Box. Order Date of Infant Date of Order
of Issue. attacked. Return of
Issue. of Box. Return.
C. C. [7] 1 13 Jan. Mid. 18 Feb. 1
1877 March 1877
5 1877 4
20 Feb. „ 26 March
10 No „ 10
14 May „
33 No 18 June „ —
11 March
1878 No —
C.G.H. 2 20 Jan. 4 March 26 Feb. 2
[2] 1877 1877 1877
21 21
26 Oct. „ 26 Oct. „ 12 Nov. „
29 27
14 Feb. 14 Feb. 18 Feb.
1878 1878 1878
S.P. [1] 3 14 Feb. 2 March 23 March 3
1877 1877 1877
9 9
5 April „ No 14 May „
12 11
4 June „ 5 June 21 June „
14 1877 14
30 June „ 6 Aug. „
34 1 July „
14 March
1878 15 March
1878
C.G.H. 6 21 Feb. Early 27 March 6
[1] 1877 March 1877
11 1877 13
28 May „ 12 July „
18 No 18
27 Aug. „ 1 Oct. „
23 No 24
26 Nov. „ 1 Jan.
27 1 Jan. 1878 25
Jan. 1878 1878
30 ,, — 30
14 Feb. „
35 18 Feb. „ 20 March —
Mid. 1878
29 March March
„ 1878 —
No
G.P. [1] 7 22 Feb. No 26 March 5
1877 1877
15 2 July 15
2 July „ 1877 6 Aug. „
17 17
16 Aug. „ 16 Aug. „ 20 Sept.
19 „ 19
26 Sept. No
22 „ 5 Nov. „ 22
15 Nov.
26 23 Nov. „ 1877 17 Dec. „ 28
32 14 Jan. No 18 Feb. —
1878 1878
No
7 March „ —
S.P. [2] 4 19 Feb. No 26 March 7
1877 1877
8 No 8
28 March 4 May „
13 „ No 12
9 July „
24 4 June „ 22 Nov. 23
1877 17 Dec. „
25 28 Nov. „ 26
No 4 Feb.
28 31 Dec. „ 1878 29
No
36 13 Feb. 18 March —
1878 No ,,
30 March —
„
G.P. [2] 16 3 July No 9 Aug. 16
1877 1877
20 No 20
27 Sept. 5 Nov. „
31 „ 19 Feb. 31
1878 25 March
18 Feb. 1878
1878
The facts to be learned from the above table are not upon the whole
suggestive of relation between the operations of the club and the attack
of sufferers by the malady, and for the following reasons:—The four first
sufferers, attacked almost simultaneously in March 1877, received each of
them a separate box from the club, and in one instance only out of the
four was the next reissue of the box associated with attack of the infant
receiving it. Further, the interval between the issue of the box and
attack of the infant, in families invaded by the disease, varied very
oddly, and in a way too not easily reconcilable with such incubation
period as might have been anticipated of erysipelas under circumstances
of conveyed infection. In 8, including the four first sufferers, it
varied from two to four or more weeks; in 7 it was nil or one day only;
while in two the infant was attacked before receipt of the box.
Examination of the same sort as regards the movements of monthly nurses
gave similarly negative evidence. Apparently the disease, whatever may
have been its origin, has not been carried from case to case by means
such as might have conveyed erysipelatous or allied infection.
II. _As to skin-poisoning_. The malady from which the 29 infants have
suffered has now to be dealt with in its relation to the particular
violet powder that has been alleged to have been the cause of it. This
powder had, in every instance that I myself investigated, been bought
from one or other of two grocer’s shops situated, the one in the High
Road, the other at Baldwin’s Hill, Loughton. From inquiries by Mr. Bell,
inspector of nuisances, it would appear that of many shops in Loughton
selling violet powder, these two, and these only, obtained such powder
from a certain dealer in the East of London referred to by name by the
medical officer of health in his statement already mentioned. Mr. Bell
further ascertained that in Loughton this particular powder was sold by
the retail tradesmen in small penny packets or boxes each of which bore
the name and address of the wholesale dealer in question. The facts of
the connexion between the powder thus sold in Loughton and the prevalence
of disease are as follows:—
1. Of the 29 sufferers, 27 had the particular powder in use at or about
the date of attack. Of the remaining two, the mother of one had the
particular powder in the house at the time the infant was attacked, but
did not, so far as she can remember, use it; the other mother (whose
infant suffered very slightly) had no powder at all, and is of opinion
that the soreness of her infant’s neck was the result of pressure from
the instruments used in delivery.
2. The sufferers with few exceptions (all of whom however had the
powder) were grouped near to one or other of the two shops which alone in
this extensive parish sold the particular powder in question.
3. Infants using the particular powder, and those alone, were attacked
by the malady. This is shown in the following table, which is an
abstract of the results of personal inquiry to this end respecting
infants born in the parish during the half year ended March 1878. Except
where otherwise stated, violet powder of some sort was used to every
child, and (with certain exceptions to be considered in the text) only
one kind of powder was in use to the several children attacked by the
malady.