Dr. Blaxall's report to the Local Government Board upon the sanitary condition of Calne in connexion with an outbreak of diphtheria and typhoid fever in that town / [F.H. Blaxall].

  • Blaxall, F. H.
Date:
[1884]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Dr. Blaxall's report to the Local Government Board upon the sanitary condition of Calne in connexion with an outbreak of diphtheria and typhoid fever in that town / [F.H. Blaxall]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    library Dr. Blaxall’s Report to the Local Government Board upon the Sanitary Condition of Caine in connexion with an Outbreak of Diphtheria and Typhoid Fever in that Town. George Buchanan, Medical Department, June 17, 1884. The present inquiry was instituted by direction of the Local Government Board in consequence of the Medical Officer of Health having reported the prevalence of diphtheria in the town of Caine, and of the vicar having subsequently informed the Board that typhoid fever had also appeared there, both communications making special mention of the existence of general nuisance caused by the escape of sewer air from the surface ventilators. It may be premised that the sanitary conditions and circumstances of this town were made the subject of inquiry by me in 1874. I propose, therefore, before treating of recent prevalence of disease, to refer briefly to my report on that occasion, quoting from it such parts as may be equally applicable at the present time, and noting any improvements that may have been effected within recent years. The following is the general and topographical description of the town as given in my former report:— Caine, a municipal and parliamentary borough in the county of Wilts, is situated on the slopes of hills and in a valley watered by the river Marden, which enters from the eastward, and flowing to the centre of the town is there dammed for the purpose of supplying a branch of the Berks and Wilts Canal. On leaving the town the river runs in a westerly direction parallel with the canal. “ The soil is of loose rubble and made earth, overlying coralline oolite, which is much traversed by fissures.” “ The Urban Sanitary District, comprising the municipal borough and part of the parliamentary borough beyond, contains 721 houses and a population of 3,333.” (According to the census of 1881 the houses have increased to 732 and the population to 3,405.) “ Two extensive slaughtering and bacon-curing establishments form the chief industry of the town, the number of pigs annually killed amounting to some 100,000 or more.” “ Nearly every poor family has a piece of allotment land, varying in extent from a quarter to half an acre, and situated just outside the town.” The conditions then reported as chiefly calling for remedial action may be sum¬ marised as follows:— (1.) The water supply derived from wells greatly exposed to pollution. (2.) Imperfect and defective sewerage. (3.) Unwholesome method of excrement disposal by means of cesspit privies. (4.) Nuisances arising from pig-slaughtering establishments, pigsties, and accumu¬ lations of refuse in the vicinity of dwellings. Sanitary Conditions. My inspection of the sanitary condition of the town at the present time as compared with 1874 shows good work done by the Authority for the improvement of the water supply and the sewerage, to be presently considered, but in respect of other matters apparently little or nothing has been done to give effect to the recommendations appended to my report, and which had for their object the remedying of the several evils pointed out. Thus, cesspit privies are still very general, being only now in progress of abolition by the substitution of closets in communication with the sewers; but these latter closets are'not provided with water for flushing, and they thus favour the lodg¬ ment of foecal matter in the drains, and so give rise to a foul state of sewers, which is beyond such remedy as measures of ventilation usually afford. Again, no steps have been taken to secure the systematic and frequent removal of refuse, and as a conse-