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86
to the Royal Air Force by the Air Force (Application of Enactments)
(No. 2) Order, 1918.
Given under the Official Seal of the Minister of Health this Thirtyfirst
day of July, in the year One thousand nine hundred and
twenty-six.
Note.—The Public Health Act, 1896, provides by Sub-section (3) of
Section 1 that if any person wilfully neglects or refuses to obey or carry
out, or obstructs the execution of any regulations made under any of the
enactments mentioned in that Act, he shall be liable to a penalty not
exceeding £100, and, in the case of a continuing offence, to a further
penalty not exceeding £50 for every day during which the offence
continues.
Ophthalmia Neonatorum. — Twenty - four cases were
reported as due to Ophthalmia Neonatorum, against twentyone
in the previous year. Ten cases were treated at the
Metropolitan Asylums Board Hospital, and fourteen at home.
In the majority of cases treated at home arrangements were
made for a nurse to attend the patient.
Anthrax.—One case of Anthrax was notified during the
year, against no case in the previous year.
The patient, a youth of 15 years, first observed a pimple
on his left chin on the 3rd September, which gradually grew
larger, and on the 6th September was admitted to the West
London Hospital, the case being diagnosed as Anthrax.
He was treated with Sclavo Serum and make a complete
recovery.
The patient was employed as a General Hand at the Feather
Mills, and it is possible that he was infected at these premises.
I inspected the factory and saw many bales of feathers. I
had two of the bales opened; one from Tientsin and the other
from Canton, and I took a sample of feathers from each.
The feathers were extraordinarily foul and dusty and the
smell was distinctly unpleasant.
The feathers were submitted to Dr. Ehvorthy, Pathologist
at the West London Hospital, whom it may be remembered
first discovered the connection between infected shaving
brushes and Anthrax. He reported that "Anthrax bacilli
were not obtained from the washings of either of these
samples. Other pathogenic spore-bearing organisms were present
in large numbers. Animals inoculated lived long
enough to have shown B. Anthracis in spleen, blood, &c., but
cultures failed to show them."
He observed that "this somewhat limited examination must
not be taken as an indication that the bales, from which the
samples were taken, were anthrax spore free nor that the