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9
Metropolis, where there is more need of it, as small-pox has been far
more severe in London than in other places in England. If legally
safe for a person having a large establishment not to divulge the existence
of an infectious disease among the inmates, it certainly cannot be
morally right to do so, when it is so well known that such disease
sometimes rapidly spreads, and death results therefrom. The existence
of such a disease in a large establishment may be a great
inconvenience to the proprietor, but the concealment of it may be
the means of converting such private inconvenience into a public
danger.
The only means a Sanitary Officer has of learning the existence
of infectious diseases among the middle and upper classes is by the
occurrence of a death. If intimation were given of infectious disease
in a private family to the local Medical Officer of Health, measures
might promptly be taken to advise the family, with the concurrence
of the medical practitioner in attendance, to adopt the best means for
so isolating the patient as to prevent the disease extending to other
members of the family. The isolation of patients in a hospital, when
they cannot otherwise be kept apart, is what must be insisted on ; and
the question of having a hospital in every district, or having a sufficient
number of hospitals within, or a short distance from the metropolis,
is one which is engaging the attention of the public. Some of
the districts in London are so small in area and the population
therein so dense, that the erection of a hospital in their midst would
be impracticable.
Hospitals, however, for the poorer classes must be provided, as
it is impossible for them to isolate a case of infectious disease ; and we
must bear in mind that small-pox is never entirely absent from
London.
Small Pox.
Small pox has prevailed to a great extent in the Metropolis
during the last four months, as is shown in the subjoined table; but
on comparing the deaths from small-pox in London with those
of the corresponding weeks of the year 1871, when the disease prevailed
as an epidemic, it will be seen that the deaths have been considerably
less in number, viz., 617 to 2400.