e thrown upon the Home Secretary. I
venture to suggest one or two things which it might be well to consider
in the formation of such a Department. It should not be a mere Medical
Board under one of the great branches of the Executive; but an entirely
independent Department. It will thus have a much firmer voice in
Parliament, and elsewhere. Scientific knowledge, as well as legal and
medical, should be at its daily command. I lay much stress upon the
first, and for this reason. Medical men, who are not especially
scientific, are apt, I suspect, to be "shut up in measureless content"
with the old ways of going on. Their knowledge becomes stereotyped. And
as, in such a Department, the aid of the latest discoveries is wanted, it
is better to rely upon those whose especial business it is to be
acquainted with them. All departments and institutions are liable to
become hardened, and to lose their elasticity. It is particularly
desirable that this should be avoided in a Department for the Public
Health; and, therefore, great care should be taken in the constitution of
it, to ensure sufficient vitality, and admit sufficient variety of
opinion, or it would be better to trust to getting each special work done
by new hands. The change of political chiefs, a thing frequent enough in
modern times, will ensure some of that diversity of mind which is one of
the main inducements for lodging power in a Commission or a Board.

It is a great question what authority should be entrusted by this central
body to Municipalities or local bodies. They should certainly have the
utmost that can discreetly be given to them. It does not do to say that,
hitherto, they have been totally blind to their duty in this matter. So
have other people been. The great principle of an admixture of
centralization with local authority should not be lost sight of without
urgent reasons. That any reform should be undertaken in sanitary
measures betokens an improved state of moral feeling. The feeling
amongst the most influential classes which produces the legislative
reform may be expected to go lower down--indeed, the reform has already,
in all probability, found some of its most useful supporters in a lower
class--and therefore we may expect to find fit persons to work in the
lower executive departments. It is not fair to go back and assume that
the old state of feeling exists--in fact, that the parchment law is
changed, and not the people. This