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succession, in two families, proved rapidly fatal late in October. The removal
of the first and second cases would have saved three lives.
A child fell ill at a house at Stamford Cottages, St. Mark's, and died after an
illness so brief that removal could not have been effected had the parents
consented. .The other three children successively fell ill, the parents still
refusing consent to removal. Two of them died, and the only remaining
child had a narrow escape.
Diphtheria, which was unusually prevalent in London in
1882, was the registered cause of 25 deaths in Kensington, or
5 above the corrected decennial average: 16 in the Town subdistrict
and 9 in Brompton. Not all the deaths certified, and
therefore classified to diphtheria, are really due to this cause.
Cases of scarlatina anginosa, for instance, are sometimes erroneously
certified as diphtheria ; and we had illustrations of the
fact in 1882. On the other hand, it sometimes happens that
true diphtheria is not recognised in the primary stage. In one
such case the nature of the disease was not known until paralysis
supervened. After seeming recovery the child had been sent
out of town, and it was not until his return home that the
insidious form of paralysis, which is so often the immediate
cause of death in diphtheria, revealed the true nature of the
previous illness. An inexplicable, but happily very limited outbreak
of diphtheria, occurred in the vicinity of Holland Sreet
in May. There were 4 cases, 2 in Holland Street and 1 each
in Holland Place and Gregory Place. One of the sufferers, a
boy aged 4 years, was removed to St. George's Hospital, and
another boy, aged 2 years, to the Parish Infirmary ; both died
after tracheotomy (opening the windpipe to prevent imminent
suffocation). Two other cases, a boy of 4 years, and a youth of
17, recovered at home. In the four weeks ended August 12,
the unusually large number of 5 deaths were registered, all of
children, aged respectively 6 months, 15 months, 18 months, and
4 years (2). One of the cases was beyond question scarlet
fever, and not diphtheria at all, for the skin was actively peeling
at the time of death, and other 2 cases of scarlet fever in the
same family were at once removed to the hospital The disease