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46 Parish of St. George the Martyr, Southwark.
The standard of sanitary requirements fixed by me was reached in the case of
five houses, for which certificates were granted.
The Inland Revenue Acts throw the burden of making a thorough inspection of
houses, and of withholding or giving certificates exempting from the payment of
imperial taxes, on the local authorities. There is no fixed and uniform standard of
sanitary requirements.
Mortuary and Coroner's Court.
Two hundred and thirty-six bodies were removed to the mortuary during the year,
as against 181 in 1892.
Several of the bodies of those dying from infectious diseases serve to swell the
list. They were removed at my request.
Inquests were held in the new Coroner's Court, in Collier's Rents, on 134, and
post-mortem examinations were made in 101 of the above cases. There were 20 more
inquests held and 19 more post-mortem examinations made in 1893 than in 1892.
A separate chamber is needed in the mortuary for the isolation of infectious
diseases.
In the event of a death from an infectious disease the body should forthwith be
removed to the mortuary, in cases where it would otherwise be retained in a room
used as a dwelling by others. It is also desirable that in any case where the body
lies in a room which is used by other persons, the body should in the same manner
be removed.
The following is a list of those children suffocated whilst lying in bed with
their parent or parents during the year 1893, together with the particular day of the
week on which they died.
Sunday 1
Monday 2
Tuesday 0
Wednesday 2
Thursday 1
Friday 2
Saturday 5
Total 13
Comment on this list is needless.
The Notification of Infectious Diseases.
The expression "dangerous infectious diseases," which have been compulsorily
notifiable throughout London since 1889, means any of the following diseases:—
Small-pox, cholera, diphtheria, membraneous croup, erysipelas, the disease known as
scarlatina or scarlet fever, and the fevers known by any of the following names:—
typhus, typhoid, enteric, relapsing, continued, or puerperal.
The beneficial effect of notification has again been exemplified during the past
year, when 2,557 cases of small-pox were notified. Patients were at once removed
by the excellent ambulance service of the Asylums Board, to the floating hospitals
on the Thames at Long Reach, and to the Gore Farm hospital at Darenth.
Notification of such cases admits of concerted action between the medical practitioner,
the medical officer, and the officials of the Asylums Board, and is thereby invaluable
in the prevention of costly epidemics. I have no doubt that the general spread of
small-pox in your parish during the year 1893 was prevented mainly by the precautions
rendered possible by prompt notification.