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I did not hear of the majority of these 12 cases till after they
were in hospital, and 1 am free to confess that I can throw little
light on the origin of them. 1 pass on to observe therefore, that
the last of the five infection days of the cases whose visible illness
began between Jan. 26-30, was Jan. 17, (the usual period of incubation
in small-pox being thirteen days) and that there had
been admitted into Fulham Hospital, at that date, only 55
acute cases in all, viz.:—4, 5, 14, 14 and 18 in the five weeks
ending Jan 17 ; five of the cases came from Kensington,
Chelsea, and Fulham, including two from the "special area."
Now, mild cases convalesce rapidly, and three-fourths of all the
cases are mild: it follows that on the infection days, January
13-17, there were very few really " acute " cases in the hospital.
Indeed, information supplied by Mr. Sweeting, the resident
Medical Superintendent, goes to show that on January 15 there
were only ten persons on the "low diet," given during the
acute stage of illness, and this number had risen to 17 only on
the 22nd. So small absolutely, was the "increasing number of
acute cases" which, "charging the air of the hospital with abundance
of infection in an active state," led to the "notable outburst."
Convalescents were more numerous, 99 and 93 on
the 15th and 22nd respectively; but convalescents, it is said, do no
mischief. Admissions went on increasing day by day till a
maximum of 300 was attained at the end of April: the number
of acute cases (i.e., persons on low diet) was highest, averaging 80,
in the month of June*: yet notwithstanding these large numbers,
no similar " outburst " occurred.†
*At the middle of this month there were upwards of 1,600 cases in the
several hospitals of the Managers, including 600 at Darenth. The
opening of the "Camp Hospital" gave great relief to Fulham, but as
convalescents were removed as soon as possible, it followed that while the
total numbers decreased, the relative proportion of acute cases increased, so that
on July 30, when the number in hospital had fallen to 115, there were no
fewer than 53 acute (or low diet) cases, there having been only 56 acute (low
diet) cases April 30, when the number in hospital was about 300. Ten, or at
any rate less than 20, acute cases in January led to the "notable outburst,"
but in August, with ail average of nearly 50 acute (low diet) cases daily, no
mischief was wrought in Kensington, the weekly number of cases south of
Kensington Road (population 80,000) averaging less than two, and not one case
having occurred in Ifield Road, the street nearest the hospital.
†It may be mentioned that the new cases in the three parishes fell in the
fortnight ending February 19, from 62 in the preceding period, to 38, including