Epidemic of Measles in London

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 387, 24 July 1889, Page 6

Epidemic of Measles in London

Ax attack of measles is so widely looked upon as a sort of disagreeable incident in the life of a child that few people would be prepared for the remarkable passage in which ifc is discussed by the Chairman of the Metropolitan Asylums Board. In his report for the twelve months ondeel last March ho .shows that the disease is really one of themostserious, and ought ccrtainly'to be classed with fever, small - pox and diphtheria. It has undoubtedly increased during the past few years, both in frequency and virulence. During the epidemic which has kept; up throughout the by -gone winter the deaths from measles in the metiopolis alone averaged 133 for each week of the three months, November, December and January, The&o deaths, says the Chairman, indicate a mortality far exceeding that ot any epidemic of small - pox during the last seventeen years, and one nearly equal to that of the memorable epidomic of small-pox which visited London fn 1870 and 1871. These facts have only to bo known and they must inevitably lead to the treatment of measles by the methods of isolation and hospital nursing adopted for similar scourges. It is little short of scandalous thot the Chairman of the Board should be able to say with truth that if last winter's epidemic affected adults instead of children, public opinion would have clamoured for suitable hospital provision. — ' London Daily News.'

An emigrant, vvhen asked who the old man was who accompanied him on the outward voyage, replied : " Oh, that's old feyther! We're taking him out with us to start tho new cemetery." Governess (to little Miss Ethel, who is makinggood progressin mythology): "Now, Ethol, what do you know of Minerva?" Ethel, : " Minerva was the Goddess of Wisdom ; she never married."