London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
London County Council 1913
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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Report of the County Medical Officer—Education. 221
Mr. Yearsley has been able to obtain a detailed history of the fraternity in 12 cases represented
diagrammatically as follows:—
It will be noted that in these genealogical tables, there are only four adults, all of whom appear
to have been born before the poison entered the family. All those children marked " healthy " are
still quite young and may develop signs of the disease. Cases 5 and 6 are especially interesting. In
the former the mother married first a healthy man and had healthy children ; later she married
a second time and bore three children of whom two died early and one developed syphilitic
deafness and blindness. In No. 6 the father married first a woman who died of "fits" (meningitis)
after bearing him three syphilitic children.
The two children born of his second wife are healthy. The following table shows the actual number of pregnancies, of living, dead, and deaf and blind children in these 12 families.
| No. | Pregnancies. | Living. | Dead. | Deaf and blind. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I. | 7 | 5 | 2 | 2 |
| II. | 8 | 3 | 5 | 1 |
| III. | 8 | 6 | 2 | 1 |
| IV. | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| V. | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| VI. | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| VII. | 10 | 5 | 5 | 1 |
| VIII. | 8 | 5 | 3 | 1 |
| IX. | 11 | 3 | 8 | 1 |
| X. | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| XI. | 7 | 4 | 3 | 1 |
| XII. | 6* | 4 | 3 | 2 |
| 79 | 43 | 37 | 15 | |
| 80 | 52 | |||
| * One twin pregnancy. | ||||