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temperature was above, while in the second and fourth quarters it
was below the average, The greatest defect was shown in November
and the beginning of December. The mean degree of
humidity for the year was 81, 3 degrees above that for the previous
year and but 1 degree below the average of 30 years, complete
saturation being represented by 100. The rainfall of the year was
22.5 inches, 4 inches more than in 1870, but still 2.7 inches below
the average fall in 56 years. In the second and third quarters
there was an excess of 1.0 and 0.9 inches respectively; but in the
last three months of the year the deficiency was 4.0 inches.
THE SMALL POX EPIDEMIC.
The one feature in connection with the state of the public health
which for a long period will make the year 1871 remakable in
Sanitary annals, was an outbreak of Small Pox, the like of which
has not been known in England since vaccination was first generally
practised—an outbreak, moreover, that might not unreasonably
be termed " retributive," for the perverse neglect of Jenner's great
discovery. In London alone 7876 persons died of the disease, the
mortality in all England reaching the frightful total of 23,000—
multitudes of people being attacked in many parts of the kingdom :
and there is no reason to suppose that the epidemic has, as yet, by
any means exhausted itself. This most loathsome of diseases had
commenced its ravages in many districts in the Metropolis before
the close of 1870; but its presence was not felt in any marked
degree in Kensington during that year, the deaths (8) being below
the average of 10 years (13.1). Of the 8 deaths, however, 5
occurred in the last quarter. Scattered cases, amounting in all, so
far as my information goes, to 9, occurred in January, 1871. '1 here
were 31 in February ; 45 in March, and 51 in April In May
and June the epidemic reached its height: the cases recorded in
those months being respectively 91 and 116. The attacks reported
in the first half of the year were 343, viz., 234 in the North Sanitary
District, Notting Hill, which includes the whole of the Parish
north of the central line of the Uxbridge Road; and 109 in the
South Sanitary District, which includes the remainder of the
Parish south of the line just mentioned. A large diminution
ensued in July, when only 36 cases were reported. The decrease
was maintained until December, when a considerable rise in the
weekly return occasioned much anxiety and alarm. The reported
cases, however, did not exceed 101 in the second half of the year,
viz., 68 in the North District, and 33 in the South ; the monthly
totals being as follows :—July, 36; August, 14 ; September, 7 ;
October, 8; November, 8; December, 28. The deaths, which in
the first half of the year were 45, declined to 17 in the second.
This number is irrespective of the deaths that occurred in the
Hospitals, to which about 300 cases were sent. The deaths in those
Institutions were 58, making the total mortality during the year