Special Report.

ANIMAL VACCINATION

AT THE HAMBURG VACCINATION STATION.* THE subject treated of in this paper is just now engaging so much attention that we print the present abstract of it. The author shows the difficulties of obtaining perfectly safe humanised lymph in sufficient quantity, in a short history of the proceedings of the Hamburgh institution. This was established early in 1872, after the serious epidemic of small-pox of the preceding year. During the first year of its existence 4,084 children were vaccinated with humanised lymph, besides 39,332 revaccinations of adults, and 4,064 tubes supplied to private practitioners.

There was thus so great a demand for lymph that any vaccinated child that seemed suitable was made to contribute the contents of its vesicles. It so happened at last, in consequence of the crowd at the station, that notwithstanding due care, several infants got vaccinated from a syphilitic subject. Of these one soon showed unmistakable signs of infection. The antivaccination party got great capital out of the case by prosecuting the chief medical officer and procuring his dismissal. When, therefore, Dr. Voigt succeeded to the post, he, in order to avoid any like disaster in the future, drew up the following set of rules for the selection of subjects to supply lymph :—

1. That the subject be not younger than six months, or older than twelve years.

2. That there be no symptoms of hereditary or acquired syphilis evident, nor in general any sores or rash on the skin, nor any swelling of glands.

3. That the subject be well nourished.

4. That the vesicles be well developed, and show no purulent or sanguineous contents.

A record of cases was kept, and Dr. Voigt thus tabulates the results of the working of these rules, from March 19 to August 21, 1874.

Five hundred children were examined during this period, and of these only 126 were found fit to vaccinate from; the remaining 374 were rejected from various causes, as follow:

Brought back for inspection too late
Subject above or below the limit of age
Unfavourable history of the health of the
parents

Children ill-nourished.

26 18

2

Defective condition of the vesicles Vesicles scratched or over-ripe

With respect to swollen glands, the author states that later experience has led him to regard their presence as the only test by which all subjects labouring under so-called latent syphilis can be eliminated, for he had never met with a case in which he could not detect hardened glands. This well might of course exclude some infants which were not syphilitic, but these would probably be strumous, and therefore undesirable to vaccinate from.

Communicated by Dr. Leonhardt Voigt, the chief vaccination officer, to the Deutsche Vierteljahrsschrift für öffentliche Gesundheitspflege, Band viii. Heft. iii. 1876.

The rejection of so many subjects under these rules led, as might be supposed, to quite a lymph famine, and this it was which induced Dr. Voigt to inquire into the system of animal vaccination in use in Holland.

There is a Parc vaccinogène at each of the four Dutch towns, Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam, and Utrecht. Different plans are adopted at each of these establishments, but in general some contrivances are required for the management of the calves employed.

heifer mentioned by Dr. Voigt are, the difficulty of The only objections to vaccination from the obtaining animals in small towns, where but few are required for slaughtering, and the cost of tending as well as purchase. He does not mention any bad effects upon the infants vaccinated, but on the contrary states the effects of animal lymph to be similar the caution to avoid the immature and over-ripe to those of the humanised lymph. He simply gives vesicles.

The method of procedure is, after strapping the heifer to a specially constructed table, to shave a patch of the skin of the abdomen near the teats, and to make from 60 to 100 punctures on this spot about three centimètres apart. The vesicles rise in five days (120 hours) in summer, but about two days later in winter. As soon as the vesicle is ripe, its base is seized by sliding forceps, and let alone till the vesicle bursts, and a drop of lymph exudes; then the vesicle with the drop of lymph is shaved off by a lancet, and placed on a glass slide for the vaccinating officer, who uses both the lymph and the vesicular tissue.

If the lymph is to be preserved, it is best, the author says, to employ glass slides for the purpose, and not tubes, since it is prone to coagulate, and cannot therefore be blown out. Moreover, preserved humanised lymph. calves lymph loses its activity sooner than does the

Dr. Voigt gives a detailed account of the several Dutch stations, but with these we do not think it needful, at present at all events, to trouble our

readers.

