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tried by borough councils in London, the results, as regards the early isolation of contacts who
developed symptoms of smallpox, do not appear to have been encouraging; this was also the
case at 8 and 10, Parker-street.
The inducement to apply the quarantining system at this house was, however, particularly
strong. The woman E. W. has been already referred to as having developed smallpox on 13th
October and remained at large until 18th October, and as having been finally apprehended on
that day at 8 and 10, Parker-street. She was well known to the women at this house, but the
deputy insisted that she had not slept there for some weeks previously. Between the 24th and
29th three women at 8 and 10, Parker-street sickened with smallpox, and as has been seen, cases
were reported from other houses which E. W. had been in the habit of frequenting. It was
probable that E. W.'s relations with the women at 8 and 10, Parker-street had been more or
less intimate, and there was further ground for apprehending that cases might develop among the
"contacts" of the three women whose infection was traceable to E. W. The occupants of the
house were almost without exception of the "unfortunate class," and for this reason it was thought
there would be special difficulty in keeping them under daily observation. The women already
attacked, and others, who at the time presented symptoms which excited suspicion, had occupied
several of the dormitories at the house, and had mixed freely with other inmates in the common
kitchen. The prospect of maintaining any sort of control over the movements of the sixty or
more women lodgers was not unnaturally regarded as being almost hopeless. The shelter of the
Holborn District Council was full, an attempt which had been made by the medical officer of
health of Holborn to retain some of the contacts within the house had been unsuccessful, and
it was ultimately decided on 2nd November to take over the entire management of 8 and 10,
Parker-street for a limited period.
The keeper of the houses signed an agreement on that date whereby the Council, in consideration
of the payment of 20s. per day, obtained control over the houses for a fortnight
certain, and for such further period as might be deemed necessary, subject to one week's notice
on either side. The keeper agreed to provide for the board of the women, those who consented to
remain continuously in the house receiving lOd. a day. A nurse was engaged to attend daily
at the premises to take the temperatures of the lodgers and to observe that the conditions of the
agreement with the keeper were fulfilled. The inmates were kept under close medical inspection.
Contrary to expectation, little difficulty was experienced in persuading the women to
remain in the house. There were some sixty inmates on 2nd November, and with few exceptions
these remained throughout the three weeks during which the Council retained control of the
premises. One or two additional women were from time to time removed to the house from
other lodging-houses, in cases in which it was deemed specially desirable that such persons
should be kept under medical observation. Each morning the provisions for the day were
fetched by two or three women, but save for this liberty no one was allowed outside on pain
of forfeiture of the allowance of lOd. One woman only was a source of difficulty; she
soon insisted upon going out, and when she returned was penitent but intoxicated; with a view
to not losing sight of her this offence was condoned on the understanding it must not be repeated,
but after a time the restraint became unendurable to her ; she again left the house, and, as was
subsequently ascertained, was apprehended the same night by the police for being drunk and
disorderly. Save in this case, and in one or two other exceptional instances,* the letter of the
agreement of the inmates to remain in the house was strictly carried out. This very satisfactory
result was in the main attributable to the influence exerted by the "deputy," who proved a most
capable manageress. No attempt, it may, however, be noted, was made to impose a fixed diet upon
the women; they spent their lOd. as they pleased. The Council's expenditure amounted to
nearly £67 in three weeks, this sum including—rent and payment for food, £61 3s. 6d., a sum
of £2 ITs. 6d. paid to the nurse, £2 2s. paid to the deputy, and 13s. 6d. for travelling expenses
incurred by Dr. Farrar.
On 3rd November a woman who had not slept in the house on the preceding
night, but who had often previously lodged there, applied for admission. The deputy
allowed her to occupy a bed, and when the medical inspection was made in the
morning the woman was found to have a very mild attack of smallpox, her eruption
dating apparently from 1st November. This was the only case of smallpox isolated
as the result of the supervision exercised over the women, for none of the other lodgers
developed the disease during the three weeks of their detention. Later some further cases
occurred in the house; in two instances, women who had been in occupation during the three
weeks' quarantine were attacked, and there was some suggestion that infection might have been
retained in a bundle of clothes which had been concealed by one of the women and so escaped
being disinfected; whether this was so or no, the later cases at these houses occurred at dates
separated by considerable intervals both from one another and from the time when the inmates
were in quarantine. The non-appearance of cases of smallpox among the sixty women during
their detention at 8 and 10, Parker-street is only on a par with what happened in very many
other common lodging-houses in London during 1901-2. It was the exception rather than
the rule for the disease to manifest ability to spread in a common lodging-house subsequent to
the occurrence of a single case.
It was quite clear that to attempt to deal with other common lodging-houses on the lines
adopted at Parker-street was out of the question. The Council was urged to do so in several
instances, and in a few cases similar attempts were made by borough councils, but as soon as
the epidemic had attained considerable proportions such a system was manifestly impracticable.
* Cases in which a woman was allowed a day out. this concession being granted because it was clear that if such a course were not
adopted, the woman would have left the house altogether.