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15
District.
in October. It was often impossible to obtain the admission
of patients for a week or more after application
had been made, but the Metropolitan Asylums Board
minimised it as much as possible by removing first those
cases marked as urgent by Medical Officers of Health. Still
it is clear that there is not sufficient provision of hospital
beds to take in all those who desire admission during time
of epidemic. It is a question whether it is right that the
class of people, very much above the poor or artizans, who
now largely fill the beds, should be entitled to free nursing
and medical treatment at the expense of the ratepayers.
Though it is probably on the whole to the advantage of
the public, in the limitation of infectious diseases, it must
entail even yet a vast increase of expenditure to do it
thoroughly. It is of interest to note that the mortality
was only 3.1 per cent, in those removed, presumably the
worst cases, and 2.1 in those remaining at home.
Diphtheria and
Membranous
Croup.
The deaths were 39 from Diphtheria and 1
from Membranous Croup. Taking them together
there was a fall on the previous year,
when the deaths were 46, and the number is smaller than
in any year since 1891. There were 286 Diphtheria and
3 Membranous Croup notified, practically the same as the
previous year, but materially less than in 1893 and 1894.
The chart shows the monthly distribution, and reference to
it indicates that there were many more cases in October
than in any other month. The correspondence of the curve
with that of Scarlet Fever is interesting and has been as
marked in previous years, though the increase of Scarlet
Fever in 1896 over 1895 does not obtain in Diphtheria;
if the relationship between them were constant we should
expect in an epidemic year for Scarlet Fever to have an
excess of Diphtheria. The death-rate per thousand living
was equal to .21 and in Registration-London .59. In the
adjacent parishes of Lambeth and Battersea, it was respectively
0.46 and 0.49.