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interest to, and concerned the public health of the
Borough, as the following account will show.
The patient was a man aged about 32, living in
the Borough of Paddington. On June 29th he noticed
a small pimple or boil on the front of his neck. On
the following morning, the 30th, he woke and found
considerable swelling of his neck. He was seen by his
doctor who sent him on the following day, July 1st, to
the West London Hospital. A slight operation was
performed the same evening, but the patient died the
following morning, July 2nd, at 7.30.
It was suspected that it was a case of human
anthrax, and post-mortem this suspicion was confirmed.
The question remained as to how the infection took
place.
The disease is not uncommon among workers in
imported hides and hair, but the occupation of this
patient, that of a solicitor's clerk, was one of the last
to suggest anthrax. The position of the point of
infection, over a prominent part of the neck in the
shaving area, suggested to the pathologist the origin
of the infection. On inquiry it was discovered that
the patient had recently been given a new shaving
brush. At the inquest this was suggested by the
pathologist as being a possible source of infection,
and the verdict was brought in that death was due to
anthracæmia, possibly contracted from an infected
shaving brush. The idea was considered extravagant
by some who were opposed to the suggestion, probably
because there was no previously recorded case. It
appears to have caused annoyance to others who were
interested in the manufacture of these cheap shaving
brushes. It is perhaps a pity that it was not possible
to examine the brush before the inquest. Subsequently
the brush was obtained and examined, when it was
found to be of a cheap quality (wholesale price 6d.),
dyed to resemble badger, and composed of pig bristles,
horse hair, and possibly cow tail with some vegetable
fibres. Upon a bacteriological examination being made
it was conclusively demonstrated that this brush was