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magistrate's decision, or that, judiciously used, it will be very useful
as an example and as a warning, in the hands of the Sanitary
Inspectors. As it has been stated in another section (Disinfecting
Chamber) all sick rooms have been carefully disinfected by one
of your Vestry's officers, and the clothing, bedding, and other things
that had been exposed to infection have also been effectively disinfected
by the firm to which this important work has been
entrusted.
"Typhus."—Two deaths from this disease were registered in
December, 1877, and two more in January, 1878, there being
nothing, however, to connect the cases in respect of origin, locality,
&c. This being so exceptional an occurrence, and entertaining
as I did, grave doubts as to the correctness of the diagnosis, I
made a careful investigation of the cases. The first case was that
of a little boy, aged four years, who died on the 22nd December
at Bransford Street. The parents, two other children, and the
deceased occupied two rooms, which the inspector found clean and
decent when he went to disinfect them. No cause could be assigned
for the disease, which is unusual at so early an age, and is commonly
the product of infection, or the outcome of squalor, neglect,
and unsanitary conditions generally, which had no existence in the
present instance; and although the whole of the illness was
passed at home, no other person contracted the disease.
When I wished subsequently to make a personal enquiry into the
case, I found that the family had left their lodgings, and they
could not be traced. It may be mentioned that at about the
same time as the boy died there was some scarlet fever in the
street. The second case occurred at Earl's Court Road, and was
that of a married woman, who was in the first instance attended
by a local practitioner, who reported the case to me as one of
"enteric fever, and that of a bad type"—an account supported by
his description of the symptoms. The patient died on the 12th
December under the care of another medical man (a friend of the
family, from Kent), and on the day of her burial her husband was
taken ill with unmistakeable symptoms of enteric or typhoid fever,
and after a lengthened illness he recovered. In my account
on an outbreak of typhoid fever in this parish (page 12), I have
assumed that both these cases were cases of that disease, and
not typhus at all. The third case occurred at Edenham Street,
and proved fatal. It was certified as a death from "typhus,
rheumatic fever," and I accordingly had the room, &c.,
disinfected. On making enquiry into the case—especially
with the view of ascertaining whether the disease had extended,
there being nearly twenty persons resident in the house,
including the five children of the nurse-facts were mentioned
which gave me the impression that this patient had died