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14
In March, 1898, in compliance with a resolution of the late St.
George's Vestry I drew up a special report upon the bacteriological
diagnosis of doubtful cases of diphtheria and of typhoid fever. This
communication will be found under Section III. of my Annual Report
for 1898. It dealt fully and systematically with the whole matter of the
detection of the two diseases named in early and doubtful cases. There
is no doubt, in my own mind, that a public bacteriological service such
as that suggested therein would materially add to the powers of your
Council in the control of infectious diseases, which is one of the most
important duties of a sanitary authority. A free bacteriological examination
has been established in at least eight metropolitan parishes,
and their legal position has not been questioned by the Local Government
Board.
Respiratory Diseases.

These figures represent a rate of 7.11 per 1,000 living.
Mortality of Infants and Children.
The death-rates of infants under one year, and of children under
five years, afford valuable indirect evidence of the sanitary well-being of
a community.
During 1900 the number of infants who died within the first year of
life in St. George's was 437. These figures give the high rate of 209
deaths to every 1,000 births in St. George's, as compared with 160 deaths
per 1,000 births for London.
Of a total of 1,652 deaths at all ages in St. George's, 684 occurred
under five years, which gives the large percentage of 41.4 of the total