26 JUNE 1909, Page 11

PIONEERS IN SANITARY REFORM.

The Public Health Agitation, 1833-48. By B. L. Hutchins. (A. C. Fifield. 2s, 6d. net.)—The origin of Miss Hutohina's treatise is curious : "The initial suggestion for this little book," she writes, "I owe to the chapter called ` The Debt of Collectivism to Bentham' in Professor Dicey's ' Law in Relation to Public Opinion.'" Professor Dicey will not agree with much that is to be found in Miss Hutchins's volume, but she has written an interesting book, and collected a considerable amount of informa- tion about the late Sir Edwin Chadwick, a pioneer in "public health agitation," and a remarkable man who in his day exercised a great influence in English social life. His connexion with the Poor Law Amendment Act is well known. To those who remember Sir E. Chadwick in the flesh his elevation to the position of a saint in the Collectivist calendar will appear somewhat incon- gruous, but there is a certain "topsy-turvy" justification for it.