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milk from door to door in the neighbourhood. The girl appears to have
fallen ill on or about September 22nd; having been at a Board School up
to Wednesday, 20th. On Wednesday, 27th (but how long before I do not
know) she had spots on her face, and a medical man, whom I will call Mr.
Blank, was called in. He continued to attend her for about a fortnight.
The mother, for a reason which will appear later, suspecting that the illness
was small-pox, persuaded the girl, and obtained her consent (" for father's
sake ") to go to hospital, and got her ready to go before the doctor saw her.
But Mr. Blank having pronounced the disease to be chicken-pox only, the
girl, unhappily, remained at home. By the 8th October (Sunday), she had
recovered sufficiently to take part in carrying on the business of the shop,
although her face was covered with scabs. It is alleged, moreover, that,
even before this date, she had been visited by her young friends of both
sexes from adjoining houses, some of whom, as we shall see, were in due
course attacked by the disease.
Case 2 was that of James K., aged 48, the father of Maud, who fell
ill on or about Thursday, October 12th. On the 16th there was a copious
eruption on the face, which Mr. Blank, who was called in, said was that of
chicken-pox. The patient was seen by him daily until Saturday, October
21st. Another doctor saw the patient late in the evening of Sunday, 22nd.
The patient was then dying, and he died shortly after midnight, as certified
by the second doctor, of " confluent small-pox."
This second doctor saw the girl Maud also, and considering
her to be still infective with small-pox, he notified both cases.
Maud was removed to hospital on Monday 23rd; her father's
dead body was disinfected, coffined, and removed to the public
mortuary the same day.* The girl, it may be mentioned, had
been medically treated in the parlour, behind and communicating
with the shop, in which the family lived and three other
children slept. The deceased man lay ill and died in the slip
room at the rear. During his and Maud's illness, the conduct
of the business fell on Mrs. K, who also acted as nurse. The
unfortunate man had been an ardent opponent of vaccination ;
but Mr. Shattock, the Vaccination Officer, informed me that,
in March, 1882, he had received a medical certificate of the
The undertaker concerned in the burial of James K. contracted small-pox, in
the parish of Marylebone, at a date which leaves no doubt that the dead body of
James K. was the source of the infection which was transmitted to another person
in the same house.