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extremely limited, and had it not been for the establishment of the
Hospitals of the Metropolitan Asylums' Board we should have been in
a very much worse position than we are ; and I must here thankfully
acknowledge the great help and assistance we have received in dealing
with the present epidemic, not only from the Managers of the Asylums'
Hospitals, but from the Officers of the Board of Guardians of this
Parish. Many of the persons that were removed were of course not
paupers, and the Guardians would have been perfectly justified in
refusing to take charge of them; but no question of this kind has,
within my knowledge, been raised, and all persons suffering from
infectious Fever or Small Pox have been removed to an Hospital,
except those refusing to submit to such removal. But the only legal
mode by which persons can obtain admission into these Hospitals is
by an order signed by the Relieving Officer or the Master of the
Workhouse, and a certificate of a District or Workhouse Medical
Officer. Much valuable time is thus lost in obtaining the attendance
of the Poor Law officials, and getting the necessao' forms made out
and signed. It would be a very much better plan, and would save
much of the time of the already fully occupied District Medical
Officers, if the certificate of any properly qualified medical man were
accepted by the Hospital Authorities as sufficient for this purpose.
Some suggestions for the treatment of Small Pox epidemics in the
(previously referred to) report of the Managing Committee of the
Homerton Fever and Small Pox Hospitals are of such importance
that I give them in extenso:—
Small Pox lias very seriously disturbed tlie health and comfort of the dwellers of
London twice during the past seven years: it has not only destroyed a large number
of lives, which might have been saved, but has put the Ratepayers to an immense
expense for the maintenance of Patients in the Hospitals. Notwithstanding these
deplorable results, and the lessons they teach, the same state of things is allowed to
continue year after year, no measures of a comprehensive character, suited to the
wants of this vast Metropolis, being taken to arrest the ravages of the disease,
beyond the mere sending of 50 or 60 per cent, of the cases to the Hospitals for
Paupers, while the remaining cases are permitted to remain in their own homes,
spreading the infection in every direction, and thus keeping the epidemic alive. The
certainty of the recurrence of Small Pox epidemics, unless steps are taken for improving
the measures now adopted for preventing Small Pox, and for dealing with it
when it breaks out in a severe form, demands early and earnest consideration by
the Legislature, and by the Public Health Authorities.
With regard to the measures which might be taken in these matters, there is little
need for the Committee to refer to the subject of primary vaccination, as they
believe that the Vaccination Acts in this respect are working satisfactorily, and are