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75
Hospital at Stockwell. It may be noticed that the greatest
number of cases was received into the hospital from St.
Mary's Parish, Islington. Then comes the Fulham district and
then St. Mary's Kensington. I had the honour of presenting to
you a Special Report upon the "Hospital Infection Question."
In that report I dealt somewhat fully with the subject. The
following are the conclusions to which I have arrived:—
(1) That in a crowdcd city the presence in a district of a large
smallpox hospital receiving cases from a number of other
districts is almost sure to be the cause of the disease being
more prevalent in the district than it otherwise would be
without the presence of the hospital.
(2) That the disease does not spread from a smallpox hospital
by the diseased particles being carried long distances through
the air, and that scientific evidence on the subject as yet
adduced is against the probability of the disease being
carried through the air for a longer distance than 90 feet.
(3) That it is chiefly by indirect means that a smallpox hospital
is the cause of the disease being more prevalent in a district.
(4) That there is always a probability of the disease being
spread to a slight extent by officials, no matter how stringent
the regulations may be.
(5) That in the removal of cases the disease may be spread by
officials who have neglected to use proper precautions to
disinfect themselves.
(6) That nurses and other persons employed in attending upon
the patients may be the means of spreading the disease
if they are allowed to leave the hospital enclosure.
(7) That letters sent out of the hospital may be the means
of communicating the disease.
(8) That under proper management and stringent regulations'
these causes of danger are reduced to a minimum.
(9) That the disease is very liable to be introduced into a district
where a smallpox hospital exists, by means of infected
persons coming from infected houses to the locality of the
hospital for the purpose of makingenquiries or seeing relatives
who are dying.
(10) That the very large majority of the cases of smallpox that
occur in any district are contracted from other cases that
have been concealed and treated at home within the district.
(11) That it is detrimental to a patient's chance of recovery to
be treated in a hospital with a large number (over 50) of