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of the court to attend to the court and take the rents had the fever. In addition, a
girl who made herself useful in attending to the sick and assisting different people
in the court, and who, though living there, had no settled residence in any particular
house, suffered from it. Thus there were 25 cases in the court out of a population
of 115 persons, of both sexes and all ages. It is noticeable, as connected with the
degree of infectiousness of the disease, that while it spread with certainty to all the
persons living together in one small room whenever one of them suffered, in only
one instance did it spread to another family in the same house. These are all
houses having but one room on a floor. And it is further noticeable, that out of
seven families attacked with the fever, five dwelt in rooms upon the ground floor.
These houses, which I shall mention presently, I have reported under the Artizans'
and Labourers' Dwellings' Act, are the most wretched and ill-constructed houses for
the poor in the parish, dark, very imperfectly ventilated, with no opening in the
rear (except in one or two of the upper rooms), and with walls reeking with damp
from the foundation. The ground floor rooms are especially damp and unwholesome.
The extreme unwholesomeness of this court was dwelt upon in my annual
report for 1863, when I pointed out the high mortality which prevailed there.
In addition to these cases a family of four persons residing in a small back
room at No. 6, Halton Place, had the fever; and also three members of a family
which I found in a lodging-house in Gordon Court. The remaining cages were
scattered about the parish.
SANITARY WORK OF THE YEAR.
Table III. exhibits the ordinary work performed by and under the superintendence
of the Inspectors, during the past year. In consequence of the great prevalence
of scarlet fever, a good deal of time was occupied in the superintendence of disinfections
of premises, and the contents of rooms, bedding, &c., where the disease
occurred. I canuot say I have always been satisfied with the manner in which these
disinfections have been performed, since very much has necessarily depended upon
the voluntary aid of the poor people most immediately concerned, and whom it is
difficult to impress with the importance of the measures directed to be taken. Still
we have done our best with the means at our disposal, and I have found my hands
strengthened by the admirable provisions of the Sanitary Act in this respect. I have
often wished that better means were at my disposal for the disinfection of bedding
and clothing, and I hope that before long, the Vestry will see themselves in a position
to supply a Disinfecting Chamber, to which such articles may be brought from poor
houses. Mr. Fraser, of Bromley-by-Bow, has recently patented an apparatus
which promises to furnish all that is requisite for this purpose, at a moderate cost, and
it has been reported upon favourably by a Committee of the Metropolitan Association
of Medical Officers of Health, who experimented with it upon bedding and
woollen articles. It consists of a brick oven or chamber, occupying a space of eight