The New Zealand Spectator and Cook’s Strait Guardian, Saturday, March 22, 1862
[Letter to the editor of the Sydney Herald, 27 February, 1862; reprinted in The New Zealand Spectator and Cook’s Strait Guardian, Saturday, March 22, 1862]
Sir,—The melancholy news of the death of the Prince Consort from typhus fever has excited much surprise, and the question is asked, “How of where did he take typhus fever?”
the following extract from the Lancet, of December, 1858, will explain the matter simply enough, as also who are to be considered morally responsible for this sad event:—
“Windsor has recently been visited with typhus. The sewers are ill-ventilated and insufficiently flushed, the arrangements for the removal of refuse are imperfect, and nuisances abound from the condition of pigsties and slaughterhouses. Families of members of the Queen’s household have been attacked, and many fatal cases have occurred. Sir J. Clarke, Mr. Simon, Professor Taylor, and Mr. Austen were called to give the aid of their advice to the local Board of Health.”
But Windsor is blessed with a municipal council, at one of the meetings of which an alderman expressed his opinion that these defects had no influence upon the epidemic!
I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
Feb. 27, 1862.
J.A.