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2
A record not only of death but of disease, so far as it can
be obtained without compulsory notification has been considered
one of the primary objects of the Annual Report.
It has been my endeavour so to arrange and tabulate
information relating to this matter, that it may be in a form
the most accessible to reference. The maps, a new feature
in these reports, will it is believed materially assist in this
purpose.*
The maps are a facsimile in miniature of those of the regulation
size. To each of the more important of the zymotic
diseases a map is assigned. These have a place in the office of
the department. Clean at the commencement of the year, upon
the occurrence of disease the position of the house affected is
indicated upon the map by the insertion of a black-headed
pin. By this practice, a day-to-day record of the distribution
of disease is maintained, interesting as a demonstration of the
point of origin of an epidemic,and the grouping of its individual
units and of special service in marking prominently the
scene of its collective intensity. Attention is thus attracted
to any section of the parish in which disease is prevalent, and
attention once directed, secures to the inhabitants of the
area indicated a close inspection of their houses and an
examination into the detail of the sanitary condition of their
surroundings.
To this end also a separate book of reference is provided
and allotted as a record to every street court and place in
the parish, that in each, for every house a page may be set
apart for the insertion of particulars relating to the drainage
and the water supply, the sanitary condition, internal and
external, and the incidence of epidemic disease.
* These maps have been very skillfully reproduced from the
original by Mr. Tear, junior, 12, Clapham Road, S.YV.