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31
The low rate of mortality which prevailed in
Paddington obtained in the larger area of the
Metropolis, where, says the Registrar General, "only
on five other occasions in the last forty years has
so low a death-rate (22.2) been recorded, namely,
in 1850, 1856, 1872, 1876, and 1877, and it will
be noted that of these six years of low mortality
no less than four occurred in the last decennium."
During the year 1880 there were 420 deaths of
infants under one year and 671 of children under
five years of age. These figures represent 25.1 and
40.3 per cent. respectively of the total corrected
deaths (1,667) in the Parish. The rate of infantile
mortality was 148 deaths to every 1,000 registered
births. In the 20 largest English towns the rate was
169 and in London 158 per 1,000 registered births.
In the 19 largest Provincial Towns it ranged from
146 in Bristol to 219 in Leicester. The magnitude
of the rate in Paddington, as is shown in Table V.,
was to a great extent determined by the exceptional
fatality from summer diarrhoea, and so, too, in the
places above mentioned.
Zymotic Diseases.
The seven principal zymotic diseases—the diseases
most influenced by sanitation—caused 228 deaths;