Report on the cholera epidemic of 1866 in England : supplement to the twenty-ninth annual report of the Registrar-General of births, deaths, and marriages in England / presented to both Houses of Parliament by command.

  • Great Britain. General Register Office.
Date:
1868
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report on the cholera epidemic of 1866 in England : supplement to the twenty-ninth annual report of the Registrar-General of births, deaths, and marriages in England / presented to both Houses of Parliament by command. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

    196/436 (page 88)
    The following letters to Professor Frankland show the further progress of the 1 inquiry j ‘‘ My clear Sir, \Monday^ July ZOth, 1866. The cholera outbreak is almost confined to the area of the East London . t Water Company’s region ; the water showing no signs of impurity in Poplar, where I have been, but of course that proves nothing. Will you make a searching inquiry ? Can the Lea above their source of supply be infected by barges or boats, or towns ? The Eegent’s Canal, Limehouse basin, is in an abominable state. It is about the centre of the attack. The cases are scattered all about the region. Ever yours, “ W. Fakr.” “ My dear Sir, \_Tuesday,~\ July 315^, 1866. ' On further studying the subject* my suspicions of the East London ' water are very much strengthened. “ • The weather has been dry, and it is probable that the Lea water has been scanty, and the canals and cuts, in a vile state, are in dangerous proximity. ' “ If you will arrange for getting analyses of the water, such as you think may i •, test its present quality, immediately, we will publish it in the next week’s table. '. You must send it to us on Monday at 4 p.m. If you are disposed to go a little 1 further, and to visit the river Lea, I will accompany you with pleasure to-morrow, '. or we could get some one to go to the spot and to the works for information. I 11 will write to the engineer to-day. ! “ The mortality is terrible just in the area of East London supply, and in other 'i parts slight ; it has been so for two weeks, and quite reminds me of the Southwark i i slaughter. ' “ I am, &c. “ W. FAEK.”t Professor Frankland’s assistant on August 1st {Wednesday) took some of the ■) Company’s waters from pipes coming from Lea Bridge and analyzed it, as the two '; sources of supply were then unknown. t Against the hypothesis that the East London water was the channel of in- fection, it was urged that parts of their field were comparatively free ; I found this i to be the case, and came to the conclusion that their water was distributed from two different sources. This proved to be correct. The Weekly Return (July 28) was published on the morning of Wednesday^ August 1st in the newspapers. It contained the following passages :— “ It is a peculiarity of the case that the greater part of this slaughter in seven j days of 1253 people of all ages took place within a limited portion of the London .! area. 924 of the deaths, 811 by cholera, and 113 by diarrhoea, were registered in i : the six districts of Bethnal-green, Whitechapel, St. George-in-the-East, Stepney, » Mile-end Old Town, and Poplar, including Bow, among about a seventh part of the i population of London and on one-fourteenth of its area. The attack extends all along the north side of the Thames, from the River Lea and the Isle of Dogs to the Tower of London. Limehouse basin and the Regent’s Canal are the Central line of the attack, which stretches as far north as Victoria-park. This is essentially the port of London, inhabited by its maritime population. The canals and the basin are full of foul water, and are apparently connected with the Limehouse cut, the Hackney cut, and the River Lea. The East London Waterworks canal draws * From 4 to 8 o’clock on Monday evening, with WyId’s water supply map and the returns,—Mylne’s map of water supply was with Professor Frankland at the College of Chemistry, and the Eeport of the Government Engineers was inaccessible,—as people were dying of cholera at the rate of one to two hundred a day, it was determined to publish the opinion formed in a way to warn the Company, but not to create panic among the people. f Professor Frankland in reply from Bettws-y-Coed stated that his principal assistant Mr. Valenth? would perform any analyses required by the Registrar General.