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The deaths were distributed through the various Wards
as follows:—South Park, 20; Trinity, 11; Dundonald, 8;
Cottenham Park, 5; St. Mary's, ; and St. John's, 2.
Last year the Council decided to adopt a voluntary
system of notification, this only to be made with the consent
of the patient, there generally being strong objections to
notification by persons suffering from Phthisis.
During the year notifications respecting 38 persons were
made either by their friends or Medical Practitioners.
In the majority of instances the patients when notified
were in an advanced stage of the disease.
Disinfection was offered in all cases, and in 23 houses
one room was disinfected, in two houses two rooms, and in
one house three rooms, in 12 houses this was not deemed
necessary, or fumigation had already been carried out by the
nurse in attendance. Mattresses, Palliasses, Beds. Pillows,
and various articles of clothing and wearing apparel to the
number of 519 were removed, disinfected by steam, and
returned.
A pamphlet, setting out the precautions to be taken and
giving useful information as regards the disease, for the
benefit of the patients and persons living with them, was
prepared in conjunction with the President and Secretary of
the Wimbledon Medical Society, and a number of copies
were sent to all Medical Practitioners in the District, the
Relieving Officer, and also distributed in other ways.
Five years ago the President of the Local Government
Board (the Rt. Hon. Walter Long) instructed Dr.
Timbrell Bulstrode, one of the Board's Medical Inspectors,
to inquire into and report on "Sanatoria for consumption
and other aspects of the Tuberculosis question." As a
result of the comprehensive investigations and inquiries
made, the report has just been issued.
It will be reassuring to many who have been under the
impression that Phthisis and other forms of Consumption
have of late years been on the increase in England to find
the opposite to be the fact.
Eighty years ago the annual toll from the disease was
about 60,000. and it had fallen to less than 40,000 (a decline
of 33 p^r cent.) two years ago, or from a death rate of 39'9 to
115 per 10.000 of population.
This decline has been consistently gradual year by year,
and if continued in the same proportion lor another 30 years,
would result in the Mortality from Tuberculosis almost
disappearing.
Cancer During the year -16 deaths were registered as
due to Cancer and various forms of Malignant Disease,
16 males and 30 females.
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