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17
walls. The result of my enquiries undoubtedly is that they
should not, unless all communication between the two
hospitals be completely cut off. I find that numerous cases
of small pox have occurred amongst fever patients, either
whilst in the Homerton Fever Hospital, or within 14 days
after the discharge of the patient, as deaths in the Fever
Hospital have been registered as having arisen from scarlet
fever or fever, followed by an attack of small pox, and I also
saw several cases of small pox in the Fever Hospital. In the
case of the Homerton Hospital, I believe these cases arose
from the patients, nurses, and friends being admitted to both
hospitals through one gate; and have pointed this out as a
source of danger to the inhabitants, not only of this District,
but of other localities from which patients are brought.
Indeed, nothing I think justifies the use of an entrance
common to small pox and fever patients.
As schools are often said to be sources of infection during
the prevalence of zymotic diseases, I had a house to house
visitation made of the streets near the Hospital, for the
purpose of enquiring as to the schools which the children
attended, and especially as regards Homerton College School
and the Homerton Row School, which are the nearest to the
Hospital. I was unable to trace any infection in this
manner, as the children attended numerous schools, very
few comparatively going to either of the above-named
schools, as the charges are higher at the Homerton College
School and the scholars consist chiefly of the children of
persons residing out of the immediate district. In Templar
road, from which several of the children came, there were
several cases of small pox in the houses in which they lived,
but the school children did not in any instance take the
disease. I did not expect that this school would prove a source
of infection, as it is beyond the distance at which I believe the
disease can be carried through the air; and the same applies
a fortiori to Homerton Row School and the Homerton
Training College, which are at a greater distance still. It