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6
There was 1 death in June, 33 in July, 68 in
August, 7 in September, and 1 in October.
There had been 5 in the first quarter of the year,
thus making 115 deaths, in which I have
included 11 deaths of infants, certified only as
diarrhoea, but occurring during July and August,
and indistinguishable from the prevailing epidemic.
The district is not easily divided for
registration purposes, so that the following
figures only indicate roughly the localities most
affected. Thus there were 32 deaths in Bush
Hill Park, 32 in Ponders End, 21 in Enfield
Lock and Wash District, 21 round about Lancaster
Road, 7 in and about the Town, 2 at the
Highway, and 1 at Freezywater. The months
of July and August, in which nearly all the
deaths occurred, were dry and very hot. The
milk supply was very varied, and the epidemic
could not be traced to any one source of milk
supply, but there can be little doubt that the
conditions under which the infants were fed
were the cause of the mischief. At high temperature
microbes develop in milk with extraordinary
rapidity, while it is also possible that
certain preservatives, added in larger quantities
during very hot weather, may excite gastric
irritation. Milk must in such weather always
be heated nearly to boiling point before being
given, while all utensils, bottles, tubes, etc.,
should be also scalded. I have no doubt that in
some cases the entrance of the germs of disease
and the cause of the disorder is by the use of the
so-called " comforters," which are often in a filthy