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155 [1910
11)01 to 1909, 11, whereas during the present epidemic in the same period
the number has been 32, or 2.75 times more. It must not, however, be
imagined from this that severe outbreaks have not been known previously, for
in the third quarter of 1907, 44 deaths were recorded, as against 21 in the third
quarter of the present year. The feature, however, that I do not like in the
present epidemic is that the deaths at the beginning of the fourth quarter
are much more numerous than usual, although here again I find that in previous
years they have also been numerous, namely in 1891 and in 1900, when they
were respectively 12 and 19, as against 22 in the current quarter.
"It is interesting to follow the course of the disease during the present
year. In the first quarter I find that it was practically confined to Richard
Street Schools, at which 25 cases were known Then in the second quarter
Buckingham Street Schools in the King's Cross District became infected, and
there 48 cases were known. The infection then spread to Blundell Street
Schools, from whch 41 cases were notified, and to Gifford Street, whence there
were 35. Thence it passed along to Vittoria Place Schools, from which 25
cases were notified, and to York Road Schools, from which 35 were reported.
About the same time further East at Hanover Street Schools 29 cases occurred.
"It will be seen that its progress up to this time has been gradually northwards
from King's Cross. In the third quarter, still going northwards, it passed
to Hargrave Park, from which 17 cases were notified. Thence it seems to have
gone to Yerbury Road Schools, from which I find that fully 60 cases have bee;
notified.
"The East of the Borough up to the present time seems to have escaped,
although in the fourth or current quarter the South-East corner around Queen's
Head Street and Popham Road appears to have suffered; and,indeed,atPopham
Road School, 17 cases were known in the third quarter, and 41 in the current
quarter to date.
"There is no doubt, however, that the disease is spreading towards the East,
for at Drayton Park Schools I find that in the current quarter 23 cases have
occurred, and at St John's Schools, Conewood Street, 18.
"When one has to deal with figures like these, and with a disease like
Measles, it seems almost impossible to discover measures which would effectively
stop the epidemic.