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Article
Publication date: 1 January 1952

Just a hundred years ago great developments were pending in this country in matters relating to health and to the diagnosis and treatment of disease. It was in 1852 that Pasteur…

45

Abstract

Just a hundred years ago great developments were pending in this country in matters relating to health and to the diagnosis and treatment of disease. It was in 1852 that Pasteur began his epoch‐making researches on the subject of bacterial fermentation. At about the same time the ophthalmoscope was introduced. In 1854 Florence Nightingale was busy demanding reforms in nursing, and in 1855 the hypodermic syringe was invented. In 1858 a register of qualified dentists was established for the first time. But the years 1851 to 1854 were remarkable also for the institution and prosecution for the first time in British history of an active campaign for the suppression of the adulteration of food. There was little knowledge of this subject and almost no laws, with two minor exceptions. It was nominally an offence under a statute of George IV to adulterate bread with alum—but no public official had any duty to enforce it. Also, there were certain Revenue Acts, enforceable by the Customs and Excise Department, which in the interests of the Revenue, not of consumers, forbade the adulteration of certain excisable articles of food. But the machinery of the Department was clumsy and inefficient. To two far‐seeing and very courageous men is due the credit for the overdue enactment in 1860 of legislation intended to protect the public from the wholesale adulteration which was rampant a hundred years ago. One was Thomas Wakley, F.R.C.S., Editor of The Lancet. Wakley in 1851 appointed an Analytical and Sanitary Commission, with Dr. A. H. Hassall, M.D., M.R.C.P., as Chief Analyst, to make investigations on a large scale, and promised that the results would be published in his journal, which would announce also the names and addresses of retailers, and of manufacturers when known, of all articles found to be adulterated. A great number of these reports appeared in The Lancet from 1851 to 1854, and were afterwards reprinted in a book by Dr. Hassall. They threw much light on many black spots. The first subject to be tackled was coffee, which was almost invariably adulterated with chicory. Analytical chemists until then had stated that it was impossible for them to detect the adulteration in their laboratories. But Dr. Hassall was a skilled microscopist, as well as a chemist and a doctor. He was the first person in this country to “ apply regularly and systematically the powers of the microscope to the elucidation of the subject of adulteration ”. He was able to detect by his microscope flagrant and widespread adulteration of the following, among many other, foods :—

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British Food Journal, vol. 54 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

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Publication date: 22 April 2015

Bernard Harris, Roderick Floud and Sok Chul Hong

In The Changing Body (Cambridge University Press and NBER, 2011), we presented a series of estimates showing the number of calories available for human consumption in England and…

Abstract

In The Changing Body (Cambridge University Press and NBER, 2011), we presented a series of estimates showing the number of calories available for human consumption in England and Wales at various points in time between 1700 and 1909/1913. We now seek to correct an error in our original figures and to compare the corrected figures with those published by a range of other authors. We also include new estimates showing the calorific value of meat and grains imported from Ireland. Disagreements with other authors reflect differences over a number of issues, including the amount of land under cultivation, the extraction and wastage rates for cereals and pulses and the number of animals supplying meat and dairy products. We consider recent attempts to achieve a compromise between these estimates and challenge claims that there was a dramatic reduction in either food availability or the average height of birth cohorts in the late-eighteenth century.

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Research in Economic History
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78441-782-6

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Publication date: 22 August 2018

Gregori Galofré-Vilà, Andrew Hinde and Aravinda Meera Guntupalli

This chapter uses a dataset of heights calculated from the femurs of skeletal remains to explore the development of stature in England across the last two millennia. We find that…

Abstract

This chapter uses a dataset of heights calculated from the femurs of skeletal remains to explore the development of stature in England across the last two millennia. We find that heights increased during the Roman period and then steadily fell during the “Dark Ages” in the early medieval period. At the turn of the first millennium, heights grew rapidly, but after 1200 they started to decline coinciding with the agricultural depression, the Great Famine, and the Black Death. Then they recovered to reach a plateau which they maintained for almost 300 years, before falling on the eve of industrialization. The data show that average heights in England in the early nineteenth century were comparable to those in Roman times, and that average heights reported between 1400 and 1700 were similar to those of the twentieth century. This chapter also discusses the association of heights across time with some potential determinants and correlates (real wages, inequality, food supply, climate change, and expectation of life), showing that in the long run heights change with these variables, and that in certain periods, notably the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the associations are observable over the shorter run as well. We also examine potential biases surrounding the use of skeletal remains.

