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however, did not include compulsory notification. A leaflet on
"Precautions against the spread of Infection of Measles" was
freely distributed as recommended by the Public Health Committee
in 1901.
PHTHISIS, CONSUMPTION OR TUBERCULOSIS
Phthisis and other Tubercular diseases occasioned 204 deaths,
equal to a death-rate of 1.81 per 1,000 persons living, as compared
with 1.55 for London as a whole. This death-rate
is much too high for a disease which is classed as a preventable
disease. Overcrowding, dampness of habitations, and general
insanitary condition of dwellings are the principle causes of the
propagation of tuberculosis.
According to the Census returns of 1901, the number of
tenements in the Borough was 24,615. During the year under
consideration 1,739 house to house inspections were made, with
the result that only 15 cases of overcrowding were discovered.
The masses are gradually being educated to the necessity of
taking every precaution to prevent the spread of this disease, to
this end notification as "an Infectious Disease" under the
Public Health (London) Act 1891, would tend to give the
Sanitary Authority more power than it possesses at the present
time, to secure isolation and disinfection. Compulsory notification
does not seem to be very popular, voluntary notification
however, is being adopted with some success in the following
Metropolitan Boroughs, viz. : —Westminster, Bermondsey,
Finsbury, Greenwich, Hammersmith, Hampstead, Kensington,
Lambeth, Southwark, Stoke Newington, Wandsworth, and
Woolwich.
The following resolution on this subject was unanimously
passed by the Members of the National Association for the
prevention of Consumption at their Annual Meeting, in March,
1903:—
"That in the opinion of this Council spitting on the floors
of public buildings or platforms, corridors, and in public