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Table No. 4 shows the causes of the 2464 deaths which were
registered in this district. The deaths from epidemic diseases,
were no less than 534, or 21.6 per cent. of the whole mortality.
This is above the average of the previous ten years, which was
208 per cent. only. The excess of deaths was caused chiefly by
diarrhœa, which is fatal almost in proportion to the mean temperature
of July and August. In 1870, the temperature of
June was 1½ degrees and of July 4 degrees above the average,
and there was also very little rain to cleanse the back yards of
the houses, the courts and the sewers, so that the heat acted
more prejudicially than usual. The deaths from tubercular
diseases varied but little from the average, 412 deaths, or 16.7
per cent. of the whole, happened from these causes, against the
mean of 16.6 per cent. Diseases of the nervous system were
fatal in 294 cases, or 11.9 per cent., against the average of 13.0
per cent. The deaths from diseases of the respiratory organs
were decidedly smaller than I should have expected, as the
temperature in December was lower than that of the corresponding
month in any year of this century, with the exception of 1840,