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35
is not sought. Simple, uncomplicated measles may
not be a fatal disease, yet by means of its concomitant
pulmonary affections it destroys five times as many
children as the more dreaded scarlet fever. The
younger a child, the more likely it is to succumb to
pneumonia or bronchitis, so that if it were possible to
postpone the incidence of measles from four or five
to seven or eight years, many young lives would be
saved. Measles is a malady usually contracted in the
infant departments of the elementary schools; the
crowded class rooms of these are simply breeding
grounds for the cultivation of the disease, and in my
opinion should be abolished. As a child of five is not
very teachable, infant schools serve no useful educational
purpose and simply keep the youngsters off the
streets.
Small epidemics of measles have been frequent
during the year, and it was found necessary to close
and disinfect the infant departments of the following
schools:—
St. Barnabas 18th January.
Wood Close 16th May.
Mowlem Street 4th June.
Daniel Street 6th „
Virginia Road 22nd „
St. Peter's 9th July.
Wilmot Street 25th November.
TUBERCULAR DISEASE.
280 deaths were recorded as due to phthisis, and 112
to other forms of tubercular disease. The deaths from
diseases of this class form fifteen-and-a-half per cent.