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36
SMALL-POX.
Fortunately, the eight cases of Small-pox notified in the Borough
during last year were none of them fatal, and in no case did the infection
spread beyond the houses originally infected. The disease,
however, occasioned considerable hardship and suffering to the patients
and those dependent upon them, and the circumstance that Small-pox
was slightly prevalent throughout London during the year necessitated
the maintenance of a great deal of isolation hospital provision at a very
heavy expense to the Metropolis.
The Loans sanctioned by the Local Government Board to local
authorities within the last ten years for the purchase of land or for the
erection of buildings for the isolation of Small-pox amounted to
£371,191. Contrast this expenditure with that which is found
necessary in well-vaccinated Germany. In that country there are,
strictly speaking, no Small-pox hospitals at all. Everyone is vaccinated
in infancy and again at about 12 years of age, and the male part of
the population (other than cripples and defectives) are again re-vaccinated
on joining the army. In Berlin, with a population of nearly
2,000,000, twelve beds are provided for possible Small-pox patients,
in connection with a general Hospital.

The death-rate from Measles in Stoke-Newington was only one
third of that for the preceding year, despite the fact that in London
generally the death-rate from this disease during 1904 exceeded that