The aerial convection of small-pox from hospitals / by John C. McVail.
- John McVail
- Date:
- 1894
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The aerial convection of small-pox from hospitals / by John C. McVail. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.
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![inclined to suppoi-t the tlieoiy of aerial convection. He referred to the fact that in some cases workhouses are actually overlooking th(i grounds of a small-pox hospital with actual immunity from small-pox. Similarly, Dr. Dudfield in his evidence said You know the case of Homerton Hospital, which is from 90 to 100 feet distant from the City of London Infirmary, in which no case of small-pox has occurred since the hospital has existed : that is a case which I have vaiy much relied upon myself, and I know it has had great weight with my colleagues, the medical officers of health. With refer- ence to the same institution, the Commissioners stated in their Report that the workhouse had scarcely an}-- cases in the epidemics of 1871-77 when the disease was extremely prevalent in the surrounding streets, although at that time the inmates were not protected by re-vaccination. The same may be said of the Hackney Union Workhouse and Infirmary, which are about a quarter of a mile from the Homerton Small-pox Hospital. The strength of the argument thus set up against aerial convection is so obvious that it is of importance to look into the details of the facts on which the argument is based. The institutions in question were of two classes, woi-khouses cind Poor-law infirmaries, the former being capable of much more thorough protection against personal communication than the latter. Eight of such institutions were mentioned, four bein!)i about half a mile from Fulliam Hospital; ona about a quarter of a mile and another about 200 feet from Highgate Hospital; one (Hackney Work- house) about a quarter of a mile and another (the City of London Workhouse) about 100 to 200 feet from Homerton Hospital. No details are given as to the institutions related to Fulham Hospital, but, as the distance was considerable, this absence of information is of less consequence, espe- cially as the fullest statement of facts has to do with the institution which was nearest to a small-pox hospital, viz., the City of London Workhouse adjoining Homerton Hospital. In Dr. Bridges' Report of January 188], re- published by tlie Royal Conuuissioii, he wrote :— 1 liave made careful inquiry for any case of small-pox occurring in this Workhouse during the present or previous epidemics among the inmates, but I have only been able to find one, and this one not attributable to the hospital. It seems likely that this statement may have been that which weighed Avith Dr. Dudfield and the medical oHicors of heafth, and which was also in the mind of the member of](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21361861_0022.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
