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and the South-Eastern Hospitals were in use in March at
the time of this outbreak in the Eastern and Northern Districts.
The prevalence and rapid extension of Small-pox in those
districts, as before stated, necessitated the opening of the Hospital
Ships in February, of the Darenth Camp in April, and of
the North- Western Hospital, the Western Hospital, and
the Plaistow Hospital, in May, these hospitals having
been opened to meet the requirements of the other districts
of the Metropolis west and south, as the epidemic spread to them
from the east and the north.
In June a momentous step was taken by the Managers, who
determined thenceforth to send "mild" cases to the Hospital
Ships direct from their own homes. Previous to this, in four
successive fortnightly periods, beginning April 26 and ending
June 20; 285, 219, 409 and 319 cases had been admitted at the
Eastern Hospital, and in the same four fortnightly periods 267,
194, 382, and 281 cases were transferred from that Hospital to
the Ships and the Darenth Camp. Thus 552 cases of Small-pox
had traversed the district, entering or leaving the Hospital, in the
two weeks ending May 9; the number in the following fortnight
being 413. In the fortnight ended June 6, the small-pox traffic
culminated, no fewer than 791 infective persons having entered or
left the hospital. In the following fortnight ended June 20, (the
system of direct removal having come partially into operation) the
number of entering or leaving patients fell to 600. From this
date an active system of removal of cases direct to the Hospital
Ships began, and in the fortnight ended July 4, no fewer than
257 patients were so removed. Observe what followed. In
the fortnight ended June 6, 180 cases had been admitted at the
Eastern Hospital from Hackney, and in the fortnight ended
June 20, 132 Hackney cases were admitted, in addition to
many Hackney cases sent direct to the Ships; but in the fortnight
ended July 4 this Hospital admitted only 17 Hackney cases,
and 87 cases in all. In the same fortnight the combined
admissions and transfers were 155 only, scarcely more than a fourth
of the number in the preceding fortnight, and less than a fifth