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47
198 as compared with the previous year, notwithstanding; the
increase of population, and the presence of an epidemic of
small-pox, the number of births increased 92, the excess of
births over deaths, being 1,643, nearly double the number. Of
the 3,409 births registered last year, 227 were in St. Peter's,
1,830 in St. Paul's; and 1,352 in the parish of Fulham.
CAUSES OF DEATH.
Of the eight so-called zymotic diseases, 213 deaths were registered;
9 in the sub-district of St. Peter's; 94 in the subdistrict
of St. Paul's; and 110 in the parish of Fulham, 72
deaths occurred from small-pox, 14 from measles, 43 from
scarlet-fever, 5 from diphtheria, 44 from whooping cough, 15
from fever, 57 from diarrhoea, and 2 from English cholera. Of
the 72 deaths from small-pox, two occurred in the sub-district
of St. Peter's, 7 in the sub-district of St. Paul's, and 63 in the
parish of Fulham, of which number 49 occurred in the Smallpox
Hospital, the patients having been brought there nearly all
from other districts, and 14 occurred at the homes of the
patients in the parish; 55 deaths occurred from violence; 113
inquests were held; 167 deaths occurred in public institutions.
SMALL-POX EPIDEMIC.
At the end of the year 1876, small-pox again visited
London, from which disease it had been almost free since 1871.
The Fulham district also felt the effects of the visitation, the
disease continuing in some part of the district during nearly all
the year. Owing to the measures adopted by your Board, the
number of cases occurring in the district has been small as
compared with other districts, and it is most satisfactory to be
able to state that in almost every instance in which a case was
reported, the course adopted was so far successful as to prevent
any further spread of the disease in the same house. On the
other hand, your Board have had before you on very many occasions
the lamentable results where cases were not reported. I
may mention, as one example out of many, the first case at
Rectory Place, Parson's Green, Fulham, which was the means
of producing 14 fresh attacks, and four deaths in the same
row of cottages, though from none of the 14 did the disease
spread after they were reported to your officers. During the
year 1877, 328 cases of small-pox, occurred in the Fulham district;
119 in the parish of Hammersmith and 209 in the parish
of Fulham; 196 cases were removed to hospitals; 132 cases