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65
being choked and out of order. The old brick drain
was taken up and a good sized pipe introduced.
As far as I could discover, the cases were first
noticed on that side of the street. From Gay
Street it spread with tolerable regularity outwards
from a centre—South Place, Stratford Grove, Seymour
Row, Lifford Street, High Street, &c. But with the
exception of one case at the Hill, one in Upper Richmond
Road, one in Dyers Lane, and 2 in Upper Park
Fields, all were confined to a small district, comprising
the more crowded parts of the town, and abounding in
cul-de-sacs and dead ends. No special source of communication
could be traced. A number of the cases, of
course, occurred among pupils in the Infant School, and
to prevent bringing together children of such susceptible
age, it was thought advisable to close the school for a
short time. About the same time (September) a
number of cases occurred in a group, and it was found
that most of them belonged to a dame school. Opposite
the window of the school a ventilating pipe of a drain
was carried up a lamp-post and terminated exactly on a
level with the window. This was at once removed. It
was found that the sources of milk supply were very
various. In many cases family or social relationships
were found between the households, the children being
actually brought into contact. In 4 cases more than
one of the same family died, and in several instances
the whole family was affected with the disease. The
average ages of these fatal cases were a little over 4
years. In many of the houses serious sanitary defects
were discovered, and the status of the houses was below
the average in this neighbourhood. The locality was
the most favourable to the development of epidemic
disease which exists in this Sub-district, and it
speaks well of the sanitary condition of surrounding
streets that the disease did not spread far and wide.
The class of persons affected was chiefly of the working
class and small tradesmen.
E