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into general disuse, it is exceedingly improbable that
the efforts of the sanitary authorities in the direction
of isolation and quarantine will suffice to stay the
disease. While such measures, together with general
sanitation, do favour a milder form of the epidemic,
vaccination alone will bring about its cessation,
except the disease be allowed to run riot, attack
all susceptible individuals, and thus exhaust itself.
NOTIFICATION OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES.
During the year 1,003 cases of infectious disease
were reported, 223 fewer than the total for the
previous year. The sickness-rate, calculated on the
notifications, was equal to 7.94 per 1,000, or 0.2 per
1,000 above the average for the preceding seven
years. In 1896 the sickness rate was 9.68 per 1,000.
In the Metropolis 45,465 cases were notified,
2,367 more than the annual average for the seven
preceding years, and 4,301 less than the total for
1896. The sickness-rate for 1897 was 10.18 per
1,000, that for 1896 11.10, and the septennial mean,
9.9.
In comparison with the annual averages for the
seven years 1890-96, the notifications of smallpox
and of the fevers, enteric and continued, show
reductions, all the other diseases, increases. (See
Table 7.) In the Metropolis, scarlet fever, diphtheria,
and cholera show increases as compared with the corresponding
annual averages, all the remaining diseases