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43
THE SMALL-POX EPIDEMIC OF 1884.
Towards the latter end of 1884, and before the recrudescence of
the epidemic, I prepared the subjoined Tables, A to K, based on the
fortnightly returns of admissions at the hospitals, with the view to
inform myself as to the origin and the progress of the epidemic.
Small-pox was at low ebb in November, 1883, when the Tables
begin, and the epidemic, which commenced in March, 1884, had
practically terminated in September, when the Tables end; at
which time, moreover, the Asylums Board ceased to publish detailed
returns of admissions and movements of small-pox cases.
The evidence furnished by the Tables shews that the epidemic
started at Hackney, and in adjoining districts, north and east, and
thence spread to other parts of the Metropolis; tliat it reached its
maximum in June, and that the subsequent marked and rapid subsidence
of the epidemic was coincident with the adoption of a system
of direct removal of patients from their own homes to the hospital
ships, by means of which the convergent and divergent small-pox
traffic in the vicinity of the hospitals was reduced to a minimum.
The hospitals are six in number, viz., the Eastern, at Hackney;
the South-Western, at Lambeth; the South-Eastern, at Deptford,
but adjacent to Camberwell; the North-Western, at Hampstead,
but adjacent to St. Pancras (in which parish the Highgate Hospital
is located); the Western, at Fulham, but adjacent to Kensington
and Chelsea; and the Plaistow Hospital, at West Ham, outside
the metropolitan boundary.
In November, 1883, two hospitals only were admitting patients,
the Eastern and the South-Western. The South-Eastern Hospital
was opened at the middle of January, 1884. The Hospital Ships
were opened on February 9th, and between February 9th—14th, 42
patients were transferred to them from the Eastern Hospital. The
Darenth Camp was opened April 3rd; the North-Western, the
Western, and the Plaistow Hospitals were opened successively at
the beginning, the middle, and the end of May.
On November 9th, 1883, the Eastern and South-Western
Hospitals contained 30 and 5 patients respectively, and they
admitted 8 and 2 patients only in the fortnight ended on that day.
(See Tables A and B on following pages.)
c 2