| Summary: | Neðst á síðunni er hægt að nálgast greinina í heild sinni með því að smella á hlekkinn Skoða/Opna(view/open) In this paper the constitution and function of the first active public health and quarantine-commission in Iceland is brought from obscurity and discussed in detail. The original handwritten records of the commissions meetings 1848 - 1885 together with the Danish government public health acts and bylaws from 1782 - 1873 are reviewed. The superior magistrate (stiftamtmaður) of Iceland, M. Rosenörn, later home secretary of Denmark, constituted the public health and quarantine-commission and authorized its books of records in the year 1848. It may be mentioned by the way, that the renowned Danish physician dr. Schleisner was, in 1847-48 also, staying in Iceland on a special public health assignment for the government. The commission was before long put to test, as the third cholera pandemic had then already reached Copenhagen, wherefrom there was a direct and frequented searoute to Iceland. Although it may be difficult to gauge preventive measures, it is obvious, that when the main duty of the commission was quarantine, that is to say until 1873, neither cholera, small-pox nor measles gained foothold in Iceland. All these scourges were at that periode, more or less prevalent in the neighbouring countries, and even one of them, small-pox was brought to Reykjavik by French fishing vessels during a great epidemic on the continent 1871-72. The commission succeeded in isolating 14 small¬pox cases at that time by using the then abandoned, out-of-the-way, episcopal seat at Laugames for quarantine-house.The first royal bylaws pertaining to prevention of small-pox and measlqs in Iceland were announced in the year 1787, in the wake of abolishment of the trade monopoly in Iceland, which opened the country to unrestricted communication by merchantmen and fishing vessels. Very comprehensive quarantine bylaws for Norway and Denmark were issued by the Danish king 1805, and gradually made valid for Iceland in the years ...
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