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occurrence of cases of diphtheria in a workshop, the use of a speaking tube being apparently one of the
means of the disease being communicated.
The relation of diphtheria to school attendance is discussed in several of the reports, the report
of the medical officer of health of Fulham containing the following statement—
" Comparing 1894 with 1893 it may be noticed that although the disease was much more
prevalent in 1894, the increased prevalence of the disease was entirely among children
between the age of 3 and 10, 203 cases of children of that age having been notified in 1894,
against 182 in 1893, and there were 175 cases among children attending school in 1894,
against 99 in 1893, the increase in the number of cases among children under 15
attending schofil being 76 per cent., and among children under 15 not attending school 32 per
cent." In discussing the special incidence of diphtheria on particular schools Mr. Jackson
states that "in the Sherbrooke-road School, between June 12th and August 7th, when the
holidays commenced, 20 of the children attending school were notified as suffering from
diphtheria while the disease was, comparatively speaking, absent during that time from the
three adjacent schools—Munster-road, Lillie-road, and St. Thomas's—which draw a large
number of their children from the same district as does Sherbrook-road School. Again, at
the end of the year several children in the infants' department of St. Thomas's School contracted
the disease, 10 cases being notified between November 27th and December 7th, when
the department was [closed by the managers at my request, until after the Christmas
vacation, and since then until now the school has been free from the disease."
Among the statistics relating to diphtheria in the reports of the medical officers of health is an
interesting analysis of the statistics of deaths due to throat disease by the health officer of St. Pancras,
who shows that in the decennium 1881—90, increase of deaths from diphtheria had been compensated
by decrease in deaths from other throat diseases. This compensation, however, was not maintained
during the recent prevalence.
In several reports the opinion is expressed that there would be advantage if a laboratory were
provided in London for the bacterial examination of material from cases of suspected diphtheria.

*Sec footnote (†) page 7.