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39
For the sake of comparison, I subjoin the corresponding
table for 1895, taken from the report for that year.

The tables on pages 40-41 shew certain particulars of interest
with respect to scarlet fever prevalence, &c., during 1896, and
in the decennium, 1886-95.
How Disease is Spread.—Among the cases of Scarlet
Fever investigated, there was one group which furnishes
a good illustration of a common cause of the spread of infectious
disease, viz., failure to recognize the nature of a primary
case. In this group there were six cases in one family.
Attention was drawn to the outbreak by notifications received
of the illness of the head of the family and one of his children.
Upon visitation of the home, rooms over a stable in a mews, it
was ascertained that four other children had recently suffered
from an infectious disease, supposed to be, and medically
treated as, measles, but which, obviously, was scarlet fever, for
the children's skins were desquamating or "peeling." I
reported this fact to the medical attendant who took no notice
of the communication. The father and four of the children
were removed to hospital. Had the first case been recognized
and removed, in all probability there would have been no
extension of the disease, as an interval of seven days had elapsed
before the second child fell ill; and in any case the breadwinner
of the family would have escaped, as he did not
succumb to the infection till about the sixteenth day after the
first attack.