Medical Officer's Report.

SUNDERLAND PORT SANITARY AUTHORITY. DR. YELD has presented his first annual report to the chairman and members of the Port Sanitary Authority, Sunderland. He remarks that it is just twelve months since this authority was constituted by order of the Local Government Board, with a view of its carrying out the provisions of the Public Health Act, so far as they related to shipping. There was at the outset much difference of opinion amongst the members as to the advisability and desirability of appointing an inspector of nuisances, in order that the various vessels lying in the river and docks might be inspected from time to time to see that they were kept in a good sanitary condition. The ultimate result was that a resolution was carried to appoint an inspector, Mr. Preston, who commenced his work on January 28 last, so that the figures under notice represent the work of eight months, so far as the inspection of vessels is concerned. During that period, 410 steam and 555 sailing vessels have been inspected, making a total of 965, of which number 943 were British and twenty-two foreign vessels-the latter included ten

each of the shops, and that when analysed the milk was found to be adulterated with water. The defendants pleaded 'Guilty.' Mr. Knox fined them 5s. and 23s. 6d. expenses each,

THE WASHING OF INFECTED CLOTHES. 'SENDING the clothes to be washed,' as Eliza Eastwood did, in obedience (as she declares) to medical direction, may involve very serious consequences. A lodger of hers was seized with the small-pox, and on his recovery the bedding was sent off to a laundress to be washed, without previous disinfection. On a health inspector going to the washerwoman's house, he found the infected clothes in a small room along with sixty-four articles of personal and domestic use. The laundress does not appear to have received any hint that the bedding was infected. Such recklessness seems almost criminal, and the careless housekeeper has been fined 40s. and costs by the Lancashire magistrates.

ORDER TO CLOSE A WELL.

AT Hammersmith, Elizabeth Spooner, a widow, of Back Street, Acton, was summoned, at the instance of the Acton Local Board, to show cause why a well in her occupation should not be permanently closed. The medical officer said he analysed the water in the defendant's well on two occasions. The first was in July, when he detected the presence of sewage matter in the water. In December he found it worse, there being more ammonia in it, and very dangerous to health. The defendant said she had lived there over thirty-seven years and brought up a family, always using the water without any sickness. Mr. Paget made an order for the well to be closed within three months.

NUISANCE FROM A DITCH.

VICE-CHANCELLOR BACON has had before him the case of Baker v. the Mayor of Wisbech. This was an action for the purpose of preventing the defendants from suffering sewage to flow into a ditch, and so be a nuisance to the plaintiff. The case set up by the defendants was that the sewage complained of did not come from any operations carried on by them, but resulted from inhabitants of houses allowing their refuse to pass into gully holes made by the defendants as part of an incomplete system of drainage not yet in work. The Vice-Chancellor held that as the gully holes had been made by the defendants, and the inhabitants in question had no other means of disposing of their refuse, the defendants were the parties liable. He therefore granted an injunction, but suspended its operation for two months.

ADULTERATED BREAD.

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The de

AT the Salford Police-court H. Pownall, baker, Broad Street, Pendleton, was charged with having, contrary to the Food and Drugs Act, 1875, sold an article of food that was not of the nature, substance, or quality of the article demanded.' Inspector Thompson bought at the defendant's shop, on Jan. 17, a 4 lb. loaf, which he handed over to Mr. Bell, borough analyst; and that gentleman found that it contained twenty grains of alum. fendant pleaded that he was entirely ignorant, before this prosecution was begun, that his bread was adulterated. The alum must either have been in the flour when he bought it, or have been put into the dough without instruction by his bakers. He was fined twenty shillings and costs. A similar charge was preferred against J. Ellis, baker, Cross Lane. The defendant sold to Inspector Thompson a 4 lb. loaf, which was adulterated with thirtyfive grains of alum. He admitted to the magistrates that formerly, when his flour was weak' he used alum, but some time ago he ceased this practice, and entirely prohibited the use of alum in his bakehouse, and could not tell how the loaf sold came to be adulterated. ordered to pay twenty shillings and costs.

