Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 8.djvu/290

 ITALY

244

ITALY

regulations of importance. The sanitary laws proviiie for the safety of the public health by a series of im- posts on the citizen, and by police restrictions re- garding the practice of metlicine, of surgerj', of the veterinary art, of pharmacy, and of obstetrics, all of which professions are subject to supervision and have special obligations imposed upon them for the se- curity of the sick and for the gratuitous attendance of the poor.

^lEDlCO-.StTRGICAL .SERVICE

MZDIC.M, ESTABLISHME.NTS

FREE PRAC-

ARMY AND NAVY

TOTAL

PER

100,000

INHAE.

COMMUNES

PHYSICIANS

8,191 10,263

12.375

861

23.499

63

In order to prevent the spreading of infectious dis- eases, physicians are obliged to denounce cases of infectious disease, and citizens are obliged to submit to visitations, to disinfections, and to vaccination. Under this head comes a special supervision over aqueducts, the sewage system, and the right of the Minister of the Interior to prevent or to suppress evils regarded as causes of contagious disease. There are, moreover, burial laws, the chief end of which is to prohibit the burial of bodies elsewhere than in ceme- teries, exception being made in favour of illustrious personages and of private burial grounds that are situated in the country and not open to the pulilic. Landing in Italy is made under special supervision, for which purpo.se there is a medical officer in each

lands in Africa; Italy also entered upon the course of colonial conquest, and consequently it has come into the possession of territories, and has created protectorates and zones of influence on the western coast of the Red Sea, on the Gulf of Aden, and on the Indian Ocean.

The direct possessions of Italy are the colonies of Eritrea and Italian Somalia (Benadir). The colony of Eritrea originated in the po.ssession of the Bay of Assab, which was proclaimed by the law of 5 July, 18S2. The colony extends along the western coast of the Red Sea from Cape Kasar (1S-2°X.) to Cape Doumeirah (12-30° X.) on the Strait of Bal>el-Mandeb. From Cape Kasar the boimdary line has a generally south-western direc- tion to the confluence of the Khor-Um-Hagar and the Setit Rivers. The southern or Abyssinian boun- dary is formed by a line drawn towards the west from the confluence of the Khor-I'm-Hagar and the Setit Rivers, along the latter stream, to its confluence with the Maiteb, and follows the course of the latter to the Mareb at the confluence of the Mai-Ambessa; it fol- lows the Mareb River as far as its junction with the Belesa, and then the latter river, after which it fol- lows the course of the Muna, and turning to the south-east, at a distance of 37 miles from the coast, it reaches the frontier of French Somalia, near which the boundary line leaves the extreme point of Dou- meirah and follows the watershed line of the prom- ontory of that name, for one mile, and turns to the place called Bisidiro on the Weima; from this point it turns east and south-east as far as Daddato (Italo-Briti.sh Agreements of 1.5 April, 1S91; 7 De- cember, ISOS; 1 June, 1S99; 16 April, and 22 No- vember, 1901 ; Italo-French Protocols of 2-1 Jan-

Obstetrical Service

Pharmacectical Service

OBSTETRICAL ESTABLISHMENTS

FREE PRAC-

TOTAL

PER

100.000

INHAB.

NUMBER

OF THE

COMMUNES

PHARM.4-

PHARMA- PER CEUTIC.AL 100,000 SEHVTCK or

PH.ARMA-

COMMUNES HAVING THEM

MIDWIVES

THE ARMY AND NAVY

6,615

8,000

6,199

14,199

42

4,934

10,996

33

658

13,000(7)

port. There are many pure food regulations, the first of which is the right of inspection and that of provisional seizure of suspected articles by the sani- tary authorities, the establishment of laboratories for chemical analysis, the prohibition of slaughtering un- healthy animals, or of any animals outside of the regular slaughter houses. Special attention is given to preventing the adulteration of wines and to the prevention of skin diseases.

Hygiene is under the Minister of the Interior, and in charge of the prefects, the sub-prefects and the sjm- dics, under him. He is assisted by a superior sanitary council, or advisory body, and by a General Directory of Sanitation; the prefect is assisted by a Provincial Sanitary Council; the former care for the .sanitar^• con- liitions of the whole kingdom; the latter, for the com- munes of the whole province. In each province there is a physician and a provincial office who.^ie function is to watch over the Siinitary service, the hygienic con- ditions of the communes, the sanitary institutions and the execution of the sanitary laws; the physician in- vestigates the causes of diseases and inspects pharma- cies, hospitals, etc. There is a pro\ancial veterinary whose business is to supervise disease among animals. In each commune, moreover, there is a sanitary officer, who, besifles his supervisory duties, must inform the syndic and the provincial physician of all circum- stances that may in any way affect health or hy- giene.

Foreign Po.sses.'^ions. — (1) CnJnnies. — AX about the time of the Mahdi's revolt in Upper Egypt, Euro- pean nations were seized with the desire of acquiring

uary, 1900, and 10 July, 1901; Italo-British Ethi- opian Convention of 15 May, 1902; Italo-Ethiopian Conventions of 10 July, 1900, and 16 May, 1908). The Archipelago of Dalilac and the minor islands along the Dancala coast belong to the Colony of Eritrea. The Colony of Somalia consists of that region of eastern Africa that lies between the Sultanate of Obbia, which is an Italian protectorate, the Giuba River, the Indian Ocean, Ethiopia, and English Somalia. The boundary' between Somalia and the Ethiopian Empire is a line that, beginning at Dolo, reaches the confluence of the Daua and the Ganale Rivers, and, to the north of the fourth parallel, it takes an ea.sterly course, as far as Uelii-Scebeli, which is located at the extreme north of the Baddi .\ddi country; from Uebi-ScebeU it fol- lows a north-easterly direction towards British Soma- liland.

The Colony of Eritrea, within its present boundaries, has an area of nearly 50.000 sq. miles, of which the Dahlac .\rchipelago occupies 580, and its population is 279.551 inhabitants, of whom 3949 are Italian. The area of the Colony of Somalia may be estimated at 146,- 000 sq. miles, with lialf a million of inhabitants who, along the coast, are Somalians, and in the interior,Galla. The plain of Danakil and the coast count ry about Masso- wah. in Eritrea, are worthlessfor agricultural purposes, but the higher portion of the territory and the lands which are intermediary between it and those of the coast and which are watered by the Barka and bvthe .\nseba Rivers, may become fertile through a good sys- tem of irrigation. In the colony there is little iridus- try and less commerce, as is shown by the statistics