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County of Aberdeen.
FIRST ANNUAL REPORT
UPON THE
HEALTH AND SANITARY CONDITION
OF THE
VARIOUS DISTRICTS OF THE COUNTY.
1891.
BY
J.P. WATT, M.A., M.B., C.M., D.P.H.
MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH FOR THE COUNTY.
ABERDEEN:
FREE PRESS PRINTING CO. [COMPANY]
1892. |
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CONTENTS.
-- Page.
REPORT OF ABERDEEN DISTRICT, -- 1
REPORT OF ELLON DISTRICT, -- 13
REPORT OF ALFORD DISTRICT, -- 27
REPORT OF DEER DISTRICT, -- 35
REPORT OF GARIOCH DISTRICT, -- 43
REPORT OF DEESIDE DISTRICT, -- 51
REPORT OF TURRIFF DISTRICT, -- 59
REPORT OF HUNTLY DISTRICT, -- 65
INDEX OF SUBJECTS.
STATISTICS, -- Appendix (Tables I. and II.) and Reports.
CONDITION OF VILLAGES, -- Pages 4, 5, 17, 18, 19, 20, 30, 38, 45, 46, 53, 61, 66.
HOUSING OF THE WORKING CLASSES, -- Pages vii., 6, 7, 20, 21, 44, 53, 54, 55, 56.
SLEEPING APARTMENTS OF FARM SERVANTS, -- Pages 5, 6, 22, 55.
NOTIFICATION ACT, -- Pages vi., 7, 31, 38, 48, 61, 62.
HOSPITAL ACCOMMODATION, -- Pages vi., 7, 23, 31, 39, 7, 61, 67.
ZYMOTIC DISEASE—
Scarlet Fever, -- Pages 8, 23, 33, &c., &c.
Diphtheria, -- Pages 9, 14, 15, 53, 21, 33, 48, 67.
Enteric or Typhoid Fever, -- Pages 10, 21, 22, 32, 33, 39, 40, 62, 63.
Erysipelas, -- Page 41.
Whooping Cough, -- Pages 9-10, 56.
Measles, -- Pages 9, 53, 56.
OFFENSIVE TRADES AND BAKEHOUSES, -- Pages 9, 24, 32, 41, 46, 53, 69.
SANITARY ORGANISATIONS, -- Pages vi., 8, 23. |
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ERRATUM.
An error, due to incorrect returns of the population of the Health
Districts of Kintore and Inverurie, has been pointed out. The correc-
tion would give a total death-rate for the whole district of 13.945,
Instead of 14.318 - a difference of .373.
To the
Public Health Committee
OF THE
ABERDEEN COUNTY COUNCIL
MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN,
In accordance with the Regulations for Medical
Officers of Health laid down by the Board of Supervision in
virtue of the powers conferred upon them the local
Government (Scotland) Act, 1889, I have prepared Reports
for the eight districts of Aberdeenshire, for which I am
Medical Officer ; and, in accordance with their further in-
structions, I have sent to the Council copies of these Reports.
The Bye-laws recommended by the board of Supervision
for defining the duties of Medical Officers of Counties, and
which have been adopted by the Council, further impose
upon me the duty of preparing an Annual County Report.
In view of the short time at my disposal during last year
- a period too short to admit of the preparation of materials
for such a Report on the County as I should wish to lay
before you - I requested from the Board of Supervision
exemption from a County Report 1891.
I think, however, that it may be well that I should. As
Medical Officer of Health for the County, present to the
Public Health Committee a concise statement as to the
Carrying out of the Public Health Acts in the various
districts.
It seems to me that the District Committees, as Local
Authorities, have shown themselves fully alive to the
importance of using the powers entrusted to them by law
for safe-guarding health of the people, and I think the |
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[page] vi.
proceedings of some of our Local Authorities will compare
not unfavourably with those of any others in Scotland
I shall pass rapidly in review the points that I consider
of importance to deal with.
I shall touch, first, upon the sanitary organisation that
has been established in the County. This is two-fold - first.
Medical Officers, and secondly, Sanitary Inspectors.
With regard to the Medical Offieers, I am very pleased to
be able to state, as the result of eight months' experience,
that, in my opinion, the retention, meanwhile, of the Medical
Officers has proved an exceedingly wise step. I have re-
ceived very great assistance from many of them, and some of
the Inspectors bear willing testimony to the help they have
been to them in their work. I have been enabled to avail
myself of the experience and knowledge they possess of
their special districts, and they have rendered willing and
valuable assistance whenever they have been called upon.
With regard to the Sanitary Inspectors, a variety of
arrangements obtains in the County. In one respect this is
an advantage, as it has afforded an excellent opportunity of
observing and judging between different methods.