He was

OFFENCE AGAINST THE PETROLEUM ACT.

AT Lambeth, H. Brown, a shopkeeper at Sydenham Grove Terrace, Lower Norwood, was summoned by the Metropolitan Board of Works, under the Petroleum Act, 1871, for keeping in an earthenware vessel more than a pint of petroleum, whereby he had incurred a penalty of 20. per day. Mr. Fry said the proceedings had been adopted to protect the public, as the storage of petroleum was most dangerous unless proper precautions were taken. In this instance the inspector to the Board had visited the defendant's shop and bought some petroleum, which was supplied out of an earthenware vessel, and was found to be highly inflammable. The defendant pleaded Guilty,' and said that what he had done was in ignorance of the law. His brother had charge of the shop. Mr. Fry said the Board did not press the case, and Mr. Chance said he should impose a penalty of only 10s. and costs.

UNWHOLESOME SAUSAGES.

Mrs.

AT the Central Police Court, R. Riddell, butcher, 630, Gallowgate, was charged with having sold for human food to Margaret Fairley two half-pounds of sausages, and to Thomas Robertson, a sanitary inspector, half a pound of sausages, composed of parts of an animal unsound, unwholesome, or unfit for human food. Fairley deposed that she had sent her child for half-apound of sausages. On cooking them, they emitted a peculiarly offensive, sickening smell, and their appearance was also curious, a froth coming off them like that on porter. She took a very small piece of the sausage, and immediately thereafter she became very sick and vomited. She had been ill for some time afterwards, and lost her work for a week through it. She told a constable of the Occurrence; a sanitary inspector was called in, another half-pound of sausages sent for, and the inspector took it with him. T. Robertson, sanitary inspector, corroborated this witness as to the offensive smell from the meat, and stated that he had also purchased a half-pound of sausages from Riddell, which he gave to Dr. Wallace, city analyst. Dr. Wallace stated that, having examined the meat, he found it in a putrid condition. Dr. Russell, medical officer, stated he had been called to examine the woman, and had found her symptoms precisely those that a person suffering from poison from foul animal matter would show. She was evidently just recovering from a violent disarrangement of the stomach and bowels. The magistrate imposed a fine of 51. or thirty days' imprisonment.

UNREGISTERED LODGING HOUSE.

T. WRIGHT, 49 Cottage Row, Bermondsey, was sum. moned, under the Common Lodging-house Act, for taking in lodgers in an unlicensed house, which was likewise in a filthy state; also with overcrowding the rooms, and not providing for a division of the sexes. Sergeant Gillies, 54 A, said that in November last he visited the defendant's house, and found it overcrowded. He saw the wife and told her that it could not be allowed, and that if she wanted to keep a common lodging-house she must have all her rooms cleaned, ventilated, and allow only a certain number of lodgers to each room. The wife said she would do as requested, and apply to have the house registered. In January he visited the house again, and found nothing had been done, and that the rooms were still overcrowded. Inspector Wallis said that on the 3rd inst., at 2 A. M., he accompanied last witness, and on being admitted into the house he found three men sleeping on the landing. A mattress had been laid down and an old door placed across to prevent them falling downstairs. Each of these men paid 2s. 6d. a week. In one room the defendant, his wife, and a strange woman, who paid for her lodging, were sleeping. In another room, a woman, four children, and a young man and young woman, sixteen and seventeen years of age, were sleeping on two beds side by side. They each of them paid 25. a week. The rooms were very filthy, and unfit for habitation. The defendant's wife, who attended,

said it was all owing to the floods. The people had been flooded out, and she gave them shelter. Inspector Wallis said the floods had nothing whatever to do with the neighbourhood. All the parties told him they had paid for their lodgings weekly. The magistrate said it was a very bad case, and fined the defendant 40s, and costs.

DAMAGE FROM OVERFLOW OF WATER.

