[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Hackney].

  • Hackney (London, England). District Council.
Date:
1857
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: [Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Hackney]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    6 spreads to another, and rarely visits the whole of a large city, such as London, at any one time, although it prevails to a much greater extent in some years than in others. The mortality from small pox in the Metropolis in each year since 1842, shows this :—■ In 1843, it was 438; in 1844, 1804; in 1845, 909; in 1846, only 257; in 1847, 955; in 1848, it rose to 1617; in 1849, it declined to 518 and in 1850, to 498; whilst in 1851 and 1852, it suddenly increased to 1066 and 1166; and in 1853, it as rapidly fell to 217 in 1853, it was 676; and in 1855, 1024; whilst last year it was only*522 and will probably be less this year. I may mention that the mortality in this district from small pox during last year, (1856) was less than one per cent, of the total number of deaths. Accumulations of human ordure are most injurious in their effects, as they produce amongst other diseases a tendency to diarrhoea in all exposed to their influence, and especially during the summer months, or when the choleraic poison is abroad. The evidence of all who have carefully investigated this subject, bears out the assertion that the only circumstance which invariably obtained in localities the most severely affected with cholera and diarrhoea, was the presence of foul accumula tions close to or within the infected houses, or of some communication between them and the houses. It has been shown that elevation, density of population, wealth and poverty, materially influence these diseases, but these accumulations yet more. There is much difficulty in effectually dealing with this kind of nuisance in your district, as so large a part is undrained; and I must, therefore, strenuously urge the necessity of making sewers in all the poorer and densely crowded portions of the district, and append a list of the localities in which I consider sewers to be most urgently required. I would also draw your attention to the fact, now well established, that sewers or drains made with bricks or unglazed pipes, allow a leakage of part of their fluid contents, by which the earth in their vicinity becomes saturated with sewage matter; I would therefore suggest the use of glazed pipes whenever they can be adopted. I also wish to direct your attention to the imperfect trapping of drains and water-closets, and trust that all new house-drains will be trapped at their entrace into sewers the former are frequently either not trapped at all, or only at their entrance into the house or yard, by a small bell-trap containing water so that, when from alteration in the weight or density of the atmosphere, the relations between the air and gases in the sewers and the atmosphere are disturbed, these bell-traps present but a slight impediment to the passage of foul air from the sewers into the houses. A similar remark applies in a more powerful manner to the ordinary valves of water-closets, but this may be remedied by the mechanism proposed by your surveyor, Mr. Lovegrove. The water supply of your district is moderately good, as by far the greater majority of the houses are supplied by the East London and New River Water Works Companies the remainder derive their supply from wells. The inhabitants occupying these latter houses complain very much of the well water, which is in many cases unfit for use, being largely contaminated with organic matter, or the chemical compounds, which result from its decomposition. The water derived from the superficial