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Research in Economic History
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78756-582-1

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Article
Publication date: 1 April 2006

R.A. Schofield and Liz Breen

The purpose of this study is to investigate the customer's perception of service quality within the context of the pharmaceutical supply chain, and look specifically at the…

4110

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate the customer's perception of service quality within the context of the pharmaceutical supply chain, and look specifically at the supplier/customer relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

The research in question focuses on the trading relationship between a pharmaceutical wholesaler and its pharmacy customers. Existing literature shows that quality of the overall service is determined by the customer's perceptions of that service; therefore it is important that the supplier measures the customer's perception of service quality and understands what factors influence that perception and build this into their service delivery. The data were collected via a series of qualitative semi‐structured interviews with hospital and retail pharmacies located in the North West of England.

Findings

The findings show that pharmacy customers have a range of vitally important to less important criteria associated with good service quality and that pharmaceutical wholesalers as suppliers should aim to excel at the vital and important issues and meet those of lesser importance to satisfy customers expectations of service quality.

Research implications/limitations

This reinforces the importance of measuring customer expectations and incorporating outputs into service design to ensure a customer focus to the service provided. Further consideration should be given to adopting the SERVQUAL tool in conducting future research and analysis.

Practical implications

Suppliers should be aware that there are vital activities that customers expect to have performed/delivered and that they need to know what these are and excel at these, whilst managing less important criteria effectively.

Originality/value

This paper provides an insight into the customer‐supplier relationship within the pharmaceutical supply chain in the NHS, which will be of benefit to practitioners and academics in this field.

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International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, vol. 23 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0265-671X

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Article
Publication date: 1 May 1947

Agriculture—pasturage—dairy herds—milk supply are links in a chain connecting the milk consumers, that is everybody in the kingdom, with the most indispensable and widespread…

