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114
The importance of these results cannot be over-estimated,
and should be followed by legislative measures giving greater
powers to sanitary authorities to enable them to enforce the
precautions recommended by the Commission. This has been
to some extent accomplished, so far as London is concerned, by
the passage of the London County Council (General Powers)
Act, 1907, relating to tuberculous milk. Much more remains
to be done, however, if the disease is to be stamped out, and
this can only be successfully accomplished, in my opinion, by
the introduction of some method of compulsory notification,
without which it will be difficult, if not impossible, to adopt
preventive measures almost equally as important as those
referred to by the Commission with regard to tuberculous milk.
During 1907 133 houses where deaths had occurred
from pulmonary tuberculosis were disinfected, representing
84 per cent. of the fatal cases occurring in private houses.
By arrangements with the district Registrars, information
of the deaths of patients from phthisis are immediately sent
to the Medical Officer of Health, and steps are at once taken to
have the houses in which patients died disinfected.
During 1907 67 samples of sputum were examined bacteriologically,
19 of which were found to give a positive and 48 a
negative result.
Cancer.
The number of deaths from cancer registered in the
Borough during 1907 was 153, as compared with 172 in 1906,
and 171 in 1905.