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It is also provided that in addition to the above mentioned
diseases, there are included Small-Pox, Cholera, Membranous
Croup, and Relapsing Fever, "together with any other infectious
disease to which the Act has been applied by the local
authority in manner provided by the Act." The Local Authority
in this case is the Metropolitan Asylums Board, which repays all
sums disbursed by the Vestry in payment of fees to medical
practitioners in attendance, who notify the existence of any of
the above-mentioned diseases.
There is a conspicuous omission from the list of infectious
diseases of Measles and Whooping Cough, which reference to
the table of Statistics of Mortality (Table A), will shew
combinedly caused one hundred and eighty-five deaths, out of
the total zymotic mortality of three hundred and sixty-six, or
rather more than one half. When it is remembered that both
these extensively fatal diseases are amenable to the same laws
of prevention as the other diseases of the zymotic class, it will
be evident that a great responsibility rests upon those who
oppose the inclusion of Measles and Whooping Cough in the
list of notified diseases; and by their ill-considered antagonism,
prevent the Metropolitan Asylums Board from receiving cases
which are not effectively isolated. But very few years since, it
was generally considered inadvisable, and indeed useless, to
attempt to remove to hospital cases of Small Pox, Scarlet,
Typhus, or Typhoid Fever, and assertions were frequently made
that the people generally would never assent to the removal of