New-York tribune., 1902-10-21
SMALLPOK HOSPITALS

! Members OF the Board Of Health and practising
! physicians will be interested in a vigorous pro-
! test which an English periodical The Hos
! pital,' offers against the custom OF locating
| smallpox hospitals at a considerable distance
! from the settled portions OF a town or city.
| Although there are differences In detail. the
usage itself is general on both sides OF the At
lantic. London forbds the placing OF such an
! institution within a quarter OF mile Of any
| suburb containing two hundred people or with.
| in half n mile of six hundred inhabitants Else
where the limits may vary somewhat from this
standard. But the rule itself is almost uni
yersaL Exceptions are rare and where they
occur local sensation Is created for time
The requirement is based on the notion that
In addition to being conveyed by other agencies
the germs of smallpox may be borne from one
place to another by the air This notion .'Tbe
hOspitaI pronounces superstition" 1t is not
denied that great many bacteria some harm
less and some balefnl, float in the atmosphere.
But doubt is cast on the possibility that those
which are associated with smallpox do so
Quite independently Of The Hospitals" discus
sion Of the matter. ii is known that expert opin.
ion regarding aerial Infection has undergone
some change of late years. Quarter of cen.
fury ago. for instance, medical men Of high
standing believed that diphtheria was caused
by the inhalation Of sewer gas. ANY one who
advanced that doctrine to-day would probably
be considered behind the times The microbes
or dlphtheria might get into n sewer. perbaps
but they would find difficulty in detachlng them
serves from the moist surfaces of that conduit
ana getting into the open air Some dav the OLD
Dellet about malaria may disappear in like
manner. But the theory that the mos1uito 70
the only means by which that kind of fever is
propagated is not yet established Still the
simple fact that even few medical men have
changed their views concerning this particular
uisorder shows that a great deal is vet to be
learned concerning infectious maIadies
A number Of facts are cited by "Tbe Hos
pital To explain its attitude. At n recent con.
Vention OF Medical Officers OF Health in Eng-
land Dr. Scurfeld. of Sunderland. recounted
the experience of that city during an endemic
IN los'-Sf In the smallpox hospital proper
over three hundred cases were treated Tba+
building was surrounded on all sides nv others
devoted to fever. insanity, maternity and other
cases. One edifice was workbouso tn -,
population was nine hundred. and while Soma
OF these buildings were 224 feet away otbors
were only thirty feet distant from tho smoI,
pox hospital. Sufferers from the disease g.
question were brought to the latter mast these
Other INSTITUTIONS. yet. so far as DR. ScurhaId
mas been able to discover not one casa og
smallpox occurred In any Of them He adds
that revaccination was NOT resnrted IN In tboso
adjacent buildings. Further testimopv NO,
given 10y DIR. Green. OF Gateshoad Ue soid
that he had hcon obliged 70 take snaupov cosos
into the typhoid ward Of the general hosnItal
and often had sixteen or seventeen vIc,jms tbora
at one time The disease did not spraad thara
either PERHAPS 'hc most striking evidence Is
that which has been furnished by tho Cftv ~
London Within the last year or two eight tbon.
sane smallpox patients have been tempororIlv
left at what are known as the South wharf
shelters on their way to hospital ships. some.
times there were only twenty-five and some
nrnes over one hundred were kept waiting there
TOT uahster. 1t Is affirmed that there has been