Observations of the Medical Officer of Health [E.W. Hope] upon the report of Dr. R.J. Reece to the Local Government Board on smallpox and smallpox hospitals at Liverpool, 1902-3.

  • Hope, E. W. (Edward William), 1855-1950.
Date:
1905
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Observations of the Medical Officer of Health [E.W. Hope] upon the report of Dr. R.J. Reece to the Local Government Board on smallpox and smallpox hospitals at Liverpool, 1902-3. 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.

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    CITY OF LIVERPOOL. OBSERVATIONS of the MEDICAL OFEICER OE HEALTH upon the Report by Dr. R. J. Reece to the Local Govern- ment Board, on Smallpox and Smallpox Hospitals, at Liverpool, 1902-0 D The Port Sanitaiy and TIos))itals Committee on March dOtli, 1905, had under consideration the JAe])ort by Dr. R. J. Reece to the Local Government Boaid on Smallpox and Smallpox Hos[>itals at Livei'[)Ool, 1902-3, and passed the following resolution ;— “ That the Medical Officer be ]-equested to furnish the Committee with his obsei'vations upon the Report.” In pursuance of that resolution the following observations are submitted;— The investigation made by Di'. Reece extended over nearly twelve months, namely, from Vlarch, 1904, to February, 1905, and he devoted the closest personal attention to those aspects of the outbreak respecting which the Local Government Board desired information, and which may be presumed to be those dealt with in the Report. After mentioning the area of the City, viz., 23 square miles, the population, 723,430, and certain other statistical details, an acknowledgment is made of the cordial co-o})eration and assistance given locally in the course of the investigation. The Medical Officer of Health arranged that every book and every record should be placed at Dr. Reece's disposal; also that every member of the staff whom he desired to intei'view personally should be available for the purpose. In this way every incident and every detail were placed before him. After these preliminaries, the Report proceeds to deal with three important matters connected with the outbreak, Avhich it will be convenient to consider in their order, viz.;— 1. —The administrative arrangements available for dealing ’with importations of smallpox into the City, and for preventing and limiting its spread. 2. —The administration of the hospitals. 3. —The influence exei’ted by the hospitals themselves in the diffusion of smallpox by what has been called “ aerial convection.” 1. GENERAL ADMINISTRATIVE ARRANGEMENTS. Dr. Reece's description of these is moderately detailed and substantially cori'ect. He mentions, ‘‘ Liverpool, as a sea})ort town, attracting as it does a lai'ge number of persons of tlie working and vagrant classes from a great variety of sources at home and abroad, has been especially prone to receive smallpox, and to a