London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Whitechapel 1873
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Whitechapel]
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The number of cases of vaccination, as shown by the preceding table,
is not so large as that for the corresponding quarter of the previous year.
As the number of births is about the same, the falling off in the number of
cases vaccinated may be accounted for by the indifference of parents, as
regards the vaccination of their children, when there is no epidemic of
small-pox.
Sanitary Works Performed during the Quarter. The following return shows the amount of work done by the Sanitary Inspectors during the Quarter ending Sept. 27th, 1873:—
| Number of inspections of houses as shown in the official returns | 3489 |
| Houses specially visited | 195 |
| Ditto specially re-visited | 682 |
| Preliminary notices served, such notices embracing 406 premises | 210 |
| Compulsory orders issued, embracing 156 premises | 50 |
| Summonses heard at Police Courts under Sanitary Act | 2 |
| Ditto ditto Adulteration of Pood Act | 4 |
| Cellars used as dwellings discontinued for such use | 7 |
| Cases of overcrowding and indecent occupation abated | 5 |
| Houses in which the rooms or passages have been whitewashed | 220 |
| Rooms disinfected with sulphurous acid gas after the occurrence of | 28 |
| fever, scarlet-fever, or cholera, therein | |
| Articles disinfected, consisting of beds, bedding, clothing, &c | 149 |
| Trades' Nuisances abated | 1 |
| Yards of houses paved or the pavement repaired | 33 |
| Drains in houses improved | 68 |
| Cesspools abolished | 2 |
| Dust-bins provided | 8 |
| Privies lime-washed, cleansed, and repaired | 104 |
| Water-butts and cisterns provided or repaired | 20 |
| Houses pulled down, the same being unfit for human habitation | 2 |
| Water-waste-preventers erected | 5 |
| Nuisances from dung and other offensive matter removed | 14 |
| Animals (Pigs) kept so as to be a nuisance, removed | 14 |
| Area gratings and cellar flaps repaired | 6 |
The cow-houses in the district, 24, and the slaughter-houses, 35 in
number, have been visited during the quarter.
In addition to this return, the Inspectors report that they have forwarded
to the Metropolitan Board of Works several notices of dangerous structures,
which notices the Metropolitan Board have promptly attended to.
Water Supply.
Prom the above Table it will be seen that five additional water-wastepreventers
have been erected. There are now 188 water-waste-preventers in
this District, and the number of butts is becoming gradually reduced. I am
at a loss to conceive why the use of water-waste-preventers is not made
universal in the poor neighbourhoods. These machines appear to be as
beneficial to the Water Companies as they are serviceable to the poor. The
water-waste-preventers are not now entirely confined to the poorest class
of houses, but they are being extended to private houses. There is a great
variety of water-waste-preventers now in use ; and a new one, which appears
to be approved of by the New River Company, is being introduced, the