Report from the Select Committee of the House of Lords on the Contagious Diseases Act, 1866 : with the proceedings of the Committee, minutes of evidences, and appendix.

  • Great Britain. Parliament. House of Lords. Select Committee on the Contagious Diseases Act, 1866.
Date:
1871
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Credit: Report from the Select Committee of the House of Lords on the Contagious Diseases Act, 1866 : with the proceedings of the Committee, minutes of evidences, and appendix. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    Die Martis, 23° Junii, 1868. LORDS PRESENT: Duke of Somerset. Duke of Cleveland. Earl of Devon. Earl Nelson. Viscount Lifford. Viscount Templetown The Viscount Lifford in the Chair. Order of Adjournment read. Order of the House of Tuesday last, referring to the Committee a Petition of the Council of the National Association fur the Promotion of Social Science., read. The Proceedings of the Committee of Tuesday last are read. The Draft of a Report prepared by the Chairman is laid before the Committee. The same is read, and is as follows : viz. “ In reporiing to the House the result of their inquiry as to the working of the Amended Contagious Diseases Act, 1864, and as to its extension to places other than those to which it already applies, the Committee do not think it necessary to refer at length to the circumstances under which that Act originated, nor to the absolute necessity which existed for its first introduction, taking for granted that the House is aware of the enormous extent to which the disease in question has prevailed, especially among Her Majesty’s naval and military forces. In 1863, 1,482 cases of venereal disease were admitted into Haslar Hospital. “In the year 1860, one in four of the Foot Guards in London suffered from syphilis, while in the same year only one in 56 of the troops in Brussels suffered from the same disease. “ It must be remembered, however, that the inquiry is not confined merely to naval and military stations, but extends to the civil population. According to the Registrar General’s returns, the deaths from syphilis, principally among children, had increased from 67 in the million of the population in 1861 to 94 in the million in 1865. The Committee cannot but refer for a moment to the evidence they have received, to the effect that the medical discoveries of late years have proved that this fearful disease not only affects immediately, and in its own form, the man, too o ten the innocent wife and his offspring, but that, as stated by some witnesses, even to the third and fourth generation, a train of diseases result from it, of which the source has till lately been unsuspected, affecting the liver, the sight, the brain, the lungs, and the vital powers generally, so that actual dege- neracy of the race, failing preventive measures, is continually increasing. With this exception the Committee proposes to confine its Report to three points ; the effects already produced by the late Act; the feasibility of extending its operation so as greatly to mitigate the disease; and the measures which the Committee can recommend to be adopted with that object. “ First. As to the results of the Act.—The House will bear in mind that the amended Act has not yet been in operation for quite two years. In fact, in no place except at Sheerness, and within the last two months at Aldershot, has it been fully tested, saving that at Hong Kong and at Malta, and in the Ionian Islands, under Sir H. Storks, the principle of the Act has been applied with complete success. “ The Act of 1864 was to a great extent inoperative, owing to two defects, no power being given to the Government to build hospitals, and no provision being made for the periodical examination of the women, and yet the success of the Act has been very great already. “ At Aldershot the amended Act has been fully carried out for only two months, and the decrease of venereal cases among the troops has been nearly one-third. At Devonport, out of 8,583 soldiers and sailors, in April 1865, 180 were admitted to the hospital, while in April 1868, out of 10,635 men, only 69 were admitted to hospital. At Sheerness, formerly one of the most infected places, the disease is ail but stamped out, owing to its peculiar isolated situation, not more than two women being diseased during one month, and not a single man in July 1867. Nor is it only in amount that the disease is lessened in places to which the Act applies, but its very character has become milder, chiefly owing to the more cleanly habits induced by hospital experience among the women. But not the least pleasing part of the duty of the Committee is to report the extraordinary moral and religious effect which has been produced where the Act has been applied on the unfortunate women them- selves. One of the most frightful circumstances of the existing state of things in London, and wherever the Act does not apply, is, that when infected the woman must still ply her trade or starve. To deaden her feelings, she lives in a whirl of drunkenness and debauchery, delaying her cure and spreading the disease to the utmost of her power. In London, with a population of 2,500,000, theie are only 184 lock beds for females; while in Paris, with a population of 1,600,000, there are 470 beds. In this calculation are not included a few (46.) b wards Sir W. Jenner and Mr. Prescott Hewett’s evidence. Extract of Report of the Colonial Surgeon of Hong Kong, 1867. See Sir H. Stork’s evi- dence and letter to Mr. Skey. Appendix A. Vide Mr. Veasey’s evidence. Vide Evidence of Mr. Mallalieu, Mr. Woollcombe, Mr. Itomaine. Vide Evidence. Mr. Leonard, In- spector General of Navy Hospitals, and Mr. Berkeley Hill. Vide Mr. Acton’s evidence.