“The following list will give at one view the details of this visitation.
“The houses are numbered from the bottom of the hill towards the top.
┌──────┬───────────┬───────┬──────────────────────────────────────────┐ │Number│Name of the│Number │ REMARKS. │ │of the│ Family. │ of │ │ │House.│ │Persons│ │ │ │ │ ill │ │ │ │ │ with │ │ │ │ │Fever. │ │ ├──────┼───────────┼───────┼──────────────────────────────────────────┤ │No. 25│Langton. │ 3 │Children, all of whom recovered. │ │No. 26│Dearu. │ 4 │Man and wife, the former died. │ │No. 27│Bailey. │ 1 │Man, who recovered. │ │No. 28│Nettleship.│ 4 │Three children, and subsequently their │ │ │ │ │ mother. The children, after many weeks, │ │ │ │ │ recovered, but the poor mother (who was │ │ │ │ │ pregnant), being much weakened by the │ │ │ │ │ fever, and long attendance upon her │ │ │ │ │ children, died soon afterwards in │ │ │ │ │ child-bed. │ │No. 29│Curzon. │ 5 │First a lodger, named Elizabeth Sherwin, │ │ │ │ │ (recently confined) and her infant, both│ │ │ │ │ died. Then three of Curzon’s children, │ │ │ │ │ who recovered. │ │No. 30│Hatfield. │ 1 │A girl, who recovered. │ └──────┴───────────┴───────┴──────────────────────────────────────────┘
“In all 16 persons attacked with typhus fever, of whom five died.
“Here then we have a very interesting subject for investigation; namely, how was it that in a row of 54 houses, uniform in situation, size, and construction, tenanted by the same description of persons, the inhabitants of the six centre houses should have been attacked by a malignant fever, from which those who lived in the 24 houses above and 24 below them altogether escaped?
“By a careful inspection of the whole row I obtained the following information and facts:—That before this street was built, the natural moisture of the land, and any sudden rush of water caused by rain, was carried away by a ditch running down the whole length of the hill, where the present gardens terminate. Also, that in the gardens of the upper 21 or 22 houses this ditch had been filled up; and sinks and drains, communicating with the main sewer, that passes down the middle of the street, had been placed between each garden and the dwelling-house. At this point too there is a brick wall, carried down to the bottom of the garden, and dividing this property from the adjoining, and it is very probable that this wall assisted in checking the spread of the fever from the six infected houses, at which part of the row we have now arrived.