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October 11th, when a case was reported in Birdcage-walk. This person
refused to be removed to hospital, and was very imperfectly isolated, as
the lower portion of the house he occupied was used as a grocer's shop,
the business of which was carried on during the whole time of the illness,
and, there being no private entrance, the wife of the patient was obliged
to pass through the shop, and was probably a means of conveying the
disease to other persons. The first death was registered on November
11th, at 21, Camden-gardens, as unvaccinated, there being three other
children in the house also unvaccinated; these three were immediately
vaccinated, but all took the disease, and one other died.
On the 20th of October, I presented the following report to the Yestry
upon the subject of small pox: —
Report on the present Epidemic of Small Pox in London.
Gentlemen,—I feel it my duty to draw the attention of the Vestry to the present
outbreak of small pox in Islington and South London. The disease is reported to be of
a severe character. A great many of the patients at the Small Pox Hospital are suffering
from the hsemorrhagic and confluent forms of the disease, which is found to he usually,
the case at the commencement of a severe epidemic.
Since 1872 there has been very little small pox in London. In the month of January
there were no deaths registered from this disease in the whole of the Metropolis; in
February there were three; in March, seven; in May, deaths occurred in Lambeth, Camberwell,
and Chelsea, but were confined chiefly to the South side of the Thames, until the
outbreak occurred in Islington. As far as can be ascertained, the deaths have been as
follows in the various districts:—Lambeth, 27; St. Olave's, 3; St. Saviour's, 11;
Camberwell, 7; Wandsworth, 6; as well as 30 in the Stockwell Hospital, returned as
from the South of London; Islington, 18; Chelsea, 3; Stepney, 2; St. Pancras, 3;
and one each from Marylebone, Hackney, Kensington, Mile End Old Town, Poplar,
Bethnal Green, and Shoreditch. As will be seen from the above list, deaths have
occurred nearly all over London. There were seven deaths registered in the last quarter
of the year, 26 in the second, and 110 in the third. It therefore behoves us to be on
our guard, and to be prepared for the almost inevitable visitation of small pox, which we
shall shortly have upon us. Now there are only two certain ways of avoiding small
pox; one is, keeping out of the way of infection; and the other is, efficient vaccination
and revaccination. Now I feel it my duty to urge strongly upon the Vestry to take
action in this matter. Bills should be posted all over the parish, recommending all who
have not good scars, or who have never been successfully revaccinated, to be done
immediately, and that all children who have not been vaccinated should immediately be
submitted to the operation. The bills should also give the addresses of the various