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
Paddington 1870
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Paddington]
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8
The Tubercular or Wasting Diseases.
TABLE IV.
The following Table shows the Annual, Quarterly, and Comparative Mortality from Tubercular Class of Diseases: —
| Tubercular Diseases. | April May June | July Aug. Sept. | October Nov. Dec. | January February March | In the Year. | Comparative Mortality in 1000 population. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1870. | 1869. | 1868. | ||||||
| Scrofula, Tuberculosis, Tabes Messentrica & Marasmus | 9 | 32 | 7 | 17 | 65 | .671 | 0.76 | 0.65 |
| Hœmoptysis Consumption Tubercular Pneumonia | 52 | 43 | 50 | 49 | 194 | 2.004 | 1.98 | 1.68 |
| Hydrocephalus, and Scrofulous Meningitis | 20 | 15 | 11 | 18 | 64 | .661 | 0.44 | 0.55 |
| Totals | 81 | 90 | 68 | 84 | 323 | 3.336 | 3.18 | 2.89 |
The tubercular or consumptive class of diseases
amounted to 323, or nearly 17 per cent, of the whole
deaths, These diseases commit great havoc in town
populations, but they are to a great extent preventible,
in like manner with the Zymotic diseases, partly by an
improved domestic hygiene, and partly by an enlightened
municipal policy affecting public health—see
remarks on overcrowding. In looking for the predisposing
causes of this high mortality from consumptive
diseases, we cannot but attribute much to the ill
ventilation of overcrowded rooms. Many such cases
of consumption have come under my notice which could
not in any way be traced to an hereditary tendency, but
were distinctly brought on by the continued breathing
of foul atmospheric air; and where more than one