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from a pipe which passed from the vessel in which the materials for
making the glucose are boiled, through the roof of the building. There
was no doubt whatever that the smell of this steam was very offensive,
and I suggested that, instead of carrying the pipe through the roof of
the building, it should be conveyed into or sufficiently near the furnace
so as to destroy all the offensive products. The manufacturer promised
to carry out this suggestion. At all events, no complaints have recently
been made to me upon the subject of this nuisance.
The prevalence of Fever in some parts or the District.
From the daily records of cases of illness attended by the Medical
Officers of the Union, which I have the privilege of examining every
week at the Workhouse, I learnt that in the months of March and April
last, cases of febricula, or slight febrile attacks, began to be very prevalent
in some parts of the District, especially in that which is situated on
the south side of Royal Mint Street, and which is under the medical
superintendence of Mr. Loane. From the prevalence of these febrile
disorders, I was led to infer that an outbreak of fever would sooner or
later take place. This event unfortunately happened, and on the 2nd of
June I reported to the Board that, from the 1st April to that date, 37
cases of fever had occurred in Mr.LoANE's district; and, on the 16th June,
I again reported to the Board that, for the fortnight ending 7th June,
the Medical Officers of the Union had attended 14 cases of febricula and
13 of fever. The fever cases were entirely confined to the districts of
Mr. Loane and Mr. Sequeira, whose district is contiguous to that of
Mr. Loane's, being separated from it by Royal Mint Street. At this
date, viz., 7th June, no less than 7 cases of fever had been attended by
Mr. Sequeira in the preceding four weeks, in two houses in Jones's
Buildings, numbered 19 and 20. These two houses, which contain two
rooms each, are only about two feet from the two public privies, which are
placed back to back, and are situated between these two houses. These
privies are used by the inhabitants of the four or six contiguous houses, all
of which contain two rooms each. Owing to a temporary defect in the
drain or soil-pipe, offensive emanations pervaded all rooms in these two
houses.
It is a very significant fact, that it was only in these two houses, which
were subjected to the emanations of the privies, that fever occurred; and up
to the 28th June these 7 cases were the only ones that occurred in this
court. Having intimated to the landlord that several of the houses in Jones'
Buildings were unfit for habitation, it was deemed by him advisable to pull
down 17 of them. From Table No. I., in the Appendix, it appears that the
cases of fever in the entire District, for the quarter, have been 55 ; of these,
Mr. Loane has attended 47, and Mr. Sequeira 7 ; whereas, for the corresponding
quarter of the previous year, the cases of fever in the entire District
were only 4. In this quarter, the deaths from fever recorded in the District