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
Whitechapel 1886
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Whitechapel]
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place wherein to interpolate a table indicative of a return from the Metropolitan Asylums' Board, from which I have compiled a comparative statement of certain diseases admitted into that Board's Institutions from the Metropolis during the year.
| Disease. | Whence Admitted. | First Qtr. | Second' Qtr. | Third Qtr. | Fourth Qtr. | Total. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small Pox | All London | 40 | 69 | 14 | 5 | 128 |
| Whitechapel | Nil. | 5 | Nil. | Nil. | 5 | |
| Scarlet Fever | All London | 206 | 243 | 540 | 672 | 1661 |
| Whitechapel | 6 | 9 | 21 | 14 | 50 | |
| Enteric Fever | All London | 48 | 40 | 8l | 159 | 328 |
| Whitechapel | Nil. | I | 3 | 2 | 6 | |
| Typhus Fever | All London | Nil. | Nil. | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| Whitechapel | Nil. | Nil. | 1 | Nil. | 1 | |
| Uncertain | All London | 10 | 12 | 3 | 5 | 30 |
| Whitechapel. | 1 | Nil. | 1 | Nil. | 2 |
Diarrhoea, as usual, stands high in the mortality returns, and
although but little difference is discoverable between the Metropolitan
and the Distriift percentage of deaths from this disease, 1
have again to mention that so far as we are concerned nearly all
were infants and young children, and were mostly registered in the
third quarter of the year.
Table J is constructed to enable a comparison to be readily
instituted for deaths from any special disease between the Metropolis
as a whole and the Whitechapel District, and for this purpose
the deaths are also set out in the tables applicable to the District
in a similar manner, therefore, there is no necessity to amplify
this part of my report by referring to each disease separately.
It is customary for sanitary reporters to devote considerable
attention to the statistics connected with the infant mortality
returns, considering that an index is thereby obtained to the
general condition of health of the whole community. I have,
therefore, to add to those items concerning the percentage of deaths
between certain age-periods, which I have already given, by the
in troduction of a few special details, applicable to the deaths of