62

Abstract

Agriculture—pasturage—dairy herds—milk supply are links in a chain connecting the milk consumers, that is everybody in the kingdom, with the most indispensable and widespread industry. By a liberal extension of the term pasturage we may include such items as oats, peas, beans, roots, cattle cake and oil seeds. Milk is the chief of the protective foods, and during the last forty years or so the country has become increasingly milk conscious, if we may so express the recognition of its value embodied in such terms as “an exceptionally valuable food during the whole period of growth”; “a (nearly) perfect food”; “the surest protection from nutritional deficiencies”; “the A.1 priority food of the nation”; “a keystone to national nutrition.” These expressions have been used not for rhetorical effect. They are sober statements of fact by people well qualified by interest and by experience to speak authoritatively on matters concerning the milk supply of the nation. These and the like expressions may be noted in the almost endless series of pamphlets, addresses, reports, deputations, rules, and regulations embodying the opinions of public analysts, members of the medical and veterinary professions, livestock breeders, and Government Departments. The activities of all these bodies, it need hardly be said, is to guard public health and to comply with the public need for an adequate supply of milk. By “milk,” we submit, is meant fresh, clean cow's milk drawn from a healthy animal, free from pathogenic organisms, and containing the well‐known statutory minima for fat and for solids as laid down in the Sale of Milk Regulations. These minima are somewhat higher than the old Somerset House standard which they replace, but in the opinion of many, if not most, properly informed and unprejudiced persons are lower than the figures disclosed by the many thousands of analyses made over a long series of years by public analysts in the course of their official investigations. The official standard is much in favour of the vendor whether he be dairy farmer or ordinary shop retailer. Moreover, if a prosecution be instituted for failure to comply with these very moderate standards, the evidence is only presumptive, and if the defendant in the action can satisfy the court that the milk sold was of the same quality as was that yielded by the cow the action fails. Actions for this alleged offence are brought, as everyone knows, every day in all parts of the country. Added water is the usual basis of complaint. The gravity of the offence varies from slight negligence to gross carelessness, and in too many cases to deliberate fraud. The act is simple, demanding no great intelligence on the part of the actors. Anyone perusing the accounts of police court actions relating to milk will be struck by the dreary sameness of the proceedings, which is only slightly relieved by the variety of the explanations put forward to account for the presence of the extraneous water. The explanations are not in general accepted as excuses by the bench. The results of the usual analytical procedure are strongly confirmed by the freezing point (Hortvet) test, a test whose value does not seem in some cases to be appreciated to the extent it deserves. With regard to the explanations—apart from the leaky cooler, the new boy, and so forth—there is, we understand, an increasing tendency on the part of offenders in some parts of the country to throw the blame for poor milk on insufficient quantities or qualities of rationed concentrates and other foods. It will, we suppose, be generally admitted that the times are difficult and farmers have experienced to the full the special difficulties that affect their calling. Cattle cake and oil seeds are only to be obtained it is stated in some cases in insufficient quantities. The County Agricultural authorities have been urging farmers to sow peas, beans and oats to meet, as far as that may be possible, this shortage. The small man is, as is usually the case, the hardest hit. To plough up relatively small areas for the purpose just mentioned is uneconomic, and seeds are, like everything else, much more cosily than they used to be. The Ministry of Agriculture, in a recently issued leaflet, slate that “rations in general are on a lower scale” during the 1946–47 winter than during the winter before. “Rations will be subject to adjustment consequent upon any change in the supply position.” Rations depend on milk sales. The value of a unit of ration remains at one cwt. At present one unit of protein and three units of cereal will be granted for each 105 gallons of milk in excess of 15 gallons per cow per month subject to a deduction of 60 lb. of cereal per cow per month. Supplementary allowances —that is, a ration allowance in excess of the normal ration allowance for the time being—will have to be met from a limited discretionary reserve placed at the disposal of the county committees. “It will no longer be possible” says the Ministry “to meet the farmers' needs in full.” So that in general assistance of this kind will be restricted to growers of essential crops and to cases of exceptional difficulty. As the amount of rations is limited the grounds of the applicant's request for additional rations for his stock is subjected to enquiry before such excess rations are issued. There appears to be little need for comment. The whole business is straightforward and indicates the difficulties confronting stock breeders and agricultural authorities alike, at the present time. As far as we can judge, the small dairy farmer is the chief sufferer. Out of half‐a‐dozen cows yielding milk, if one should be off colour for the time being the average yield is likely to be injuriously affected. That, of course, will not happen should the herd be a large one. One cow out of a hundred will make no difference. A complaint has been sometimes made that excess rations could not be obtained from the County agricultural authority's reserve stock. If so, the circumstances must be very exceptional. The authority is in close touch with the dairy farmers in its district, and we understand that enquiry is made quickly with a pretty full personal knowledge of the applicant. The explanations that are sometimes given by the defendant in an action to account for poor quality milk being due to insufficient or improper feed does not seem to be generally accepted by those who try the case, and with good reason.

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British Food Journal, vol. 49 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

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Article
Publication date: 1 March 1906

Of milk alone no less than 36,000 samples were purchased during 1904, almost as many as the total for all articles 10 years ago. Of these 4,031 (or 11.1 per cent.) were returned…

26

Abstract

Of milk alone no less than 36,000 samples were purchased during 1904, almost as many as the total for all articles 10 years ago. Of these 4,031 (or 11.1 per cent.) were returned as adulterated. In the previous year 10.4 per cent. were condemned. The difference is not of necessity due to any increase in adulteration, as the figures are admittedly inaccurate owing to the differences of procedure on the part of Public Analysts in making out their reports. In support of this view it is mentioned that in 14 Metropolitan Districts where 6,270 milks were examined, 4.9 per cent. were reported as containing percentages of added water under 5 per cent., while in 15 other districts, where 3,205 samples were submitted, only 0.56 per cent. were returned as being adulterated to this extent. The explanation is that in the former case the Public Analyst adhered more or less rigidly to the standard fixed by the “Sale of Milk Regulations,” while in the latter, in most instances, where the amount of adulteration was under 5 per cent., the samples were reported as genuine. Here the Report takes what is a more or less new and certainly welcome departure, in definitely expressing an opinion for the guidance of those in doubt, and stating that so long as the “Sale of Milk Regulations” remains in force, “Public Analysts have no warrant for the adoption of a still lower standard.”

