View report page

51
dusting is dangerous and must give place to damp dusting, and that
periodically the room and belongings of the patient should be
thoroughly cleansed with water or disinfectant solution, and
that milk should be boiled, and every available means
taken to prevent tuberculous milk being sold. Thus many
advantages are gained both to the patient and to the community.
Moreover the occasion of these visits to cases of Phthisis affords an
opportunity for a thorough house inspection and for the service of
any sanitary notices which may be required.
ALCOHOLISM.
During 1900 there were 16 deaths in Clerkenwell directly
attributed to alcoholism or delirium tremens. Of these, 10 were
men and 6 were women, and only two were over 60 years of age.
These figures, do not of course, represent more than a small
proportion of the mortality really caused by alcoholism. It is
more than likely, that most, if not all of the deaths of infants due
to being "laid upon" in bed, are really caused indirectly by
alcoholism. During 1900 there were, as already pointed out, 19
deaths so caused. Fourteen of these fatalities occurred between
Saturday and Monday nights.
Many deaths attributed to various degenerative conditions
of the tissues are also probably brought about or hastened
by excessive indulgence in alcohol. "There is no other
agent" says Dr. Newsholme, Medical Officer of Health for
Brighton, "so competent to hurry on the degenerative changes
" in the system associated with old age; in other words, alcohol is
" one of the chief causes of premature old age. It is not sufficiently
" recognised that tnese evil effects are very commonly produced by
" the systematic indulgence in an amount of alcoholic drinks, that
" would by most be regarded as moderate; and that those who,
" while never becoming intoxicated, daily take a considerable
" amount of spirits (especially if taken apart from meals) are much
" more likely to suffer in health and prematurely break down, than
" a labourer who may get drunk once a fortnight and be a teeD2