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sulphur; the medical officer says that apart from the greater efficiency of the former method it is on
the whole cheaper and has the advantage of not keeping the occupants out of their houses. In
Finsbury formalin gaseous disinfection has been employed followed by wet spraying of the
surfaces with chloride of lime (1.2 per cent.). In Westminster the walls are sprayed with a
solution of formic aldehyde. Burning sulphur or generating formic aldehyde gas is still resorted
to in certain cases. In Southwark the surfaces are sprayed with a solution of formalin and
afterwards exposed to sulphur fumigation. In Woolwich infected rooms were fumigated for the
most part with formalin, and school-rooms were disinfected with sulphur. In Battersea in
most cases sulphur di-oxide gas was used, but where it appeared that this agent would do damage
formic aldehyde was employed.
In the year 1900 the County Council, on the recommendation of the Public Health Committee,
authorised arrangements to be made with Drs. Klein, Houston and Gordon to make experiments
with the object of ascertaining the value of various disinfectants under the ordinary conditions
of their use in dwelling-houses. The report containing the result of these investigations was
in due course presented to the committee and is appended. (See appendix III.)
Shelters.
The use of shelters was greater during 1901 than heretofore, especially in districts in
which smallpox was prevalent. The number of families occupying the shelter in Paddington
was 24 during the year, 99 persons having been accommodated. No shelter has yet been provided
in Kensington; the need for this provision has been repeatedly pointed out by the medical
officer of health. In connection with the subject of smallpox the medical officer of health of
Fulham states that three families were received from houses infected with this disease. In
Westminster two of the shelters (those in Commercial-road and Little Chapel-street) have been
closed, and those in Horseferry-road and Dufours-place retained; thirteen persons were admitted
during the year. The St. Marylebone shelter was used 27 times and accommodated 67 persons.
In St. Pancras the shelter was used 24 times and accommodated 70 persons. The number of
persons admitted into the Islington shelter was 11. In Hackney accommodation was paid
for by the sanitary authority in one case; a shelter has now been provided. In Holborn an
empty house belonging to the Borough Council was utilised for persons from houses invaded by
smallpox, and 111 persons accommodated. In Finsbury are two shelters, one in Macclesfieldstreet,
the other in Northampton-road; a case of smallpox having occurred in the former
house, an empty house lent by the County Council was utilised as a shelter; the number of
families accommodated was 72, comprising 310 persons. In the City shelter 17 families were
accommodated. In Shoreditch the shelter was used 13 times, the number of persons received
being 52. No shelter had been provided in Poplar, but a house at the Bromley depot was fitted
up for the reception of persons from houses invaded by smallpox. In Southwark 211 families,
comprising 814 persons, were admitted into the shelter in 1901; in the first six months of 1902
267 families, comprising 686 persons, were received; the medical officer of health refers to the
great value of the shelter, especially in connection with smallpox. There are two shelters
in Lambeth, one on the wharf, Belvedere-road, the other at Wanless-road, Loughborough;
they were used on three occasions, the number of persons accommodated being 7. There is no
shelter in Battersea, and the need of such provision was much felt during the smallpox prevalence
of 1901; in one instance three persons had to spend the night in a washhouse; it has been decided
to erect a shelter. The shelter in Woolwich is the only one now maintained, that in Plumstead
parish having been abandoned; the Woolwich shelter was used by 4 families, comprising 11
persons.
Bacteriological Examination.
Information recently supplied by medical officers of health shows that the sanitary authorities
of the following districts have made arrangements with the Jenner Institute for the bacteriological
examination of pathological material—Paddington, Kensington, Fulham, Chelsea,
Westminster, St. Marylebone, St. Pancras, Islington, Stoke Newington, Hackney, Poplar,
Wandsworth, Wolwich. Similar arrangements have been made with the Clinical Research
Association by the sanitary authorities of Greenwich, Deptford and Bethnal-green; with the
laboratory of the Royal Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons by the sanitary authority of Holborn;
with the bacteriologists at the Middlesex Hospital by the sanitary authority of Finsbury, at the
London Hospital by the sanitary authorities of Shoreditch and Stepney, at Guy's Hospital by
the sanitary authority of Southwark. Lambeth has provided a laboratory, Camberwell has
appointed a bacteriologist, Bermondsey has provided a laboratory, the medical officer of health
doing the work himself; Hampstead, Battersea and Lewisham appear to have made no special
arrangements. The material generally examined is from suspected cases of diphtheria and
enteric fever, and in some districts of phthisis.
Anti-toxic serum is stored by the sanitary authority and supplied in the following districts—
Fulham, Stoke Newington, Hackney, Greenwich, Lewisham, Camberwell, Lambeth and Finsbury.
In Islington arrangements have been made with the Great Northern Central Hospital by which
a supply is available to practitioners at cost price. In Woolwich it is supplied when, owing
to want of hospital accommodation, the immediate removal of the patient to hospital cannot be
effected. In some districts no charge is made, in others the cost price is charged. In Finsbury
the medical officer states that the serum is supplied for prophylactic as well as therapeutic
purposes. In St. Pancras it was found that the serum could be obtained from the various druggists
in the district. In the other districts serum was not supplied by the sanitary authority.