London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Wandsworth 1887
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Wandsworth District, The Board of Works (Clapham, Putney, Streatham, Tooting & Wandsworth)]
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| Diseases. | 1877 | 1878 | 1879 | 1880 | 1881 | 1882 | 1883 | 1884 | 1886 | 1886 | 1887 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tubercular | 193 | 116 | 167 | 248 | 173 | 192 | 175 | 213 | 181 | 202 | 162 |
| Nervous System, Brain, &c. | 32 | 110 | 97 | 110 | 128 | 112 | 119 | 128 | 104 | 120 | 121 |
| Circulatory (Heart, &c.) | 38 | 52 | 38 | 28 | 53 | 47 | 44 | 53 | 51 | 55 | 37 |
| Respiratory | 203 | 217 | 271 | 190 | 188 | 258 | 248 | 241 | 303 | 268 | 226 |
| Digestive | 32 | 33 | 32 | 41 | 39 | 23 | 42 | 22 | 36 | 27 | 20 |
| Urinary | 9 | 9 | 11 | 18 | 12 | 20 | 16 | 15 | 16 | 10 | 17 |
| Generative, including Penturition | 1 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 9 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 5 |
| Locum otory, Bones, &c. | .. | .. | 3 | 1 | .. | 2 | .. | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Integumentary | .. | 1 | .. | 5 | 1 | 1 | .. | .. | 1 | .. | .. |
| Premature Birth | 67 | 45 | 55 | 69 | 67 | 63 | 74 | 116 | 82 | 114 | 102 |
| Uncertain Seat (Cancer, Syphilis, Dropsy, &c | 23 | 18 | 21 | 12 | 27 | 15 | 22 | 25 | 36 | 38 | 21 |
| Old Age | 16 | 9 | 20 | 22 | 14 | 18 | 21 | 19 | 22 | 25 | 21 |
| Violence | 26 | 25 | 26 | 33 | 24 | 30 | 24 | 18 | 32 | 28 | 37 |
| Not Specified | 9 | 13 | 17 | 12 | 11 | 14 | 24 | .9 | 4 | 5 | 0 |
| Totals | 649 | 651 | 760 | 793 | 744 | 798 | 818 | 867 | 878 | 897 | 770 |
Diseases of the Non-Zymotic Class.—The Table appended
shews the comparatively slight variation in the annual
number of deaths from these diseases. If it be
noted that the deaths for 1887 represent the mortality
in a population at least twice as great as in 1877, a real
diminution will be found to have occurred, and although
these diseases are not classed among the directly infectious,
still many of them are more or less prevalent
and fatal in different localities, shewing that they can to
a certain extent be influenced, and all sanitary measures
tend to improve the general health and the power of
resistance to disease. As an illustration of the influence
of certain sanitary measures on some of the constitutional
diseases, it may be stated that whenever the sub-soil of
a locality has been thoroughly drained, the death-rate
from Consumption has greatly diminished, in some instances
by one half. This was a wholly unexpected