No; that sickly-looking child that you notice entering the Board School
is not, as you imagine, "pining for the fresh air of the country." He is
recovering from an acute attack of scarlet fever, and is described by
his fond parent as "peeling wonderful."
"Why does the medical man who attends the case,"--you ask--"not give
instant notice to the Local Sanitary Authority, the Parish Doctor, the
School Board Officials, and the nearest Fever Hospital?" Because
self-preservation (or preserving a case for oneself) is the first law of
nature, and also because in London neither the registration nor the
isolation of infectious disease is considered at all essential.
Of course it is to be regretted that some of the fever patients who were
taken the other day first to the West London Hospital in Hammersmith,
then to the London Fever Hospital, and afterwards to Stockwell, and who
finally--as those institutions were quite full--spent the night in a
draughty corridor of the Homerton work-house, should have collapsed
owing to exhaustion; but then what an admirable thing it is that there
should be so many places for the reception--or rejection--of patients,
and that they should be scattered all over the Metropolis!
It is really rather irritating that the laundress, whose services we
have had to dispense with owing to five of her children being down with
typhus, should call us "selfish" and "finicking," and threaten to summon
us to the Police Court for interfering with her business.
Yes, a trip by steamer on the Thames can be confidently recommended to
delicate persons in search of health. Wrap the whole face in
cotton-wool, which has previously been soaked in some powerful
disinfectant. Get the man at the wheel to sprinkle your clothing every
ten minutes with the anti-cholera mixture. When passing "Barking
Outfall," be particularly careful to go below, and keep your head
completely buried in a basin containing a mixture of smelling salts in
solution and Eau de Cologne. Beyond a sore throat for a week or two, you
will probably--thanks to these precautions--experience no evil results.
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