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by his immortal discovery, showed that if the disease
with which his name is associated, is one of "the penalties
of Adam," the debt can be either evaded altogether,
or discharged by the payment of a very small dividend.
Of the two deaths from small-pox, one was certainly
imported from Manchester.
The deaths from measles were not very numerous.
Measles may occur at all seasons of the year, though
cold weather appears most favourable for its production.
I am inclined to think that medical men are less
solicitous to prevent the spread of this disease, than
of scarlet fever or small-pox. This may be due to the
fact, that whilst there is a very general susceptibility to
measles,—most persons suffering from it at some period
of their lives—the disease is, in ordinary cases, of so
mild a type as not to beget anxiety. Of the 11 deaths,
9 occured in St. Mary's District, and 2 in St. Johns.
We have seen that the parish suffered from scarlet
fever in an epidemic form, though of a mild type, in
common with other parts of the Metropolis and of the
country. As the Registrar-General remarks, "The
great increase of scarlet fever, forms the special feature
in the returns of last year."
Knowing that schools, more particularly day schools,
are often centres of contagion, and thus contribute
largely to its extension, the Sanitary and Public Health
Committee had some months previously drawn the
attention of school-masters and school authorities to
the desirableness of not allowing any child that had
been absent from infectious disease, to return to school
without a medical certificate. The Committee had