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13
that, by leading to the efficient practice of Vaccination, it may
prevent the future occurrence of the disease; for nothing has
occurred to warrant, in any way, a disbelief in the efficiency of
Vaccination when properly performed. Until the recent epidemic,
however, small-pox had begun to be regarded as a thing of the
past, whose ravages need no longer be feared, and whose attacks
need no longer be guarded against by prophylactic measures.
Hence the comparative neglect into which Vaccination had
fallen.
Of the total 160 deaths from diarrhœa, 133 occurred during
the autumn quarter. This number of cases, though at first sight
considerable, was not dependent upon the presence of any epidemic.
The cases occurred, almost exclusively, among the very young
and the very old, whose feeble constitutions habitually give way
from chest affections in the winter, or from bowel complaints in
the summer months. Despite the great heat of the weather,
and the extreme stench of the river, the autumnal diarrhœa did
not -become, at any time, of a serious character. It was observable
throughout, that the disease manifested itself more in
the North and East Districts, than the South Districts of London,
and still more curiously, that it prevailed most in districts remote
from the Thames.
The river-stench, dependent primarily upon the discharge
of unfiltered sewage into the river, was aggravated in the summer
of 1859, not only by the heat and drought of the season itself,
but, to a very considerable extent, by the drought of the preceding
autumn and early winter. Thus in the last four months
of the year 1858, there were only five inches of rainfall, whereas
in the last four months of the year 1860, there were 11 inches.
Hence the respective conditions of the river in the springs of
1859 and 1860 were quite incomparable with one another, as
shown by the following analyses, which give the total dissolved