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15
From the above table we learn that measles was most fatal in
the eight weeks, June 19th to Aug. 14th; scarlet fever in the last
quarter of the year, and whooping cough in the first half. Diarrhœa
as an infantile disease prevails in summer and autumn, the fatality
being proportional to the heat of the weather, but less when hot
weather is accompanied with rain. The fatal cases of small-pox
were all in the Brompton sub-district. The deaths in hospitals are
not included in the table.
I now proceed to make a few observations on each of the several
diseases, and first with respect to
Scarlet Fever, which was the most severe epidemic disease of
the year, some 466 cases having been recorded, viz., 225 in that
portion of the parish north of Uxbridge Road, commonly called the
north sanitary district, and 221 in the south sanitary district, which
comprises the remainder of the parish south of Uxbridge Eoad. Of
the 105 deaths from this disease, 22 took place in the hospitals
of the Metropolitan Asylum District, to which about 150 cases
were removed; and the remaining 83 in the parish, viz., 69 in the
Town registration sub-district, and 14 in Brompton,—17, 14, 18,
and 34, in the four quarters respectively. Many cases were concealed,
especially in the northern district, only 50 cases having
been removed to hospital from that district, as compared with
100 from the south district, in which district moreover, there
were many cases not calling for removal. No intimation of the
existence of the disease was received in respect of the great
majority of the cases that ultimately proved fatal until after death,
and then only from the sub-district registrars after the registration
of death.
A few cases may be cited in illustration of ways in which
infectious diseases are spread. Scarlet fever is spread frequently
by exposure of the sick when peeling, and this exposure may be
quite unintentional—due to ignorance, as in the following instances:
There were five cases in one house, one of them being a child, who, so it
was alleged, was not known to have had scarlet fever. This child was sent