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19
this third occasion the steps of its two previous
courses; or, perhaps I should rather say, if it now
proceed consistently to complete a repetition which
it has already half-effected; Asiatic Cholera will be
severely epidemic in London in the third quarter of
next year—will proceed, with a stern unflattering
test, to measure the degree in which those promises
of sanitary improvement have been redeemed, which
the terror of its recent visitation extorted even from
the supinest and most ignorant of its witnesses.
In the face of so great a danger, you will reasonably
claim of your Officer of Health that he shall
report to you, how far the City is already fortified
against this dreadful invasion—how far the hygienic
defences of life, if weak, may be strengthened—how
far there remain breaches now insusceptible of repair.
1. It forms an all-important part of these considerations
for resistance to the disease, to recognise
quite accurately what is its fashion of attack.
Since I last addressed you on the subject, in my
Report for 1849-50, the materials for correct
generalisation have been very largely increased by
Mr.Farr's admirable Report to the Registrar-General
on the Cholera in England, and by numerous other
important publications. By collating with these
works the more restricted, yet not uninstructive,
experience which arose within your particular jurisdiction,
I hope to have enlarged my knowledge of
the subject, and to have become able with greater
confidence to submit my conclusions for your
acceptance.