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38
it appears that the above-mentioned conditions prove to be correct.
It has also been stated that the greatest diarrhœa mortality occurs in
the months in which the minimum atmospheric temperature attains
its highest average. This from Chart I. (see Corrigenda) appears to
be correct, for if diarrhoea were due to a high atmospheric temperature
alone, the disease ought to have prevailed also in September.
It has been stated that certain cases of diarrhœa are communicable
from person to person. It is not to be wondered at that the deaths
from diarrhoea were excessive during the diminished water supply of
the East London Water Company, although in the water inquiry
the evidence adduced or given failed to show that the short supply
had any deleterious influence upon the public health.
I may say that I have had many years experience as a District
Medical Officer in one of the poorest districts or quarters of London,
and I have been astonished at the quantity of discharge which
comes from the bowels of children suffering with diarrhoea, and
I know how the poor mothers are driven to their wits end to obtain
articles whereupon to catch this discharge, and if there be no
water in which to put such saturated articles, the same will
simply remain in a corner of the room (and this too often a
living room), a foetid and festering accumulation. The remarks
I used at the end of my present report upon diphtheria equally apply
to diarrhoea. Keep the back yards and gardens free from organic
matter, manure the ground once or twice a year and dig it in, so as
to allow nitrification to take place, by this is meant the process by
which animal and vegetable matter are rendered harmless and form
food for vegetable life; then plant flowers, trees, evergreens, vegetables,
a pastime not only conducive to health but also a source of
relaxation and pleasure.
If the surface of the earth of back yards and gardens be sodden
with filth and vegetable garbage, as sure as the hot weather appears
the germs in this polluted soil will multiply, get into the air through