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10
children to take the infection one from the other.
I think that more active means might be taken in
our various schools for the exclusion of the children
of infected families. The same remarks apply to
the infection of hooping cough as to that of scarlet
fever, but persons are much less careful in guarding
against hooping cough than scarlet fever, and
consequently the mortality is much greater. This
disease is also greatly propagated by the injudicious
admission of children with hooping cough into
schools. Where children are ill with hooping
cough the crowded schoolroom is almost the worse
place they can be sent to. The evil effects of
overcrowding on this disease may be seen by the
fact that the mortality from this disease is greatest
in the most crowded districts. Thus of forty-seven
cases during the past year, thirty-one occurred in
the Berwick Street Division.
It is gratifying to find but one case of small pox
recorded. This is by no means, however, the
result of increased attention to vaccination, as no
active measures have been taken for putting the
provisions of the Public Vaccination Act in force in
this parish. Nothing short of active superintendence
can overcome the indifference of the population to
their physical welfare. It is only when disease is
present in their homes or death has bereaved them
of their loved ones, that they become alive to the
necessity of preventing disease. The legislature
has, however, placed sufficient powers in the hands
of local authorities for preventing this disease, and