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mortality in the twenty great cities of the kingdom, was at the annual
rate of 31 per 1,000, while in the genial weather of June it sank to 21
per 1,000.
Three hundred and thirty deaths (13.3 per cent, of total deaths)
took place in public institutions, including 1S6 (93 males and 93
females) in the Workhouse; and 142 (70 males and 72 females) in the
Hospital for Consumption at Brompton. The deaths of Parishioners in
the latter institution were about 20 in number. The deaths by violence
numbered 41. One hundred and one Inquests were held ; the cause
of death was uncertified, there having been no medical attendant, in
about 20 cases.
The mean temperature of the air at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich,
during 1870, was 48°7. The temperature was higher than the
average in the spring and summer, while in the first and fourth quarters,
and especially in December, the mean was below the average. The
mean degree of humidity of the year was 78—three degrees below the
average in 29 years—complete saturation being represented by 100.
The rainfall of the year was 18.5 inches, and so much as seven inches
below the average fall in 55 years. During the three months ending
June, only 1.2 inches were registered, or 4.6 below the average.
The most fatal, and what may be termed the ruling epidemic ot
the year, was scarlet-fever, which destroyed 198 lives—equivalent to 8
per cent. of the total mortality. The deaths from this cause in the four
quarters of the year were, respectively, 24, 36, 58, and 80. From our
knowledge of the average fatality of Searlet-fever, we may assume 2,000
persons to have been attacked in the course of the year. It is a marked
feature of this dreaded malady, that the mischief it works is not to be
estimated solely by the deaths which occur during the prevalence of
an epidemic. Nephria ("Bright's disease,") and other ailments more
or less serious,—and which in after years appear in the returns as the
proximate causes of death,—too often owe their origin to, it may be, a