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and three were known to have been contracted elsewhere,
leaving six to be assumed as possibly due to local causes,
and of these, two were almost certainly caught in London.
In no case was any sanitary defect found that could be
supposed to have anything to do with the disease; there
were no secondary cases, and no other illnesses in any
of the houses. Attention has been lately directed both
in the general and medical press to the conveyance of
disease by means of watercress and shell fish, and it is
admitted that there is every reason to believe that these
charges are based on good and sufficient grounds; the
fact that both oysters and watercress are eaten uncooked
lends support to the belief that they may possibly be
carriers of the disease.
Measles.
But very few cases and no deaths.
WhoopingCough
This was not at all prevalent, only a few cases coming
to my knowledge, but there was one death, the complication
or secondary cause being Laryngismus Stridulus.
Diphtheria.
There were twenty cases in thirteen houses, with
three deaths, as against twenty-three cases in nineteen
houses and three deaths the year before. There was no
outbreak, no cause common to the majority, and the cases
were pretty evenly distributed throughout the year. With
two exceptions there seems to have been no spread by
personal contact or infection. One case in a lodginghouse
was removed to the hospital, and inspection shewed
a somewhat defective condition of sanitary arrangements
which were subsequently rectified. The head of the
house in another case referred the illness to a stagnant
pool in adjoining premises at the foot of his garden,
the house being stated to be sanitarily perfect. Quite
early in January a case occurred in a house that had
had considerable attention paid to it before occupation.
The patient was a male aged 23, he recovered in due course,
but on October 2nd another member of the family became
ill, and on the 20th a third. No defects sufficient to