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parish. The doctor did not notify the case: had he done so
the patient would have been visited and either removed to
hospital or isolated at home. Proceedings were taken against
the patient for the exposure and against the doctor for not
notifying the case. Both were convicted, and fines to the
amount of twenty shillings and forty shillings respectively
were inflicted. In yet another instance, a man went about
the parish for many days whilst "peeling." It was said that
he had presented himself in the out-patient room of a general
hospital; but, as in the cases mentioned above, he took no
steps to obtain medical assistance at home, and pretended
ignorance of the nature of his illness. He was ultimately
removed to hospital—under threat of prosecution for the
offence he had committed—as well as a child from the same
house whom he had infected. In another case, which turned
out to be scarlet fever, the patient, who had been discharged
from a country convalescent hospital evidently because of
the suspicious character of the symptoms, travelled to London
in a public conveyance—only to be removed forthwith to a
general hospital, whence she was immediately transferred to
a fever hospital.
STATISTICAL RETURNSSCARLET FEVER.
The Asylums Board addressed a circular letter to the
Vestries and District Boards, in October, 1887, making
application for information to enable them to ascertain " the
extent as compared with previous years, to which scarlet
fever had been prevalent during the year" in the several
districts; their objects being to form "as correct an estimate
as possible of the accommodation to be provided in future "
for cases of this disease. At the request of your Vestry, I
drew up the desired information, in the form of the subjoined
Tables, which are self-explanatory, and have been bought up
to date. It need hardly be added that the Board now obtain
necessary information, through the Medical Officers of Health
under the notification provisions of the Public Health (London)
Act 1891: the Tables, nevertheless, still possess interest.