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The Eastern Hospital (Table C).—On the Fridays which
completed the successive fortnightly periods ending December 7th
and 21st, 1883, and January 4th, 18th, and February 1st, 1884,
there were remaining in the Eastern Hospital from 60 to 83 cases;
in the several fortnights 28, 33, 13, 27 and 35 cases were admitted,
the fortnightly admissions from Hackney (population nearly
200,000), being 15, 22, 11, 20, and 12. There is therefore no
evidence of any mischief having befallen the district at this time
from the use of the hospital. On Friday, March 14th, the number
in the hospital had fallen to 23, and the admissions in the fortnight
March 1st—14th were 44, including 13 from Hackney. In the
following fortnight, March 15th—28th, the great outbreak occurred
which marked the commencement of the epidemic of 1884: the
admissions sprang up to 136, including 81 from Hackney. The
subsequent progress of the epidemic in the eastern and northern
districts, as shown by admissions at this hospital, and by admissions
of cases from Hackney, Shoreditch, Bethnal Green, Islington,
&c., at all the hospitals may be best studied in Tables C and I.
The fall in the number of admissions after June 20th, when cases
had begun to be removed direct from their own homes to the
Hospital Ships, is very striking.
The South-Western Hospital (Table D).—This hospital
in December, 1883, contained fewer cases than the Eastern
Hospital. On the alternate Fridays between December 7th,
1883, and February 1st, 1884, the patients remaining under
treatment were 11, 20, 36, 36, and 25. The fortnightly
admissions at the same dates were 9, 11, 17, 6, and 5. That no
harm was befalling the district at this time is evident from the
fact that the cases admitted from Lambeth, (population about
260,000), in the successive fortnightly periods were 1, 0, 3, 1, and 1.
On Friday, March 14th, there were 12 patients in the hospital,
and in the following four weeks, to April 11th, which covered the
beginning of the great outbreak in the north and east districts, not
one case was admitted from Lambeth: 22 cases were admitted
from other parishes, including 11 from Islington, and 4 each from