Proceedings of the Westminster Medical Society. Nos. 1-3 (session 1848-1849).

  • Westminster Medical Society (London, England)
Date:
[1848-1849]
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Proceedings of the Westminster Medical Society. Nos. 1-3 (session 1848-1849). Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    PROCEEDINGS OF THE WESTMINSTER MEDICAL SOCIETY. Session 1848-9. No. 1. October 21, 1848. JOHN WEBSTER, M.D., F.R.S., President, in the Chair. The Society commenced its meetings for the season this evening. The President, on taking the chair, delivered an inaugural address on the present state of the Society, which, he reported, was in ' every way prosperous. In the course of his remarks, Dr. Webster ;made the following observations with reference to the health of the I metropolis, especially in regard to the recent epidemics of Cholera ;and Scarlatina:— Before dismissing the subject of cholera, it must be interesting tfor the fellows to know that, notwithstanding the anxiety now pre- valent respecting that malignant disease, it hitherto has not made I much progress in the metropolis; and that if its present fatality be (compared with other epidemic maladies, we have as yet really not tmuch cause for alarm, for during the six weeks ending on Saturday, t'he 16th of October, 1847, the number of fatal cases of this disease i in London was twenty-six; whilst the total number of deaths caused by the same malady throughout the entire metropolitan population, during the six weeks ending on Saturday \(\st, the 14th instant, iamounted to sixty-seven, being, as yet, only a little more than 'louble the mortality by cholera during the same number of weeks in the previous year. Compared with this, it is instructive to imark the different results observed in another epidemic now pre- vailing in London with great severity, but which, notwithstanding, iioes not call forth much remark, or cause anxiety to the extent it deserves—I mean scarlatina, also discussed last year in the ^Society; but which, unfortunately, is now so malignant, that hun- ilreds of victims have been recently sent to an untimely grave, iccording to the registrar-general's reports. In these tables it is Uated, that during the six weeks terminating on Saturday, the 16th of October, 1847, already quoted in reference to cholera, B