ABSTRACT
From the early years of the nineteenth century the sanitary movement received increased momentum from active educational work. By this I do not mean mere propaganda which lacks a reasoned statement—as, for instance, scrappy circulars or great posters. Such propaganda has much, but a limited, value in inciting readers to do something when there already exists a body of knowledge to which public attention is desired. But infinitely more important than such propaganda is steady communication to the general population of the results of sanitary and social surveys, and of the results of scientific research, whether in the field or the laboratory. The dissemination of such knowledge, backed as it was by the growing sentiment of mercy and pity, was the activating force of the early sanitary movement in England. The reports by Southwood Smith and his co-workers on the terrible conditions of filth and crowding in towns and in country places alike, Chadwick's great reports to the poor law and sanitary commissions, and Simon's early reports as Medical Officer of Health to the City and afterwards to the Privy Council, impelled the creation of the machinery of reform, which, however much it creaked and groaned in its earlier action, has never stopped and has steadily become increasingly efficient.
