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effect of propinquity, and supposing that one quarter of a mile is as
fruitful in occasions of contact with the carrier of infection as another,
let us imagine that, on the different lines of communication which
radiate to and from the hospital, infection is shed equably along the
whole of their courses, and is represented on a diagram by black lines,
varying in breadth according to the amount of infection which is
dispersed, and in length according to the distance along which it is
carried. It does not need the actual inspection of such a diagram to
perceive that the effect of these lines in blackening each successive
hospital ring will constantly increase as they close in on the centre;
or, in other words, that the converging incomings and outgoings of the
hospital would produce exactly that 'graduated intensity of infection,'
from which, prior to reflection, we are tempted to infer an expanding
wave. The argument is capable of arithmetical statement, and it
would be easy, if it were worth while, so to exhibit it."
Having thus reported "the chief grounds for accepting or
rejecting the theory of distant atmospheric dissemination of
small-pox," expressing no opinion of their own, the Commissioners
conclude by saying—and who will not agree with
them?—"that so long as it is not proved that 'personal communication'
is adequate to the explanation of the whole
spread of small-pox ; and so long as distant 'atmospheric dissemination'
is not shown to be in the highest degree improbable,
so long it is essential that in the construction and management
of small-pox hospitals, both sources of danger should be with
the utmost care guarded against."
I might well leave the matter here, but my observations
would be very incomplete without a reference, however brief, to a
striking incident graphically described by Mr. Power, and which
ultimately led him on to momentous conclusions.
The hospital began again to receive patients (convalescent
cases) in December, 1880, and before the end of the month a
few acute cases, 16 in all, had been admitted. By the 22nd
January, 11 cases had occurred in the three parishes of Kensington,
Chelsea, and Fulham, 7 of them in the "spccial area,"
but at a distance of more than half a mile from the hospital.
More than half of the seven, there was reason to believe, had