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to convey the disease after having been carried
hundreds of miles by post. The poison consists of
minute germs which being thrown off from the
skin, lungs, mouth, bowels, and kidneys, are diffused
in the air, and can thus be conveyed from
one person to another. These germs can be easily
destroyed. They are killed by certain well known
disinfectants. If the first case of Scarlet Fever
could be discovered in a neighbourhood it would
be easy so to treat it that it would be impossible
for the disease to spread. But there is no legal
obligation on the part of the head of a family or
landlord, or a medical man to declare the presence
of this disease to the sanitary authority. The
consequence is that long before any knowledge of
the existence of the disease has been obtained by
the Medical Officer of Health, the disease has spread
far and wide. If it were not so melancholy, one
feels inclined to deride the folly and ignorance of
a so-called civilised and enlightened nation, allowing
such a cruel and terrible scourge as this to pass
over the country without any attempt to control
it. With regard to other Zymotic Diseases, the
Legislature has put forth feeble efforts to disarm
them of their power. Special acts are put into
force to disarm cholera of its deadly grip upon the
community; and a half-hearted Legislation seeks
to do something in a bewildered way to prevent
Small Pox, but nothing is done to prevent Scarlet
Fever. In 16 years we have lost 479 persons by
Scarlet Fever in Saint James's, Westminster, and in