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48
febrile stage. The causation of the disease is most
obscure; it has been attributed to Cold, to Rheumatism
and to Accidental Falls, but it is almost certainly
an infectious one. Owing to the sudden onset of the
disease its causation has been attributed to the carelessness
of children's nurses, who have been unjustly
accused of permitting their little charges to sit on cold
steps or fall from perambulators or chairs, their
asseveration to the contrary being disbelieved. It is
now recognized that the disease is in some way contagious,
but no specific microbe has at present been
discovered. Careful investigations are made into every
case and full particulars are forwarded to the Medical
Officer of the London County Council. The order
making this disease notifiable came into operation on
September 1st, 1911. Up to the end of the year only
one case was reported.
TUBERCULOSIS.
During the year 1911, Tuberculosis in its various
forms caused 288 deaths, twelve-and-a-half per cent. of
the total mortality from all causes in Bethnal Green,
a death rate of 2.24 per thousand population. Sixty of
the deaths from tubercular disease, other than Phthisis,
were amongst young children aged less than five years,
a mortality on the estimated population of young
children of 3.4 per thousand living. Fourteen infants
died from tubercle of the brain and six from tubercle of
the bowels.
PULMONARY PHTHISIS.
The deaths from tubercular disease of the lungs
numbered 201, equal to a rate of l.56 against 1.35 for
the whole of London.