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120
In connection with this subject of Fever Hospital accommodation,
reference may be made here to a striking memorandum
by the Clerk to the Asylums Board, dated 4th December,
1893, in which, after showing that the existing hospitals contain
acommodation of about 3,400 beds, he expresses the opinion
that "it would probably-not be a serious exaggeration to say
that double the number would not have been an excessive
provision for the needs of the past few months."
It may be remembered that in 1892* I ventured to say
that beds for scarlet fever, "fever," diphtheria, and "isolation"
to the number of "not less than 5,000" should be provided by
the Managers; and this upon the assumption that certain
hospitals would be used interchangeably for fever or smallpox
according to the needs of the time. The Clerk to the
Board, one year later, deliberately expresses the opinion,
which probably is well founded, that a number of beds 650 in
excess of my estimate, which was far in advance of the
Managers' estimate at the time, and thonght to be excessive,
would have been none too many for the requirements of the
Metropolis, and the demands of the Sanitary Authorities, had
the accommodation been forthcoming during the past year.
As regards small-pox the state of affairs presents a more
hopeful outlook. There has been no epidemic since 1885,
when the deaths in London from this disease were 1,419, and
the admissions to the Asylums Board Hospitals 6,146—
numbers which pale in presence of the fearful totals of 1871,
when the Hospitals received upwards of 13,000 cases, and the
deaths in London fell little short of 8,000. In happy contrast
with this state of things, the experience of the seven years,
1886-92, may be cited, the total admissions having been only
613 (306 of them in 1892) and the deaths 97. In 1893 the
disease again and again threatened to become epidemic but
was kept within bounds. Nevertheless the notifications were
* Vide No, 10 Report, October 1oth, 1892, page 126.