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27
small-pox arise in the Union Infirmary It is on this account
that I have come to the conclusion," says Dr. Collie, "that 100 feet
would be a safe distance, for the separation space between a hospital
and the nearest inhabited houses."
In the face of facts like these how can it be contended that streets
at 1000 feet distance have been again and again directly infected by
" poison " emanating from Fulham hospital ?
The persistency with which the attack against the hospital has been
carried on could not fail to have some effect on those who lacked
time or opportunity for enquiry; and there was a time, I think, when
medical men practising in West Brompton, in Fulham, and in Chelsea
were disposed to regard the hospital as a danger. Indeed a meeting
of medical men was held, to which I had the honour of being
invited, to consider what steps should be taken to close the hospital ?
After a prolonged discussion, however, and after statements had
been made by the Medical Officer of Health for Chelsea * and
myself, the meeting separated without coming to any resolution, and I
have not heard anything since to lead me to believe that any
considerable section of the local representatives of the profession
entertain view's adverse to the hospital.
It is a bare truism to say that a Medical Officer of Health could
have but one desire in reference to a hospital if it appeared likely to
spread infection in his district, viz., to get rid of it as quickly as
possible ! That would be my feeling certainly, and it is not without
much time, thought, and labour devoted to investigation of the
question, that I have come to the conclusion that the charge against
this hospital is not borne out by anything that its opponents have
published, or by anything that I myself have been able to find out:
but that, on the contrary, the hospital is a distinct boon to the
locality by the facilities it affords for the isolation of the sick.
For months together, moreover, I was in active correspondence with
the (late) Medical Superintendent of the hospital, Dr. Makuna, who
took great pains in tracing the histories of the people who came under
his care, and was again and again successful in tracking the spread of
infection in unsuspected ways, and in cases which, in the absence of
* The Medical Officer cf Health for Fulham was cot present; but his views
ou the subject are known to coincide with those of his colleagues.