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The number of cases under five was 20, or 8.9 per cent,
of the total. The number of cases under ten was 37, or 16.8
per cent, of the total. It will be noted that the mortality of
the cases under five years of age was very heavy, no less
than 50 per cent. These patients were all unvaccinated.
The Sources of Infection.
Small-pox is a disease which is spread by personal
infection. In 80.4 per cent, of cases a definite history of
infection from a previous case was obtained, and there is no
doubt that the remaining cases were infected in the same way.
It is often difficult to trace the source of infection, as it may
be impossible to obtain an adequate history of the patient's
movements at the period of infection. Not infrequently the
patient is the only person who can give the required information,
and he may be removed to hospital before the inquiries
can be made, or he may be too ill to be troubled with questions.
The disease was repeatedly imported into Battersea, and the
following is a list of the districts from which it was
introduced:-Camberwell, Chelsea, Hammersmith, Holborn,
Lambeth, St. Pancras, Stepney, Wandsworth, Westminster,
Dartford, Glasgow, Kingston and Walthamstow.
The spread of the disease was very largely due to
unrecognised or concealed cases. This is the usual
experience, and constitutes the chief difficulty in dealing with
an outbreak of Small-pox. In some cases the disease was of
so mild a type that the patient thought he had merely caught