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rheumatism and chicken-pox. Upon enquiry it was
ascertained that Edward Bouvier, after being in the
hospital for about a month, had been discharged on March
12th. Inspector Richards managed to get hold of this
man, Edward Bouvier, as he was pushing a barrow
along Globe Road, he noticed a suspicious scarring
about his face and got a doctor to look at him. This
gentleman, however, was unable to say positively that
Bouvier was still infectious, so he was allowed to go to
his home at 140 Sydney Street, Stepney. As soon as
he got to the office, Mr. Richards telephoned to the
Stepney authorities, but Dr. Thomas had already visited
and found two of Bouvier's children suffering from
small-pox. Bouvier and his two children were removed
to hospital forthwith. As a result of the mistaken
diagnosis in Bouvier's and Turvey's cases there was
an outbreak of small-pox at the London Hospital.
This is referred to in the following article from the
British Medical Journal of March 26th, 1904:—
SMALL-POX AT THE LONDON HOSPITAL.
The circumstances of the outbreak of small-pox at the London
Hospital, out of which some newspapers have made a good deal of
capital, are as follows:-On February 8th a boy named Bouvier
visited the receiving room with symptoms deemed to be those of
chicken-pox. According to instructions he came again two days
later and the diagnosis was reaffirmed. A fortnight later, or on
February 23rd, Bouvier's father was admitted to George Ward as
suffering from acute rheumatism. Four days later he developed a
rash which was diagnosed as that of chicken-pox. He was therefore
sent to Davis Ward and kept there in one of the small rooms
annexed until March 12th, when he was discharged free from the
symptoms both of the rheumatism for which he was admitted and
of those which supervened. On Match 15th, three days after the
discharge of Bouvier senior, a man named Turvey in George Ward
developed distinct signs of small-pox, and was handed over to the
sanitary authorities. On the same day two patients in the