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are in close proximity to the School, advantage may be taken by the School
Board, in inculcating lessons of cleanliness, and enabling the children to
practice such lessons, by affording them the opportunity of bathing; and as
there will be a swimming bath provided, the children may be taught the art
of swimming.
It must be obvious to everyone who is acquainted with this locality,
that there is no part of the District in which sanitary improvements are
more required than in the locality of this School; and I may add, that if
the surplus land belonging to the School Board had been let for building
purposes, and if high houses had been built upon it, the circulation of air,
which is now defective, would have been rendered much worse. I am,
however, happy in being able to say that arrangements have been recently
entered into between this Board and the School Board, not only to widen the
thoroughfare at the north end of Old Castle Street, but still further to
increase the size of the open space which was originally intended to be
appropriated for a play-ground. When this arrangement is carried out, the
public will have the benefit of about 1,160 square feet of open space.
Memorandum of the Medical Officers of Health of the Metropolis on the
measures neoessary for arresting the spread of scarlet-fever.
In consequence of the prevalence of typhoid fever in this District, and
the ominous warnings which have been given to us respecting cholera, I have
deemed it advisable to add the following memorandum, which was published
in 1869, to this report, for the same observations which are made respecting
the prevention of the spread of scarlet-fever are equally applicable to prevent
the spread of fever or of cholera.
" It is quite possible to cheek Scarlet-Fever, if adequate means be taken to destroy
the emanations of the sick, so that they shall not infect the healthy. For this purpose
the sick must be separated, either by putting them into rooms apart, or, by sending
them out to a Sick-House, or, which is better, by removing the healthy to another
house. The infecting matter of the disease resides in the excretions of the mouth,
throat, and lungs, of the bowels and kidneys, of the skin, and of the suppurating
surfaces common towards the close of the disease. Disinfection should be applied
assiduously to the mouth, nose, and throat, as each case may require, by gargling,
swabbing, or syringing with a teaspoonful of Condy's Fluid to a pint of water; the
excreta of the bowels and kidneys should be well dosed with strong carbolic acid
before they leave the bedside ; the air of the sick room should be occasionally freshened
by dispersing Condy's Fluid (diluted as above) by means of a vaporizer ; and the
doorway should be hung with a sheet well sprinkled with carbolic acid, so that there
may be no mixing of tainted air with that of the body of the house. It can do no
harm to oil the skin during the height of the fever, but what is of real consequence is
the persevering use of warm soapy baths so soon as the patient can take them, and
through the convalescence, till the skin has done peeling and the throat and nose are
healed. All handkerchiefs, towels, and linen. before leaving the room should be
steeped in boiling water containing a teaspoonful of solution of chloride of soda, or of
Condy's liquid, to a pint; and when the disease is over, the bedding and clothing of
the patient and his attendants, all floors, walls, and ceilings, and the surface of all
furniture on which infectious matters may have settled, should be scraped, or cleaned
with a disinfectant, and fumigated. Moreover, disinfecting fluids (as carbolic acid)
should be poured freely after the slops from the sick room into the closets, sinks,
drains, and sewers, and into every place around the house where decaying organic
matter can be harboured.
" The persons attending on the sick should wear glazed or smooth dresses by preference
; they should often wash their hands, especially before eating, and should mix
as little as possible with the family.