View report page

13
Special Cases.
A summons was taken out in September 1867 against a
costermonger, for unlawfully exposing for sale a quantity of
oysters, unfit for human food. A poor man was brought to
my house, suffering severely, after having eaten some of the
oysters, which had been purchased by the defendant from a
salesman at Billingsgate. Mr. Selfe, the Magistrate, although
he could not convict the defendant, as he might urge that he
did not know the condition of the oysters until they were
opened, recommended my following up the case against the
salesman; but as he wrote a letter to Mr. Selfe, which
appeared in the Times of September 28th, stating that after
having discovered that the oysters were bad, he had ordered
'200 bushels to be taken to sea and thrown overboard, no
further proceedings were taken.
On November 5th the owner of No. 2, Street's-buildings,
Mount-street, appeared to answer the complaint of the
Medical Officer of Health, for having the premises infected
with fever, and unfit for human habitation. The house had
been cleansed by the owner, but fever still continued. Three
children had died there of malignant scarlet fever, and a
fourth child had been taken to the Hospital suffering from
the same disease. The house had been cleansed and fumigated,
but still the disease existed in it, and an order was sought
from the Magistrate to have it shut up, that it might be
properly disinfected. Mr. Tyrwhitt decided that the house
was unfit for human habitation, and made an order to have it
closed, until the Medical Officer certified that it was fit for
occupation.
A severe outbreak of diphtheria occurred in January 1868,
in one of the stables in Kinnerton-street, where 6 children,
whose ages varied between 5 and 15, where attacked with
the disease, 3 of whom died. The disease appeared in other