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houses) were reported to me, and as the majority occurred
amongst children attending the Detmold Road Board Schools,
I made personal enquiries at the Schools and in the neighbourhood.
From the information received I came to the conclusion
that the disease might have been communicated from one child
to another in the playground, as although children from houses
in which the disease had occurred were not allowed to attend
the schools, yet in some instances they went into the playground
and mixed with other children. I therefore requested
that the playground should be shut up, and the children sent
home directly after dismissal; also that the Sunday School
should bo closed, which have been done. The Day Schools and
playgrounds were closed from the 18th to the 28th of May for
the Whitsuntide holidays, and the playgrounds were not
opened for some time afterwards. A few cases continued to
occur during the week amongst scholars living in the vicinity
of earlier cases, so that the disease might have been spread in
the street while the children were at play. The sanitary
arrangements of the Schools are good, as 1 examined them last
year without finding anything to complain of. The number
of deaths amongst the children attending the schools, and of
their relations, amounted to 7, against 7 in other parts of the
district, making a total of 14 deaths in the month of May."
(Extract from my Report for Fortnight ending June 16th, 1888—
dated June 7th.)
"Since the date of my last report, only one case of
diphtheria has been reported to me in connection with the
Detmold Road Board Schools, and one death."
As it was necessary, in consequence of imperfections in the
sewers, to continue the reconstruction from May 25th to the end
of June, due precautions were used by means of disinfectants
to prevent injury to health, and as the greatest number of
cases occurred before the sewer work was commenced, it
is evident that the disease could not have been caused by
disturbance of the soil. The evidence points on the other hand