London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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St James's 1866

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for St James's, Westminster]

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36
"Parish to the risk of another such visitation of
"Cholera as occurred in 1854.
"6. I have visited the district which was
"ravaged by Cholera in 1854. I have re-examined
"the whole of the supposed causes of the outbreak
"of Cholera in that district, and although at the
"time of that outbreak, and in a Report I made to
"the Vestry at that time, I thought the cause of
"the outbreak was independent of the state of the
"water in the Broad Street well, I now state,
"as the result of twelve years thought and investi"gation
of the subject, that the condition of the
"water in the Broad Street well at that time was
"the main cause of the fatal and terrible outbreak
"of Cholera in the Golden Square district of the
"Parish in 1854."
On the 24th of June I reported that during the past
fortnight there had been no cases of diarrhoea, and
that there was less of this disease than usual for the
time of the year. On the 5 th of July I again reported
that there were no deaths from diarrhoea. In this
I was mistaken; for on receiving the Report of the
Registrar of Deaths for the 7th of July, I found that
two sudden and fatal cases of choleraic diarrhoea had
taken place in the Saint James's Model Lodging
Houses. These cases had in no way been reported
to me, and it shews how exceedingly imperfect our
sanitary machinery was at that time. On the 10th
July I made the following Report on those cases to
the Sanitary Committee:—