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Proportional statistics are necessarily unreliable when calculated from a
small number of cases, but the higher the number of cases the more reliable
they become. In the previous year the fatality per cent. of Diphtheria, Erysipelas,
and Scarlatina, was, respectively, 27, 3, and 5. This year the fatality was 26.39,
2.11, and 5.24, practically no marked difference in the two years. So that,
although Scarlatina and Diphtheria during 1892 were twice as prevalent as in
the previous year, there was little difference in the comparative fatality.
Cholera.—In August last your Vestry authorised the Health Committee to
take any action they might consider requisite for the prevention of Cholera.
Upon this certain printed Precautions and Preparations were devised and drafted
and freely circulated. They have been kept in readiness since, revised up to
date, and prepared for issue at any moment, and the following are copies of
the revised precautions and preparations:—
SAINT PANCRAS HEALTH DEPARTMENT.
Cholera Precautions.
A. The Disease and its manner of Spreading.
Cholera is a disease that may occur in varying degrees of severity—from slight
diarrhoea to urgent cholic, vomiting, and cramps.
The contagion is cast off from an infected person in the discharges from the
bowels and the stomach— that is to say, by the stools and the vomits.
The contagion is taken into a healthy person through the mouth, mainly, if not
solely, by the contaminated water, and the liquid and solid food that is consumed
The contagion reaches the general water supply through contamination by the
bodily discharges, specifically polluted liquids, or infected effluvia that may gain
access to it; and the contaminated water supply spreads the contagion on a large
scale by being drunk in the raw state, and also by infecting, in the process of
preparation, liquid and solid food substances consumed. In individual instances,
in nursing an infected sick person, the contagion may also be conveyed to the
mouth, or to the food or drink consumed, by means of the hands or person, the
towels, linen, clothing, or bedding fouled by the discharges.