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69
After the removal of patients, rooms and their contents, including the bedding
and clothing, were disinfected and cleansed again and again in the most
thorough manner, both by the Disinfectors of the Council, and by the Steward
and his assistants. The Steward was formerly an Assistant Steward in the
service of the Metropolitan Asylums Board, and thoroughly understands the
methods.
I can confidently assert that greater care could not have been taken in the
prompt removal of suspicious cases, and the repeated and thorough disinfection
and cleansing, often on a large scale. The repeated examinations of all
the children in the Institution made by the Medical Officers was also as
thorough as could be desired.
The return of a large number of suspicious cases, removed about the end of
the first week of the outbreak, after a prolonged period of observation in
hospital (apart from the infected cases in hospital) reduces the outbreak at
this period numerically to much smaller proportions, such as one would expect
amongst a very susceptible community of young children.
The extraordinary part of the outbreak is the persistence with which at
short intervals a few cases continued to occur until the beginning of the
following year, in spite of complete medical examinations of all children, and
of repeated and thorough disinfection and cleansing.
It gives rise to the question whether, as in diphtheria, scarlet fever may be
communicable before the rash appears, and even without the appearance of
any rash, in fact whether, as in diphtheria, there may be carrier cases.
Unfortunately the scarlet fever organism not having been definitely isolated
and studied, the point cannot be proved as it has been proved in the case of
diphtheria.
The main building of the Foundling Hospital consists of a central block
facing south, and two wings facing east and west, enclosing a quadrangle on
three sides, the fourth of which is open towards the main entrance in Guilford
Street.
The centre block contains the Chapel (and school-rooms), the west wing the
Boys' Dormitories and Dining Rooms, the east wing the Girls' Dormitories
and Dining Rooms, and the Kitchens. The southern end of the east wing is
the Treasurer's residence.
At the time the residents in the Institution were the Treasurer and family ;
15 Resident Officers (of whom five were males); 17 house servants (all
females); Lodge Porter and wife; and 366 inmates, of whom 185 were boys,
and 181 girls. Also Laundry Staff, seven females; and Infirmary Staff, six
females; and House Porter and his wife at 40, Brunswick Square, which
is the Nursery, entered from the Institution grounds at the north-west angle.
There are three groups of dormitories, three schools, two dining halls, and
three playgrounds. The dormitories are situated—boys in the west wing,
girls in the east wing, and infants in the separate nursery building, northwest
of the main building. The schools are situated—the boys' school-room is
at the north end of the west wing, or west end of the main building on the