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15
lend each other their whistles, trumpets and toys, &c."
"I find it to be the general opinion that much of the
infection of Scarlet Fever is received in this way from
mild or unrecognised cases, and it can readily be
understood that infection of this kind is well nigh
impossible to trace to its source.'' His enquiry
included a period of six months, and, during that
time, 6,507 cases of Scarlet Fever and 3,275 of
Diphtheria were discharged from the Board's hospitals.
During the same period, there occurred within a
month, in houses to which discharged cases returned,
253 cases of Scarlet Fever and 86 of Diphtheria, and
he calculates the percentage of secondary cases on
total discharges as 3.8 for Scarlet Fever and 2.3 for
Diphtheria. Investigations, however, disclosed that
in many instances the secondary cases were in no way
connected with the return of the primary case. In
those cases in which the evidence pointed to infectious
clothing, he remarks, "My inquiries have led me to
the conclusion that, while great attention is paid, as a
rule, to the disinfection of infected bedding, similar
attention is not usually paid to the wearing apparel,
toys, playthings and belongings, of the infected child,
and to the clothes which the mother is wearing whilst