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possible, he endeavours to follow up the source of infection.
As a result, a full written report is made to the Medical
Officer on each case of infectious disease, sanitary defects
are remedied, and causes of infection as far as possible
removed.
It may be remarked, that all the above arrangements are being
vigorously carried out in the Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury.
6. Vaccination, (e.g., in smallpox) though not enforced by this
Department, should be added to theabove methods of
prevention.
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Schools and Infectious Disease,—Certificates have been forwarded
to me by most of the head teachers of the elementary
schools in the district relating to children who have been excluded
from school on account of infectious disease existing in their
houses and it is chiefly from this source that we have ascertained
the existence of Measles, Whooping Cough, Mumps, and Chickenpox.
All the schools (16) in the district have been visited and
inspected during the year, and in March one class in the Winchester
Street School was closed on account of Measles, and the
room disinfected.
PHTHISIS.
This disease has claimed a large amount of attention during the
year. But certainly not more than it requires. Our district is
unfortunately one of those where Phthisis flourishes. This will be
even more the case in the Borough of Finsbury, for the district of
St. Luke has a higher Phthisis death-rate even than Clerkenwell.
During the year, at the instruction of the Public Health Committee,
I drew up a Special Report on the Prevention of Consumption
and other Tubercular Diseases in the Parish of Clerkenwell,
which was separately printed (35 pp.). This report dealt with (a)
Tuberculosis in general and the channels by which it is spread,
(b) the prevalence of Phthisis in Clerkenwell, (c) preventive
measures in the hands of the public, and (d) preventive measures in
the hands of Sanitary Authorities. Into these matters therefore it