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47
ERYSIPELAS.
The actual number of notifications of Erysipelas was
310, but no fewer than 45 of these certificates were duplicates
(14½%). Erysipelas cases frequently pass through
the hands of several doctors, and as the law requires that
each medical gentleman shall report the case, the expense
of notification is disproportionate to the good effected.
The homes of all the patients were visited, and insanitary
conditions noted and remedied, but removal (except to the
infirmary) is impracticable, and we do not usually consider
it necessary to disinfect. There were six deaths from
Erysipelas, all except one amongst elderly people.
In addition to the deaths from true Erysipelas, 45
persons died from diseases of a septic nature. Of these
thirteen suffered from abscess in various parts of the body,
six from gangrene, and a similar number from middle ear
disease. Appendicitis caused five deaths, but only one
certificate contained a record of operation. In the case
of two infants, Pemphigus was the registered cause of
death; in all probability this was syphilitic.
DISEASES OF PARTURITION.
Thirteen cases of puerperal fever were reported; all
except three were removed to hospital, where two of them
died. The deaths of seven other women were due to some
one or other of the diseases or accidents incidental to the
puerperal state; three died from convulsions and two from
haemorrhage. One result, in Bethnal Green, of the passing
of the National Insurance Act is somewhat peculiar. I
have learned from various sources that women who expect
confinement have considerable difficulty in engaging the
services of a medical man. The doctors are so occupied