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
City of London 1937
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London, City of ]
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74
The following table gives the details of the work of disinfection carried out at the
Disinfecting Station during the year in connection with the export trade
Number of
Certificates issued.
Number of articles
disinfected.
Fees received
by the Corporation.
544
270,780
£371
Other disinfection and cleansing work carried out during the year is as follows :—
| Articles disinfected after cases of infectious disease, &c | 8,351 |
| Library Books disinfected | 113 |
| Public Vehicles—Electric Ambulance | 3 |
| Cells at Police Stations | 1 |
| Premises disinfected (including offices) | 111 |
| Lockers disinfected at request of General Post Office Authorities | 105 |
| Horsehair and Bristles (cases) | 27 |
| Number of verminous persons bathed | 123 |
| Number of articles of clothing disinfected | 1,480 |
| Total number of children cleansed | 1,031 |
| Number of articles of clothing disinfected | 2,902 |
| Books, &c., destroyed at request of owners | 1,201 |
| Beds destroyed at request of owners | 80 |
| Paper | 5cwt. |
| Pigeons destroyed | 877 |
Preservation of Bodies of Unknown Dead.—The De Rechter apparatus for the preservation
of the dead, installed at the City Mortuary, in March, 1909, was fully described in the
Annual Report of that year. It has proved of considerable assistance in connection with
the identification of persons found drowned in the River Thames. During 1937 six bodies
were placed in the apparatus, all of which were subsequently identified.
DISINFECTANTS.
The disinfectants and other chemicals in use in the Public Health Department and in
other branches of the Corporation's service have, as in the past, been supplied under a contract
prepared by your Medical Officer of Health.
They are used for deodorising and denaturising unsound meat, disinfecting public
conveniences, street gulleys, premises after infectious diseases, etc.
Special attention was given to the thoroughfares in the vicinity of the Billingsgate and
Smithfield Markets, the former of which presents certain difficulties in the matter of deodorisation
in the summer months.
Very few complaints were, however, received of offensive odours necessarily associated
with the fish trade.
In the interests of economy the practice of using a disinfectant fluid in conjunction with
general street watering has been discontinued.
RAT REPRESSION.
Special investigation of complaints of rat infestation in City buildings was continued
throughout the year.
Individual cases of lasting improvement, following severe rat infestation over a lengthy
period, can be reported, mainly in those cases where co-operation between owner and tenant
had been obtained in the employment of skilled catchers for extermination and the introduction
of structural rat-proofing for repression.