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12
The argument so frequently used in favour of the continued use of the
pump water in London (that it has been drunk with impunity for a great
many years,) is of little value after the experience which has been gained from
the fatal effects of the use of the well-water from the pump in Broad Street,
St. James's, at the time of the cholera in 1854; for the poison of epidemic
diseases may, when such diseases are prevalent, be readily conveyed to any of
these superficial wells, all of which are, more or less, contaminated by sewage.
Cholera.
Two cases of cholera having occurred, on the 29th of July last, at the
"Hoop and Horse-shoe" public house, situated at No. 10, Queen Street,
Tower Hill, I visited the house immediately on receiving intimation of the
fact, when I found that a child of about 12 years had died therein of cholera,
after a few hours illness, and that a man was then suffering from the same
disease. Both these patients had just arrived from an infected port in the
Baltic, and were, with a large number of emigrants, on their way to New
Zealand. The Port Sanitary Authority having provided a ship for the reception
of cholera patients, the patient was, with as little delay as possible,
conveyed to it. This man died after a few days of consecutive fever.
The means which I deemed advisable to be carried out for the prevention
of the spreading of the disease in this district were as follows, viz:—The
bedding and the clothes worn by the patients were disinfected; disinfectants
were freely used in the rooms; the dead body of the child was coffined as
quickly as possible, and disinfectants were placed both inside and outside the
coffin, and the body was buried on the day following the death. The Inspector,
Mr. Battram, being fully impressed with the importance of using
disinfectants, attended personally to the application of them, and for this
purpose, visited the house several times in the course of the day. Mr.
Battram likewise visited No. 147, Royal Mint Street, where the father of
the child who died was lodged. This man was suffering from diarrhcea, and
was lying in the same bed with his wife and three young children. The
children were removed into another bed, and disinfectants were freely used in
the room. The Inspector visited the several houses in which the emigrants
were lodged two or three times every day, until they were removed to the
ship at Gravesend. Notice was given to the owner of the house to strip the
paper off the walls of the rooms in which the patients had been ill, and to
thoroughly cleanse the walls and ceilings. This work was efficiently carried
into effect.
I examined all the emigrants, 82 in number, and wrote to Mr. Harry
Leach, the Port Sanitary Medical Officer, and enclosed for his use a list of the
names of the emigrants, with remarks upon the condition of health of each of
them.
The Board, by unanimous resolution, tendered their thanks to the Port
Sanitary Authority for their promptitude in acting so efficiently in this case.
As the jurisdiction of this Board is coterminous with the District of the
Board of Guardians facilities are afforded for mutual co-operation in carrying