Short account of the cases treated in the Cholera Hospital, Surgeon Square, during the late epidemic / [J. Warburton Begbie].

  • Begbie, James Warburton, 1826-1876.
Date:
1882
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Short account of the cases treated in the Cholera Hospital, Surgeon Square, during the late epidemic / [J. Warburton Begbie]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    to the Society a short account of the cases treated in the hospital. To this subject the following remarks will be confined, as I am neither desirous nor able to give an account of the epidemic as it prevailed throughout the city generally. During the late epidemic the hospital in Surgeon Square was originally opened on the i6th of September, 1853 temporarily closed about the commencement of June, 1854, to be again opened on the 34th of August. It was finally closed a little more than a fortnight ago; the last admission being on the 30th of November, and the last dismissal on the nth of December ultimo. During the whole period there were admitted, in all, 243 patients, of which number only 45 were brought to the hospital during the earlier period, viz. from September, 1853, to May, 1854, and 198 during the period which intervened between the end of August and the commencement of December, 1854. The idea that the whole of the cases which occurred w'ere some- what equally distributed over these two distinct periods must not, however, be entertained, the Sanitary Committee having very wisely on both occasions kept the hospital open and retained the services of a medical staff, for what appeared a safe period, during which, probably for weeks, there were not admitted more than one or two cases at most. The proper impression will be conveyed, when I mention, that during the first period, as many patients were admitted during October and November as during all the other months, and that from October 3rd to 30th inclusive, 15 out of the whole 45 were admitted. Again, during the latter period, of the 198, no less than 168 were admitted during September and October, and in September alone 97. From the 22nd to the 26th of September the average of the cases under treatment in the hospital daily exceeded 25 ; on the 23rd of September there were 28 cases in hospital. Placing the numbers occurring during the two periods together, we find that the experience of the hospital has been roughly as follows :—Total number admitted, 243— of these, ma/es, 97; females, 145; total recoveries, 126; total deaths, 117. Deaths among ma/es, 43; deaths among females, 74; recoveries among males, recoveries among females, The total recoveries thus exceed the total deaths by 9, while the mortality among female patients exceeds by 2 the recoveries;