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SANITARY REPORT
FOR THE YEAR 1879.
TO THE BOARD OP WORKS FOR THE HACKNEY DISTRICT.
Gentlemen,—
This year was remarkable for a very low death-rate
from most diseases, except inflammatory affections of the lungs;
for low temperatures in winter and summer, and an excessive
rainfall in most months, especially in summer. I have on
several occasions pointed out the intimate relations that exist
between a high summer temperature and an excessive mortality
from diarrhœa, and vice versa, especially in infants; but whilst
I am not in a position to state the precise cause or causes of
summer diarrhoea, I may say that there is strong evidence to
show that a high temperature continued for some time induces a
fermentative or putrefactive change in organic matter, either
with or without the presence of germs (some say of bacteria),
which, being received into the body by the agency of air, water,
or food, sets up this disease. I consider it to be of a specific
character, and, unlike ordinary diarrhcea, to be but slightly
dependent on the food taken, although unripe or decayed fruit
or vegetables, decomposed milk-food, &c., will doubtless predispose
to an attack, or may become the means of introducing the
specific factor of the disease into the body. A microscopic
examination of the contents of the traps in water-closets, and of
the air in houses where the disease was prevalent, showed in
many instances the presence of bacteroid forms which were
absent in cold weather, and therefore the theory has been