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REPORT
ON THE
SANITARY CONDITION OF SAINT MARY, ISLINGTON,
FOR DECEMBER, 1859.
No. XXXIII.
"The mortality from small-pox increases slowly but steadily." Thus writes
the Registrar-General in his return of births and deaths in London for the last
week of 1859. And I place this extract at the head of my report, because I
desire the subject to occupy in your minds the prominent position that at the
present time it holds in my own. Whatever the atmospheric condition may
be which favours the outbreak and spread of this disease, that condition now
exists; and persons who are either not vaccinated, or who have been vaccinated
but imperfectly, or who, from lapse of years, have regained more or less
of their natural liability, are exposed to unusual danger. This fact should
now be fully recognised, in order that every family in the parish may see the
desirableness of ascertaining from their medical adviser, whether or not the
vaccination each member has undergone may still be relied upon for a protective
influence, and in order that steps may be taken for the efficient protection
of those whose ignorance or whose poverty renders them the special
objects of public care. It is, I presume, for the Board of Trustees to consider
whether the present organisation for public vaccination, which has sufficed
for ordinary seasons, will meet all the necessities of a threatened epidemic.
What is requisite now is that the unvaccinated should be sought out and be
induced to submit to the operation.
The general mortality in Islington, as registered during the five weeks of
December, was 320: the mean of the previous three years being 294, this
number, in our rapidly-increasing population, cannot be regarded as excessive.
Thirty-eight deaths from scarlet fever represent a diminution in its mortality
to the extent of one-fourth. The weekly numbers were 10, 9, 9, 6, 4.