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16
1,379 in the fifth part by Mr. Welch. Respectively, the
Epidemics varied in force from 11.6 per cent, in the Workhouse
to 21.3 in No. 1, to 28.9 in No. 4, to 30 in No. 2, and
from 34.8 in No. 5, to a maximum in No. 3 of 37.5. Small
Pox, Measles, Whooping Cough, and Fever predominated in
the District of Mr. Defriez; Scarlet Fever and Diarrhoea in
the practice of Mr. Welch. The ratio to the sum total was
of Small Pox 1 in 17, of Measles 1 in 43, of Scarlet Fever
1 in 41, of Whooping Cough 1 in 90, of Diarrhœa 1 in 9,
and of Fever 1 in 12 attacks. Besides the Epidemics, the
Nosological Table No. 11, enumerates severally the Acute
Pulmonary Inflammations, the cases of Erysipelas and Carbuncle,
of Puerperal and Rheumatic Fevers, and of other
forms of disease, with the deaths in each sub-division. One
death occurred in every 14.7 cases, and one attack of Pauper
illness to every 16.4 of the inhabitants of Bethnal Green.
Several cases of Diarrhœa partook of the Choleraic character,
but fortunately all got well. With respect to Fever, increase
of sewerage and surface-drainage, more perfect scavenging,
the paving of streets, and the purer supply of water, have
materially diminished its physical causes, and reduced its
amount from 2,084 continued cases* in 1837, to 683 in 1858,
and 543 in 1859. "Wherever," says Dr. Southwood Smith,
"the Commissioners of Sewers have not been, there Fever
is prevalent; and, on the contrary, wherever they have been,
there Fever is comparatively absent." Hence, from sanitary
improvements, Fever now is much less than when Bethnal
Green was all but undrained.
At the Dispensary, 2188 cases came under the care of the
medical staff, and of these 474 had their diseases specified,
* Here, I beg to observe, and the same observation applies to former reports,
that under the heading " Continued Fever, Typhus, and Typhoid," I have registered
only the cases visited at home, and not those seen or prescribed for at the
Surgery without attendance at the house.