John Shaw Billings and the plan for a sanitary survey of the United States

G. Rosen

American Journal of Public Health, 1976, vol. 66, issue 5, 492-495

Abstract: John Billings submitted a report on the plan for a sanitary survey of the U.S.A. and wrote an essay on medical topography. The basic instrument for the survey was a questionnaire comprising between 500 and 600 questions. As Billings clearly saw, however, the published reports had great defects, which in his view could be eliminated by obtaining authority and means by which to acquire the information needed. The period, unfortunately, was one of financial hardship and the project for a sanitary survey was abandoned for lack of funds. Billings turned to problems of hospital construction, medical education and vital statistics. The article concludes with the remark that it remained for the twentieth century to accomplish what had been envisioned by this great 19th century lecturer in the history of medicine.

Date: 1976
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:1976:66:5:492-495_5

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