Dr. G.S. Buchanan's report to the Local Government Board on the sanitary condition of the county borough of West Bromwich, and on prevalence of enteric fever there / [G.S. Buchanan].

  • Buchanan, George Seaton, Sir, 1869-1936.
Date:
1896
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Dr. G.S. Buchanan's report to the Local Government Board on the sanitary condition of the county borough of West Bromwich, and on prevalence of enteric fever there / [G.S. Buchanan]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    1/12
    OFFICIAL COPY. Dr. G. S. Buchanan’s Report to the Local Government Board on the Sanitary Condition of the County Borough of West Bromwich, and on prevalence of Enteric Fever there. R. Thorne Thorne, Medical Officer, February 1st, 1896. The occasion of the inquiry which forms the subject of this report was a prevalence of enteric fever in the Borough of West Bromwich in the autumn of 1895. Fourteen cases were notified in August, 24 in September, and 34 in October. At the time of my visit in November further cases were occurring. Records of previous years show persistence of this disease in the borough ; since the adoption of the Notification Act in 1890, there have been but two months in which no cases of enteric fever were notified, while in the autumn of each year the disease has shown exceptional prevalence. Before considering the circumstances under which enteric fever has been, and is now, prevalent in West Bromwich, it will be convenient to give some general description of the borough, its sanitary condition, and administration. In so doing I propose to follow the report to the Board in which Dr. Ballard recorded the condition of the district in 1875. I have nothing to add to Dr. Ballard’s description of the physical characteristics of the Urban Sanitary District of West Bromwich, which, without alteration of area, was constituted a Borough in 1882, and has since become a County Borough. It is situated on an irregular table-land bounded on all sides but the east by a horseshoe bend of the River Tame. The eastern part of the borough consists of open land, sloping to the boundary from a central ridge which runs northward from the southern or south-eastern confines of the district. Most of the land here is agricultural, and it comprises Sandwell Park, and Dartmouth Park recently acquired by the Corporation as a recreation ground. West of the ridge is the populous area of the borough, comprising West Bromwich proper, along with certain other groups of population, some at a level considerably higher than the rest of the borough, which have grown up near past or present centres of employment. These groups of population are separated one from another by large areas of waste land, by canals, and disused coal pits, and, save where the main roads allow it, have not much communication one with another. Except for a limited area in the south-eastern portion of the district, situated upon thick Permian strata, the borough lies entirely on the Coal Measures, w'hich are here intersected by faults. Hence its geological character varies greatly. The superficial soil consists in different quarters of the district of porous sand and fine gravel, of friable shale wrhich readily turns to stiff clay, of marl, and of solid limestone. Where the coal seams have been worked out, sinking of the surface has here and there occurred. Evidence of this is especially found in the western part of the borough, where houses may be LONDON: PRINTED FOR HER MAJESTY’S STATIONERY OFFICE, BY EYRE AND SPOTTISWOODE, PRINTERS TO THE QUEEN’S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY. And to be purchased, either directly or through any Bookseller, from EYRE and SPOTTISWOODE, East Harding Street, Fleet Street, E.C. JOHN MENZIES & Co , 12, Hanover Street, Edinburgh, and 90, West Nile Street, Glasgow; or HODGES. FIGGIS, & Co., Limited, 104, Grafton Street, Dublin. ; or , 1 library c-—1- - f General Collections f +P No. 99. 1896. Price Threepence.