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British Food Journal, vol. 8 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

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Article
Publication date: 5 March 2018

Viktoria Dalko and Michael H. Wang

The purpose of this paper is to study the mutual disruption and support of economic growth and health improvement in the last 500 years in the UK.

445

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to study the mutual disruption and support of economic growth and health improvement in the last 500 years in the UK.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is a general review and it compares institutional development, public policy, technological advances and scientific discoveries in economic growth with those in health improvement.

Findings

The paper finds the co-existence of slower economic growth and less increasing life expectancy from 1541 to 1871 and that of faster economic growth and rising life expectancy from 1871 to 2001. It is organized health improvement that effectively propelled economic growth in the time span of 1871-2001.

Research limitations/implications

The findings may contribute to the literature on mutual enhancement between economic growth and health improvement.

Practical implications

The findings may also provide implications to the policy makers how important organized health improvement is to economic growth.

Social implications

The findings show that when UK Government was leading in organized health improvement for the population, economic grown got propelled into a faster lane.

Originality/value

This paper is among the first to unveil that a socially responsible government has permanent impact on the paths of both economic and social growth. It has value to other researchers attempting to understand the mutual disruption and support of economic growth and health improvement in the historical UK.

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International Journal of Social Economics, vol. 45 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0306-8293

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Article
Publication date: 1 February 1985

Neil L. Tranter

A study utilising personal data contained in census enumerators' returns and records of civil registration for Portpatrick (Wigtownshire) does not produce conclusive evidence for…

129

Abstract

A study utilising personal data contained in census enumerators' returns and records of civil registration for Portpatrick (Wigtownshire) does not produce conclusive evidence for interpreting regional variations in bastardy in terms of illegitimacy subcultures or the nature of farming units. The Portpatrick data suggest that understanding of nineteenth century Scottish illegitimacy will not be resolved until the extent and causes of variations in bastardy from parish to parish within broad regions, and from time period to time period, are better understood.

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International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, vol. 5 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-333X

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Article
Publication date: 26 July 2013

G.N. Patel and Smriti Pande

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the performance of 46 pharmacy retail stores and to analyze the impact of non‐discretionary variables on the efficiency of the stores…

291

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the performance of 46 pharmacy retail stores and to analyze the impact of non‐discretionary variables on the efficiency of the stores through dividing the decision making units (DMUs) into different categories.

Design/methodology/approach

Basic CCR model is being used to evaluate the efficiency of each store. First, the DMUs are divided into three different categories namely severe, normal and advantageous depending upon the extent of competition that they are facing. Second, basic CCR, Phases I and II models are applied to evaluate efficiency, reference set and projections of DMUs within the categories. Lastly, all DMUs are evaluated together using the same models.

Findings

For situations that are not under the direct control of the management, DEA with categorical DMUs is an appropriate approach for efficiency evaluation because through this approach one can do justice to each store which is a part of the study.

Research limitations/implications

Inclusion of people factor such as customer satisfaction or employee satisfaction can lead to a better analysis and therefore, to a better practical approach.

Originality/value

This study provides a framework for performance evaluation when both discretionary and non‐discretionary variables are to be taken into consideration.

Details

Competitiveness Review: An International Business Journal, vol. 23 no. 4/5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1059-5422

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Article
Publication date: 1 April 1989

John Stacey and Bryan Smith

The process is reviewed by which the development needs of trainersin one organisation were established. A programme of workshops andrelated activities are shown to have met those…

61

Abstract

The process is reviewed by which the development needs of trainers in one organisation were established. A programme of workshops and related activities are shown to have met those needs. The model of learning need in the design is set out, and the processes necessary to ensure that a programme does not concentrate too much on one part of the learning cycle are discussed.

Details

Industrial and Commercial Training, vol. 21 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0019-7858

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