View report page

104
alcohol. If antiseptic and alcohol are not available, be all the more
careful to wash the part thoroughly with warm water and soap, and
then rinse with clean warm water.
With a sharp protected needle—preferably lance-shaped—prick
the lobe of the ear after compressing it, or the back of the finger, after
constricting it just below the nail, as when drawing blood for ordinary
blood estimation work.
Take one of the small tubes from the test tube and draw up a
sufficient amount of blood to fill or nearly fill, the small bulb; then draw
the blood away from the point of the pipette and seal off in the flame of
a candle or gas, or even of a wax vesta.
Always obtain two such tubes if possible. Return these to the test
tube and re-insert the cotton wadding plug.
Pack the two tubes in a box, taking care to put a little wadding at
each end.
S. R. LOVETT,
Medical Officer of Health.
Infectious Diseases.—Notifications.
The number of districts in which the svstem of notifi-
cation is in force is 1,649, with a population of nearly
28,000,000 out of 1,821 districts with a population of
29,000,000.
According to the report of the Statistical Committee of
the Metropolitan Asylums Board for the year 1898, the grand
total of notifications in London under the 55th Section of the
Public Health (London) Act, 1891, was 37,316 against
45,415 for the previous year.
In St. Giles District 229 Certificates, including duplicates,
were received from Medical Practitioners. They are
duly scheduled under their several diseases in the following
tables.