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89
GLANDERS AND ANTHRAX.
Both these diseases are notifiable in London to the Medical
Officer of Health of the local authority under orders of the
London County Council made in pursuance of Sections 55 and 56
of the Public Health (London) Act.
Outbreaks amongit animals are notified to the Medical Officer
of Health concerned, by the London County Council Veterinary
Inspector of the Public Control Department. The premises are
disinfected, and precautionary measures carried out under the
supervision of the County Council staff.
No notices of cases or of outbreaks were received in 1913. A
wholesale brush manufacturer, amongst whose staff several cases
of anthrax have occurred in previous years, brought to the
notice of the Public Health Department some Hungarian pig hair
which he had received from abroad. It contained much manure,
earth, stones, bones, pig toe cases, and pupa cases. It stank
abominably and was maggoty. It is a pity that administrative
power is not available to prevent the importation of this extremely
offensive, and, from a manufacturer's standpoint,
dangerous material.
SMALL-POX.
No case of small-pox was notified in Finsbury in 1913. The
Medical Officer of Health was asked in consultation to see two
cases suspected to be small-pox. Both proved to be cases of
chicken-pox.
In the one case, the medical practitioner became suspicious
because the child had inflamed eyes. This is an unusual complication
in chicken-pox, but fairly common in small-pox. In the
other patient, the rash had invaded the hard and soft palate, and
was vesicular in these parts. The tongue and teeth had become
very thickly furred owing to the presence of these vesicles, which
restrained the mobility of the tongue and prevented the usual
cleansing processes which proceed in the mouth. Owing also,
to the presence of the rash inside the mouth, chewing and