IN the Sheriff Court, Glasgow, an action for 20., restricted to 127., for loss sustained through an overflow of water, was heard by Sheriff Lees. In the summons it was alleged that on the 4th ultimo, in consequence of the carelessness of the defender, water from a jawbox in a house at 118 M'Lellan Street, belonging to defender, was allowed to overflow, whereby it 'percolated through the floor to the house occupied by the pursuer immediately underneath, and destroyed a large quantity of body clothing and wearing apparel, besides bed-clothes, bedding, and furniture, belonging to the pursuer, his wife and family, who were injured in their bodily health, the said house being so saturated with water that it was and still is uninhabitable, and they had to remove therefrom to lodgings.' From the evidence led it appeared that defender's plumber had had occasion to turn off the water in the land in which pursuer lived for the purpose of making some repairs in connection with the fittings in one of the back houses. Before doing so he warned all the tenants in the land as to his intentions. The water was turned off for three or four hours, and the plumber after finishing his repairs turned it on. The alleged overflow of water commenced after the water was turned on, and it was not discovered by any one of the tenants until late in the evening, and only after the pursuer's house had been much damaged by the water which came from the house above, none of the occupants of which were in at the time to discover the overflow. After several witnesses were heard on both sides, the Sheriff said it appeared to him that it was a case in which the pursuer was entitled to damages, and he would therefore decree against defender for 4., with expenses.

Review.

The Sanitary System of Scotland; its Defects and Proposed Remedies. By WALTER COOK SPENS, Advocate, one of the Sheriff-Substitutes of Lanarkshire. Pp. 178. Edinburgh Edmonston and Douglas. 1876.

THERE are always some crumbs of consolation to be picked up in the most adverse circumstances, and kind Providence often sends compensation to patient merit for the spurns of the unworthy. Scotland may gratefully accept such a work as this by Sheriff Spens as a very substantial amends for the fact that, while England and Ireland have for two years been blessed with a consolidated Public Health Act, her health has not been the subject of legislation for ten years. How imperfect the provisions of the antiquated Public Health Act of Scotland are is apparent from the extent of the changes which Mr. Spens finds it necessary to suggest in the course of his long and able analysis. The central authority, the local authorities, their respective official staffs and legal powers, are all shown to be defective in constitution and extent. Throughout the book constant reference is made to the enactments in the sister kingdom, and herein lies the providential compensation with which Scotland must console herself for long neglect. When her hour for legislation comes the Lord Advocate will have the benefit not only of the English and Irish Acts as they stand in the statute book, but of the criticism and experience of men like the Sheriff-Substitute of Lanarkshire. There is a double chance of profit, as Mr. Spens points out, because not only is there a Public❘ Health Act in embryo, but a Poor Law Amendment Act, which in amending the constitution and mode of election

of parochial boards will thereby amend all the rural local authorities, which are, and will probably continue, to be those parochial boards. In prospect of this it is to be hoped that the clauses and progress through Parlia ment of the Scotch Poor Law Amendment Bill will be watched, not only from a purely parochial standpoint, but as involving also in the Board of Supervision the regulating, and in the parochial boards in all likelihood the local executive machinery, of all rural Scotland in sanitary

matters.

