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in July, 1859, two children from erysipelas. No other similar case occurred, but in
December a mother died from puerperal peritonitis. Rendered suspicious by these
cases, I took the opportunity of the next death, in April, 1860 (which was also, though
perhaps erroneously, registered as erysipelas,) to address a letter to one of the physicians,
my friend Dr. Hewitt, begging him to investigate the general sanitary state
of the hospital, and offering my assistance. Then the following history came out:
On the building of the present hospital, in 1849, the drainage of the new building
was made as complete as possible; but it was considered sufficient simply to cover
over an old cesspool that had belonged to the houses formerly on the site. This was
done with a pavement of asphalte, and the cesspool was forgotten, until Dr. Hewitt's
investigation. Then it was ascertained that the pavement of the yard was cracked.
The date of this crack could not be exactly learned, only that it must have begun
nearly a year ago. At the time of examination the fissure was upwards of an inch
in breadth, and it communicated directly with the mass of ever-active poison below.
The emptying of this old cesspool was nowise a safe or pleasant business, but with
the precautions employed, happily no ill results ensued from its disturbance. In
this instance I will not say that complete proof is yet afforded of the relation
of cause and effect between the exposed cesspool and the deaths from zymotic
disease; but I think that connexion will be placed beyond doubt if we find that,
in succeeding years, the hospital returns to its ordinary immunity from such
diseases.
There is nothing material to record about the slaughter-houses of the district.
The drainage of one or two has been improved, but in one instance not until two
cases of diphtheritis had occurred in a neighbouring cottage, under the flooring of
which the leakage of the slaughter-house had stagnated.
The cowhouses continue to be as great a nuisance as ever. A faithful delineation
of one of them, in the Builder of last year, showed a place that no one unacquainted
with the establishment itself could have imagined possible to find in the
heart of London in 1859. Yet the Builder's drawing only gave the more favourable
aspect of the matter, the outside of the cowhouse. Some of the proprietors
have, indeed, made improvements, but as a rule these establishments must be
regarded as unmitigated nuisances. There is no occasion for their existeuce in the
central districts of London, for country milk can be easily and regularly supplied to
the town at all seasons, as the experience of several large dairies has shown. A bill
is at present before Parliament requiring all cowsheds to be licensed in the same way
as slaughterhouses; and I trust we shall soon be enabled to get rid of those, at any
rate, which are most offensive.
Only two other nuisances arising in the operations of trade have been brought
under investigation iu 1859. Dealing with these cases in the spirit of the Nuisances
Removal Act, the Board has not seen occasion to interfere for the protection of the
public. I need, therefore, report no further on the subject.
A drinking-fountain, erected at the cost of Mr. Langdale, in Endell-street, afforded
pure water to the passers-by through the whole of last summer. The trustees of
the British Museum, I believe at the suggestion of the Board, have also erected two
very tasteful fountains under the portico of the Museum. Such facts cannot be
omitted from a sanitary report, and the contrast between the wholesome water
of these fountains, and the impure fluid of the street pumps cannot be too
often impressed on our minds. The erection of other drinking-fountains has been
delayed, but next year I hope to report several additions to these valuable and healthful
institutions,
If the functions of the Health Officer were solely for the service of the poor, and
if he were not often called upon to advise the better classes, I should hesitate in
congratulating, from a sanitary point of view, the united parishes on the formation
of their Volunteer Rifle Corps. Besides the advantage of exercise and discipline to
the "physique" of Londoners, I believe a most salutary use of the movement will be
to hasten on, by the knowledge it will diffuse and the contrasts it will furnish, the
progress of sanitary reform in the regular army.