The English Venereal Diseases Act (1917) prohibits treatment by unqualified persons in areas to which it is applied, when gratuitous treatment has been provided and approved, and prohibits all kinds of advertisements of quack remedies for such diseases. In Sweden (1912) an affected person is obliged to obtain and complete medical treatment; the same applies to the Union of South Africa (1919), where it is also an offence for an infected person to follow certain employments, or to engage such a person in employment; and to Czechoslovakia, where an infectious person may also be removed compulsorily to hospital if necessary, and an examination by a doctor can be en forced where there is reason to suppose that a person is infected with such a disease. In the state of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, by a decree of 1921, a special service for the prevention of venereal diseases was created, and provision was made for action against charlatans and for diffusing information regarding modern meth ods of avoiding the contagion. In Italy, a royal decree (1923), approved of regulations for the prevention of venereal diseases, including the examination and treatment of prostitutes. A Danish law of 1922 obliges a person suffering from venereal disease, in a stage when it may be communicated or transmitted, to inform the other party to a proposed contract of marriage, and this party must be instructed by a doctor before contracting. The parties must make a declaration of freedom from such disease. The same procedure must be adopted if one of the parties suffers from epilepsy.
The British Housing Act, 1925, inter alia, makes it a duty of the local authority and the medical officer of health to inspect houses, prohibits the erection of back-to-back houses, and gives power to close and demolish houses deemed unfit for human habitation. The Public Health Act, 1925, gives a local authority power to cleanse, disinfect or destroy articles infested with vermin in dwellings, and to oblige a landlord or tenant to cleanse the dwelling; powers are granted for cleansing of the person also. A Belgian law of 1919 instituted the National So ciety for Housing, amongst its powers being that of destroying unhealthy dwellings; a revising law of 1921 gave power to ex propriate such houses and sites as are required. Similar powers were granted to authorities in France by a law of 1915. A law of 1922 codifies the laws relating to working-class dwellings.
The British Notification of Births (Exten sion) Act, 1915, extended the act to areas in which it had not been adopted. A Belgian law of 1919 instituted the national work for infant welfare. In France a law of 1917 provided financial help for necessitous women in connection with child-birth, and when the mother nurses the child assistance continues for a period of 12 months. In Germany (1922) help is given to women in the same circumstances, insured and uninsured. An English Act of
192o regulates the employment of children, young persons and women in industrial occupations; and a Peruvian law of the same year is a similar measure.
The English Public Health (Milk and Cream) Regu lations, 1912, prohibited the addition of any preservatives to milk intended for sale for human consumption, any thickening to cream or preserved cream or any preservatives to cream with less than 35% of milk fat ; the only permissible preservatives in cream intended for human consumption were boric acid, borax, a mixture of these, or hydrogen peroxide. By an order (1917) no more than 0.4% of boric acid might be added and the cream must be sold as preserved cream and labelled as unsuitable for infants and invalids. In 1925 the addition of boric acid was prohibited altogether. Public Health regulations, 1923, fixed the minimum percentage of milk fat in dried milk of various descriptions, and that of milk fat and total solids in condensed milks. Containers must declare the contents, and skimmed milk be labelled as unfit for babies.
Most countries have legislated to restrict the use of opium, cocaine and related substances. The English Therapeutic Substances Act, 1925, regulates the manufacture, sale and impor tation of serums, vaccines, salvarsan, insulin, etc. Other countries have legislated similarly. (R. Sc.) U.S. Public Health Service.—This Federal activity originated in 1798, by an act providing medical relief to merchant seamen. The service was then known as the U.S. Marine Hospital Service. Legislation reorganizing the service and authorizing the appoint ment of a surgeon general was passed in 187o. In 1889 and in 1902 laws were passed effecting further reorganization and in the latter year the hygienic laboratory, established in 1887, was placed on a more effective basis and the name of the service changed to the U.S. Public Health and Marine Hospital Service. The service was further enlarged in 1912 and the name changed to the U.S. Public Health Service.
The health department of the District of Columbia was established in 1822. The establishment of State health departments was in the following chronological order: Louisiana (1855) ; Massachusetts (1869) ; California (187o) ; Minnesota and Virginia (1872) ; Michigan (1873) Maryland (1874) ; Alabama (1875) ; Wisconsin (1876) ; Illinois, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina and Tennessee (1877) Connecticut, Kentucky, Rhode Island and South Carolina (1878) ; Delaware (1879) ; Iowa and New York (188o) ; Arkansas, In diana, New Hampshire and West Virginia (1881) ; Missouri (1883) ; Kansas, Maine and Pennsylvania (1885) ; Ohio and Ver mont (1886) ; Florida and North Dakota (1889) ; Oklahoma (1890) ; Nebraska and Washington (1891) ; Colorado and Nevada (1893) ; South Dakota (1895) ; Utah (1898); Montana and Wyoming (I 90I) ; Arizona, Georgia, Oregon and New Mexico (1903); Idaho (1907); Texas (19o9).