Passing from this, I shall consider the equipment that
each Sanitary District should possess to enable it to deal
efficiently with outbreaks of infectious disease. These
consist of (1) some means of isolation for first cases, whereby
epidemics are often checked; (2) the notification of infectious
diseases, so that all cases are notified without delay to the
Sanitary Authority, and measures can accordingly be taken
to check the spread of the disease; (3) a disinfecting
chamber, where bedding and clothes can be disinfected by
dry or moist heat.
I may state that the question of hospital provision is
receiving careful consideration from several of the Local
Authorities. The experience of the Aberdeen and Ellon
Districts, where such means are already provided, shows the
benefits that result from hospital isolation. In illustration
of this, I would call attention to the account in my Report
on the Aberdeen District of the outbreak of scarlet fever in
Newhills during last winter.
The Notification Act us undoubtedly a measure of the
greatest importance. The full benefits of the Act are felt
most where means of hospital isolation are at the command
of the Local Authority. Even where this is not present, the
more stringent isolation generally secured, the thorough
disinfection of the house, bedding, and clothes by the
Sanitary Inspector, and in many cases the discovery and
[page] vii
removal of insanitary conditions that produced the disease,
render the adoption of the Act strongly advisable in every
district.
With regard to the third requirement, viz., means of
disinfection, the experience of some of the sanitary districts
in England, as given by Dr. Thorne Thorne, in his Report to
the Local Government Board of England, is exceedingly
instructive, and shows, clearly the value of such provision
- a conclusion quite in keeping with all our most recent
knowledge regarding the permanence of the infective virus
viz., the micro-organisms which are the cause of most, if not
all, the infectious diseases.
The next matter I shall touch upon is one of very grave
importance. The housing of the working classes in the
County is not in a condition that any one can describe as
satisfactory. The chief fault lies in the damp condition of
walls and floors. The condition of some of these houses in this
respect, especially in winter, is exceedingly bad. The effect
of such a condition on health requires no explanation and no
comment. I have embodied in several of my Reports the
opinions of some of our experienced Medical Officers in re-
gard to these houses, and I cannot employ more emphatic
language concerning them than they have used. Much will
require to be done in this direction, and I hope that, within
a few years, we will see a very great improvement in the
condition of the houses of the working classes, and not least
in the cottar-houses provided for the married farm-servants,
and the sleeping apartments for the unmarried men.
In regard to the condition of the villages, much is being
done to improve the drainage and the water supply. This
is a matter of very great importance. It is universal ex-
perience that the introduction of good sewerage and a pure
water supply into town or village is followed by a general
diminution of disease and lowering of the death-rate.
Ashpits and privy middens are presenting sanitary
problems of great difficulty everywhere in Scotland. The
power for Local Authorities to scavenge villages, in terms of
the petition presented by the Council to the Secretary for
Scotland, together with the introduction of the system of
slop-water closets, a system which has met with much suc-
cess in England, may enable the Sanitary Authorities to deal
satisfactorily with what is most undoubtedly a fruitful cause
of disease, and always forms a menace to the general health
of a community.
I propose to have carried out in all the districts a uniform
and systematic system of inspection of all houses used for |
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[page] viii
human habitation, so that it may be possible to present to
the Council, from time to time, a partial, and ultimately a
complete, record of the County. Such a survey can be
carried out by merely systematising the work of the Inspec-
tors, and it would be of great value. It does not imply that
everything is to be made perfect at once, but merely renders
us cognisant of the conditions throughout the County.
I have the honour to be,
MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN,
Your obedient Servant,
JAMES P. WATT,
Medical Officer of Health for Aberdeenshire.
ABERDEEN, 8th April, 1892.
Aberdeen County Council.
REPORT
ON THE
Aberdeen District of the County of Aberdeen.
Prepared in accordance with the Regulations of the Board
of Supervision, under the Local Government (Scot-
land) Act, 1889.
To
The District Committee,
ABERDEEN DISTRICT, COUNTY OF ABERDEEN.
GENTLEMEN,
I beg to submit the following Reports on the district,
prepared in accordance with the Regulations issued by the
Board of Supervision.
The Aberdeen District is a district which, from a health
point of view derives special importance from its vicinity
to the City of Aberdeen. The district itself is an extensive
and populous one. Like the rest of the County it is almost
entirely agricultural; but along the Don valley there are
several very large works for the manufacture of paper and
one for manufacture of cloth. Accordingly, in the parish
of Newhills we have a considerable factory population.
In the Dee valley there are many suburban villas, while the
villages of Cults and Culter are rapidly increasing in size.
At Culter there is a large paper factory.
The total population, which is larger than that of any
other district in the County, with the exception of Deer, |
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