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in the Borough. Eight cases were apparently contracted from the eating of
infected shellfish, principally mussels. In one case the cause was probably the
handling of infected linen.
CEREBRO SPINAL FEVER.
(Epidemic Cerebro-Spinal Meningitis) and Post-Basic Meningitis.
Only one case was notified during the year. The patient was an infant,
and died about a month after admission to hospital. There were also two deaths
attributed to this disease amongst " non-residents " who had been admitted to the
Hospital for Sick Children.
PHTHISIS OR CONSUMPTION.
The number of deaths from phthisis during the year was 98, or a death-rate
of l-84 per 1000, or l-62 if corrected for sex and age distribution. Of these 46
belonged to St. Giles and Bloomsbury, a death-rate of 1'64, and 52 to the Holborn
District or a death-rate of 2'07 per 1000.
Although the death-rate from phthisis is still high in the Borough there has
been a satisfactory reduction in the death-rates during the past ten years as is
shown in the table given below, and last year was the lowest recorded.
It must also be remembered that in Holborn there is a much larger proportion
of persons living in common lodging houses than in any other London Borough.
In Holborn the rate is as many as 355 beds per 10,000 of the population; whereas
in Hampstead there are no common lodging houses, and 12 Boroughs have less
than one-tenth the proportion of Holborn.
During the seven years 1904-1910 the average death-rate in common lodging
houses in Holborn per 1000 beds was about 20. Also during the past seven years
more than 30 per cent, of the deaths from phthisis in Holborn had been residents
in common lodging houses in the Borough.
During the past year of the 98 deaths, 33 had been removed to infirmaries
from common lodging houses in the Borough, 24 from St. Giles and Bloomsbury,
and 9 from the Holborn District.
The corrected number of deaths in London was 5,555 equal to a rate of 1*14
per 1000, being the lowest recorded.
The following table gives the number of deaths in the Holborn Borough and
the death-rates per 1000 (crude and corrected for sex and age distribution of the
Holborn population in comparison with London) and the corresponding rates for
London, for the 11 years 1900-1910.