The shortest way as well as the most profitable for our readers, of illustrating the intelligence and the thorough grasp of his subject displayed by Sheriff Spens, especially in matters wherein we, as a rule, find lawyers and nonmedical men lag behind, is to refer to suggestions which are new to sanitary legislation. These are mainly in the direction of claiming new powers; not that we can always agree with the proposals, but it is refreshing to find a lawyer going further than we can follow in a direction struck out by what the general public might be pleased to call a doctor's 'fad.' Thus Mr. Spens submits that it will be a right and proper thing to do, to enact that it shall not be legal for any person to keep lodgers without the consent of the sanitary inspector.' The evils, moral and sanitary, of lodgers in urban communities, especially among the Irish, are monstrous; their magnitude is barely comprehended by the majority of our lawgivers. Yet some restriction as to the amount paid, c.g. 5s. per week, would require to be put upon the scope of such a power of veto or necessity of license. As to infectious disease the Sheriff advocates compulsory reporting by 'the heads of families or the medical officer in attendance' (we say the former, decidedly) and exclusion of children from schools until a certificate is obtained; compulsory provision of hospitals by local authorities and extended powers of enforcing the use of them as well as of removing healthy children to some place of refuge from infectious disease in small and overcrowded houses, registration and periodical inspection of dairies, with summary powers over the sale of milk therefrom in circumstances of risk. Under 'Suggestions as to Local Procedure,' proposals are made of extending summary powers to sanitary officials against certain nuisances of a presently active and prejudicial nature. We are strongly of opinion that many forms of nuisance are so universally admitted to be injurious to to be defined in the statute book, so as to reduce the leading health, and so capable of precise definition that they ought of evidence to a simple establishment of facts of position, size, distance, etc., etc. Such are middens or ashpits under dwelling-houses, or partly bounded by the walls of a dwelling-house; wells in the neighbourhood of, and especially on the downward slope from, a cesspool or privy, domestic water-supply from cisterns in water-closets, water flushing of w.c. direct from main, etc., etc. There is yet one suggestion made by Mr. Spens which, though not within the ordinary scope of sanitary legislation, has a practical bearing on the prevention of those cases of maniacal drunkenness which come before our police courts, viz., to prohibit the sale of whisky until it has been two years in bond. The police authorities agree with the sheriff in ascribing the infuriated condition so often associated with intoxication to the use of 'raw-grain freshlydistilled spirits,' and the adoption of this restriction would directly act upon the supposed cause. In taking leave of this book we feel how thankful those who are interested in the sanitary welfare of Scotland ought to be to the author for his close consideration of their position, and his intelligent statement of their various requirements. Every official connected with the administration of the Public Health Act (1867) ought to possess and study the book, and annotate their copy with illustrations of the defects of that Act, which might be of use to members of Parliament when the Lord Advocate finds time to introduce a bill for its amendment.

Correspondence.

All communications must bear the signature of the writer, not necessarily for publication.

A NUISANCE IN CLERKENWELL. (To the Editor of the SANITARY RECORD.) SIR,-Under the above heading your correspondent, 'An Inhabitant of Clerkenwell,' in a communication which appeared in your issue of February 23, drew a very dark and gloomy picture of how, for years, one of the most horrible fever dens has been allowed to exist despite not only the well-paid sanitary inspector, but the whole of the members of the vestry, who, for months and weeks, had been divided over imposing a church rate which did not concern any intelligent ratepayer of the parish.' Although certain great reformers headed one party, they forgot all about the fever dens, which were carrying destruction among the inhabitants, so absorbed were they in their opposition to a rate which no intelligent ratepayer would pay. Your correspondent deserves great praise for arousing these reformers from their deep sleep, for at last public attention has been called, no doubt by the great influence of your valuable paper, to this fever den, and it is changed from its unhealthy condition. It is to be hoped that henceforth the vestry will not squabble over unimportant subjects, that the sanitary inspectors will not go to sleep, and that the letter of your correspondent will cause similar steps to be taken to remove the fever dens which exist in the streets leading from Wilderness Row to Compton Street. The courts and alleys near the 'Angel,' Islington, should likewise be seen to, and then health and happiness will be no longer facts erased from the memory of the inhabitants of Radical Clerkenwell and Tory Islington.

ANOTHER INHABITANT OF CLERKENWELL.

'BANNER'S PATENT SANITATION.' (To the Editor of the SANITARY RECORD.) SIR,-What a good thing it is that patent laws did not exist in the days of him 'who first invented sleep,' though, according to Mr. Banner, it would not now be too late to secure a patent on beds if one could prove that he was the first who arrived at the intention of using them in connection with tired nature's sweet restorer.'

Really, to an American, this would not be more absurd than is the claim actually set up. It has been a recognised principle with us from my boyhood that smoky chimneys could not be cured unless there were used, in conjunction with the air-withdrawing cowl,' some means for supplying from below the air to be withdrawn.

