MAJORITY REPORT : RESERVATION. 
S07 
Nor would any one suggest that the medical profession 
could properly do its work on any other basis than that 
of regarding the health and the recovery of each patient as being 
at the moment the one supreme and only consideration. Yet 
clearly there may here be, as things are at present, a possibility 
of conflict between the ultimate ideals of the medical profession, 
which regards every individual life as alike of supreme import- 
ance, and the remoter interests of the community, which in re- 
trospect may not be able to take so impartial a view ; for while 
it is the aim and object of medical attendance to strive to the 
uttermost to keep alive even the most unfit, it may incidentally, 
and as a consequence, give these the opportunity of continuing 
their race in the next generation. It would be as well to realise 
that this is a force which is certainly operative to some extent, 
and may be operative to a considerable extent, and in so far as 
it is so operative, and unless counteracted by other influences (as 
it might be e.g., by the advance of medical science) it will tend 
to a continual worsening of the health of the population generally 
and a continually increasing drain for health services. 
9. While attaching little importance to the figures, which are 
capable of many partial explanations, it is perhaps significant 
and worthy of parenthetical observation that recent years have 
been characterised by (1) a falling death-rate, (2) an increase 
of disablement benefit, (3) an increase in the frequency of 
prescriptions. 
10. Although notable results have been, and will be, achieved 
by the machinery now in operation, these considerations raise 
doubts as to the possibility, on present lines, of attaining such 
a measure of ultimate success as some consider capable of 
achievement. The overlapping of our health authorities and 
the lack of co-ordination between their efforts have been the 
subject of much criticism, and much constructive thought has 
been directed towards the creation of the perfect local authority 
which shall assert an effective leadership in the re-establishment 
of the public health. Doubtless these criticisms are justified and 
such suggestions as have been made are all to the good and, if 
adopted, will promote economy and administrative efficiency. Yet 
we cannot help feeling that the mere manipulation of local govern- 
ment machinery, important as it may be, may not in itself take 
us as far as is sometimes suggested. 
11. On a review of the public machinery for promoting health, 
the conclusion is forced on us that the entrance by which a 
not inconsiderable part of illness finds its way into the com- 
munity is seldom even discussed, and further that the increasing 
€Xcellence of our medical machinery may enable an enlarged 
volume of sickness to enter by this doorway.