Sketches at the Melbourne Hospital.

This engraving was published as a result of multiple outbreaks of erysipelas at the Melbourne Hospital which led to a Parliamentary enquiry.

In 1882 Dr Richard Youl, the Coroner for Melbourne, commented in the newspapers about two deaths from erysipelas that had occurred at the hospital. Inboth cases Youl brought in findings that exonerated the individuals but condemned the hospital for its role in the mens deaths, “stating at the inquest that the entire building is saturated with  erisipelas-every nook and cranny is full of poison, and the entire fabric should come down.”

From the original edition of the Australian Sketcher.