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32
antitoxin from the Lister Institute, which can be had at
any time of the day or night by applying at my private
residence, and free of charge to necessitous cases.
Phthisis or Consumption.
There were 32 deaths due to Consumption, and 21
to other tubercular diseases, a considerable increase over
the previous years, when the deaths numbered 18 and 14
respectively. The Phthisis death-rate working out at .61.
The deaths from Phthisis in London registered during
the year numbered 7,526, and were equal to a rate of
1.62 per 1,000 living.
I examined the sputum in 33 suspicious cases; the
tubercle bacillus was found in 7 specimens.
Several meetings were held during the year at the
Westminster Guildhall to push forward the scheme
promoted by Colonel Gerard Clark to provide an openair
sanatorium. It was decided to take three beds,
when the Mount Vernon Hospital at North wood made
an offer.
This was considered more advantageous, as the
Mount Vernon Sanatorium already existed, and it would
be some time, possibly, before the Middlesex scheme
would be in working order.
There are prospects that some day "Consumption"
may be entirely extirpated. The death-rate from
"Consumption" has been reduced in England and
Wales during the last fifty years to one-half of what it
was before. The reduction of overcrowding, better
dwellings, better drainage, and more cleanly habits of
the people have all been instrumental in reducing the
death-rate. What we have to do now is to induce the
people of all classes to recognise the predisposing and,
above all, the exciting cause of Tuberculosis, to teach
the consumptive that the germ causing the disease is in