of the county the Infectious
Disease (Notification) Act, 1889, is now in operation.
It was first adopted in the Middle Ward, coming into
force on 1st January, 1891; then in the Upper Ward,
on 13th July; and, finally, in the Lower Ward, on 1st
September, 1891.
The necessary forms for the use of the medical men in
attendance on cases of infectious disease were drawn up
and printed in accordance with the statutory form. They
have been bound in books of 50 and distributed among the
medical men of the county, accompanied, in the case of the
Upper and Lower Wards, by a circular letter drawing
attention to the main provisions of the Act. The distri-
bution of the blank forms in the Middle Ward was under
the superintendence of the Sanitary Inspector, the Act,
as already stated, having been adopted prior to my
appointment.
The Act provides that the Certificate of Notification is
to be forwarded to the Medical Officer. It would obviously,
however, cause considerable delay in dealing with such
cases were the notifications to be forwarded to Hamilton,
and then sent to the various Inspectors in the county; it
was, therefore, arranged that the notification in each of