[Health commissions' activities in five rural municipalities in Telemark between 1861-1900]

It has been assumed that local health administrations in rural areas in the second half of the nineteenth century functioned in a rather passive and ineffective way. The present study focuses on the activity of the health commissions in the municipalities of Vinje, Seljord, Hitterdal, Gjerpen and Bamble. In the 1860s og 1870s, few meetings were held. Lack of interest and communication problems between doctors (who chaired the commissions) and the municipal councils were pointed out as causes. In commission meetings, the doctors used most of the time to give information on the present health situation in the area and on general medical issues. After 1885 the activity in the commissions gradually increased. New legislation and health regulations gave the health commissions a more important role in public health administration. In Hitterdal and Seljord the health commissions contributed actively to fighting the diphteria epidemics in the late 1880s. With urbanization and industrialisation in lower Telemark, environmental health issues took on added importance for the health commissions of Gjerpen and Bamble. The problems were much more effectively dealt with in Bamble than in Gjerpen, possible because of differences in the organisation of the commissions and in the workload for the doctors who chaired them.