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28
In August, the last month of this epidemic, 23 cases occurred,
and they were thus distributed:—
10 within the ¼ mile area.
4 „ ½ „
3 „ 1 „
6 between the 1 and 3 mile area.
So that 43 4 per cent. of the cases occurred within the ¼-mile
area.
On the 29th of August, a case was removed from Stansfield
Road to the Hospital, and this was the last of the Small Pox
epidemic. Between April 16th and August 29th inclusive,
143 cases occurred; of these, 53 occurred within the ¼-mile area,
being 37 06 per cent.
In December, Small Pox again became epidemic in Lambeth, 51
cases occurring during the month; of this number seven occurred
within the ¼-mile area, or 13.7 per cent. As the direct system of
transfer of patients was now in active operation, the cases under
treatment in the Hospitals were few.
The excess of Small Pox in the neighbourhood of Fulham
Hospital, was, by the Medical Officer of the Local Government
Board, attributed to dissemination of Small Pox particles by the
air. I think that a study of this epidemic does not lead one to
the same conclusion, but rather that this prevalence is in some
way due to the traffic to and from the Hospital, or to dissemination
by continuity of drainage.
If this outbreak was due to aerial dissemination, we should
expect to find the disease evenly distributed in the ¼-mile area,
but this was not the case. The houses attacked were for the
most part, upon the north side, and near the lines of communication
with the Hospital. I said that the south side of the Hospital
was bounded by the London, Chatham & Dover Railway. This line
running from Brixton to Clapham, bi-sects both the ¼ and ½-mile
areas. There is no direct means of transit between the north and