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4
Of this number, scarlet fever has contributed 58
deaths, diphtheria 10, croup and sore throat 14, whooping-cough
18, and typhus 15.
The places where scarlatina chiefly prevailed were
Grosvenor-mews, Hertford-place, Grantham-place, Hanover-place,
Ebury-street, Hanover-street, and other places
inhabited by the working classes, in all parts of the
parish.
The result of our inquiries was, that in some cases
the spread of the infection was greatly facilitated by that
neglect of sinks, water-closets, &c., which is at present
an almost incurable vice in the lower orders. There were
other cases, in which overcrowding of houses required to
be abated, and rooms to be cleansed and better ventilated.
It is probable too, that the disease was in some cases
propagated by the intermixture of children at the schools,
and in the waiting rooms of the dispensaries. But the
fact remains that we are at present almost powerless in
the face of this virulent infection, when it attacks illnourished
children in the crowded houses of the poor,
and shall continue so until the parties most directly concerned
are wakened up to a higher degree of intelligence,
so that they may second the efforts made to help them.
There was one instance during this epidemic of a young
man delirious with fever, whom his friends permitted to
get out of bed, and wander about the house in the cold,
till he was nearly exhausted. There was the case of a
woman who had lost three children with scarlet fever and
was nursing a fourth most dangerously ill with the same
disease. All that attention and skill, and the lavish administration
of medicine, wine, and nourishment could do,
was done for her; and she was particularly cautioned as
to the necessity of keeping her room well ventilated.
But on going to it one evening late a visitor found it