AUTOGRAPH NOTE SIGNED BY ENGLISH PATHOLOGIST AND PIONEER PUBLIC HEALTH REFORMER SIR JOHN SIMON AS A MEMBER OF THE PRIVY COUNCIL.

Simon writes that the change proposed by his correspondent is quite acceptable to him.

Sir John Simon [1816-1904] was an English pathologist, surgeon and public health reformer. He held surgical posts at King's College Hospital and St. Thomas's Hospital in London from 1840 until 1876. Public health was not considered a responsibility of the government in the early 19th century. Parliament passed the Public Health Act of 1848 partly in response to Simon's influence and to deal with the threat of cholera and other public health problems. Simon was appointed the first Medical Officer of Health for the City of London. He was later made the head of the Medical Department of the Government and remained in that post until his retirement in 1876. Though he had no previous public health experience, Simon's ongoing interest in pathology gave him a distinct advantage as a medical officer. He called for municipal action to provide adequate sanitary disposal and drainage, improved standards of housing and upgrading of the water supply. His advocacy resulted in the Sanitary Act of 1875 which for the first time made a public health law universal and compulsory. Simon was also a member of Privy Council [1858-1876] and President of the Royal Society [1879-1880].