In the ventilation of privy vaults by means of an airpipe, it has always been the practice with us to admit air from below to maintain a current. As soon as the ventilation of soil-pipes began to be discussed, or as soon as we got beyond the point of merely giving vent to pressure from within, the admission of air for giving a current through the drain was a recognised necessity. We have never given ourselves much trouble about the disconnection' of drains, believing-for years before we heard of Mr. Banner-that if we gave a good current of air through the soil-pipe we should escape all danger.

In 1870, I ventilated my house-drain with a vertical pipe and cowl, providing a special inlet for air from below. I can point to other instances in this town, some of it done long before the date of Mr. Banner's patent, when there was not only an avowed intention that the cowl and the inlet should operate to produce a circulation of air, but where any expensive work had no other object.

In the winter of 1874-5, I wrote (see Atlantic Monthly, No. 216, p. 431) in connection with the use of grease traps, 'If in addition to this there is an opening for fresh air in the cover of the grease trap, so that there shall ordinarily

be an upward current through the ventilating pipe, the arrangement will be quite complete.' Again (p. 441) 'It is especially important that soil-pipe ventilators should be as nearly straight and vertical as possible; a crooked ventilator pipe will not "draw" any more than will a badly built chimney flue, nor even so well, as it lacks the heat of a fire to set up a current.'

In the autumn of 1875, I wrote my Sanitary Drainage of Houses and Towns,' from which I quote (p. 197): 'If a free current of air passes constantly through such a pipe-taken in from an opening in the waste-pipe or catch-basin outside of the house, and discharged above the roof by a large pipe-the formation of corrosive gases will be much reduced."

All this was no invention of my own, but was stated as a long understood principle, recognised and practised in all ventilation from its earliest days. The use of an 'air-withdrawing cowl' assumes the admission of and the creation of a current.

I have given some attention to the Banner Cowl, the Archimedean,' and other patent ventilating appliances. They are all good while the wind blows, but these two offer an obstruction to the current when the air is still, ̧ and are then worse than nothing. The old 'Emerson' ventilator, on which the patent long ago expired-and which therefore lacks the impulse of advertising-is as good as any of them when the air is in motion (in any direction, and however baffling), and is as good as an open straight pipe in a calm.

Not only does Banner's cowl offer the slight resistance of a bend, but in a baffling, wind or in very light shifting currents, which have not the force to swing it around, it is subject to 'set-backs' from wind blowing into its mouth.

The only good soil-pipe cowl is one which is always good. We need no great amount of suction, but we need an absolutely constant upward current. GEO. E. WARING, Jun.

Newport, U.S.A., Feb. 17, 1877.

THE DEPUTATION OF MEDICAL OFFICERS OF HEALTH TO MR. SCLATER-BOOTH. (To the Editor of THE SANITARY RECORD.) SIR,-In a recent leading article you have assumed that the members of the deputation that recently waited upon Mr. Sclater-Booth contented themselves with point. ing out the necessity for early information of infectious diseases, and did not refer also to the necessity for hospital accommodation for the reception of those who are suffering from infectious diseases. I am not surprised that this view has been adopted, as, for some reason or another, none of the remarks which I made on the necessity for, and the advantages to be derived from, isolation of the sick were not referred to by the reporters, except very briefly in the SANITARY RECORD (Feb. 3, p. 93.) As this has happened, I will very briefly recapitulate my statement on that occasion.

I first pointed out that the death-rate from the seven chief zymotic diseases had increased in a greater ratio than population in all England and in London in each decennial period since 1841; that the death-rate in London from all causes had decreased during this period; that taking 100 as the standard of deaths in the healthy districts of England, it was found that the deaths from all causes and from these zymotic diseases occurred in the same ratio in the healthy districts in all England and in Liverpool; that is to say, to each 100 in the former districts there were 138 and 140 respectively in England, and 229 and 228 in Liverpool. That these statistics showed that the so-called preventable diseases are not more influenced by ordinary sanitary measures than diseases generally. I then pointed out that the death-rate from zymotic diseases had decreased in London since 1871 in a greater ratio than for all England, and that the only cause I could find for it was the establishment of hospitals for those who were sick with