Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for St. Giles District]
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classes of disease, viz: The zymotic, the tuberculous, and the pulmonary.
The House Register, in the appendix, gives the results of that enquiry. One
year's experience is not sufficient to justify any conclusion on the points I
had in view; but the Register is, nevertheless, full of interest. The three
classes of disease named, represent about one half of the entire mortality of
the district, exclusive of the workhouse; and two of them, the zymotic and
the tuberculous, are especially, induced by foul air, filth, and other noxious
domestic conditions.
44. In order to obtain a succinct representation of the death-rate from
those diseases in various streets and courts, I have constructed another table,
No. 7, in which can be seen at a glance, the comparative mortality in a ratio
to houses in the streets included, beginning with Queen Street, St. Giles
South, where the ratio was highest, and ending with Woburn Square,
Bloomsbury, where it was lowest. It must be understood, however, that
the ratio of deaths to houses, bears no definite relation to the death-rate to
population, on account of the varying size and population of different houses,
and of the circumstances already referred to in § 18. The facts have, nevertheless,
considerable value in a sanitary point of view.
TABLE No. VII.—Rate of Mortality to Houses in certain Streets, from Zymotic, Tubercular, and Pulmonary Diseases.
Streets. | No. of Houses. | Deaths. | Rate of Deaths to Houses. |
---|---|---|---|
Queen Street | 25 | 23 | 1 in 1.08 |
George Street | 11 | 10 | 1 in 1.1 |
Church Lane | 29 | 22 | 1 in 1.3 |
Chapel Place | 24 | 17 | 1 in 1.4 |
Wild Court (Society's Buildings) | 14 | 10 | 1 in 1.4 |
Great Wild Street | 52 | 33 | 1 in 1.6 |
Little Wild Street | 26 | 14 | 1 in 1.8 |
Tower Street | 29 | 16 | 1 in 1.8 |
Short's Gardens | 28 | 14 | 1 in 2.? |
Lascelles Place | 14 | 7 | 1 in 2.? |
Stacey Street | 20 | 9 | 1 in 2.2 |
New Compton Street | 74 | 33 | 1 in 2.2 |
King Street (Drury Lane) | 41 | 18 | 1 in 2.3 |
King Street (Dials) | 56 | 23 | 1 in 2.4 |
Clark's Buildings (Society's Bldgs) | 10 | 4 | 1 in 2.5 |
Dudley Street | 89 | 30 | 1 in 3.? |
Lincoln Court | 21 | 7 | 1 in 3.? |
Wilmot Street | 27 | 8 | 1 in 3.4 |
Great White Lion Street | 18 | 5 | 1 in 3.6 |
Little Guildford Street | 33 | 8 | 1 in 4.1 |
Great St. Andrew Street | 47 | 11 | l in 4.2 |
Museum Street | 43 | 10 | 1 in 4.3 |
Lumber Court | 19 | 4 | 1 in 4.7 |
Little Coram Street | 38 | 8 | 1 in 4.7 |
Crown Street | 39 | 8 | 1 in 4.9 |
Little Russell Street | 34 | 7 | 1 in 4.9 |
Kenton Street | 42 | 5 | 1 in 8.2 |
Montague Place | 35 | 3 | 1 in 11.7 |
Bernard Street | 41 | 2 | 1 in 20.5 |
Torrington Square | 70 | 3 | 1 in 23.3 |
Russell Square | 70 | 2 | 1 in35.? |
Woburn Square | 41 | 1 | 1 in 41.? |
45. On referring to the table No. 7, it will be seen that the death-rate
has ranged from 1 in 1.08 houses in Queen Street, to 1 in 41 in Woburn
Square. This seems almost incredible, yet it is the simple fact as proved by
the public registers. Further, if various local diseases, as of the heart,
kidneys, liver, most of which are either induced, or are hastened to a fatal
termination, by intemperance, and the multifarious other forms of local
maladies, had been included, there is sufficient reason to believe that the
mortality of Queen Street, George Street, Chapel Place, &c. would have
been twice greater than is represented in the table.