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48
Willesden Local Board.
As will be seen on referring to the subject of
small pox in the Sanitary Report, precautions were
taken by vaccination to protect the staff and some
of the patients convalescent from scarlet fever.
I am extremely glad to say that the permanent
buildings for the Hospital are making good
progress; there will be accommodation in the
permanent and iron buildings for 60 beds in twelve
Wards.
In the Reports of Dr. Power to the Local
Government Board in the years 1884-85, attention
is drawn to the possible effect of small pox on the
community dwelling in the neighbourhood of a
small pox Hospital, and it would appear that where
large numbers of patients suffering from the disease
are congregated, there is, in the opinion of some
Authorities on the subject, a possibility of those
dwelling in immediate contiguity to the Hospital
being to some extent liable to its influence, but
there are others who hold the opinion that the
question is not proved and who do not apparently
agree with it. There is the undoubted fact that
small pox makes its appearance in separate houses
first and spreads, when precautions are not taken,
among the populace and becomes epidemic without
any special aggregation of cases, so that it is
evident that the disease is present among the
people before it is present in the Hospital.
For instance, the cases of small pox that
occurred in the late Autumn, on the adjacent
borders of the Metropolis and Willesden, did not
arise from the collection of cases in a small area or
building such as a Hospital, but spread by intercourse
among the people. If any deleterious
atmospheric influence is exercised, it is only when