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and more cases occurred in Camberwell than in any of the
other registration sub-districts.
Of the 350 deaths due to diarrhoea and other inflammatory
affections of the bowels, 14 took place in the first quarter,
17 in the second, 286 in the third, and 33 in the fourth.
It will be seen by the Tables that 326 of the 350 deaths
occurred in infants under the age of five years. Two occurred
in Dulwich, 110 in Camberwell, 127 in Peckham and 86 in
St. George's. I have prepared a little chart showing the
influence of the temperature on the prevalence of this disease.
It has been supposed that this disease is due to a specific
micro-organism which is only able to grow and to manifest its
power at a time when the temperature of the earth has
attained a certain limit. In previous reports I have pointed
out that it is probably due to infection from the milk, for
the number of cases occurring are in a large proportion those
of infants who are not fed from the breast.
Scarlatina caused 18 deaths compared with 32 deaths in
1897 and 52 in 1896. Of these 18 there were only four that
occurred at home, the remainder occurring in the isolation
hospitals.
Of these 18 deaths, 7 occurred in Camberwell, 7 in
Peckham, and 4 in St. George's. Taken quarter by quarter
the figures are 5 in the first, in the second 4, in the third 4, and
5 in the fourth .
Diphtheria (including membranous croup) caused 86
deaths, compared with 167 that occurred in 1897. It is in fact
the lowest recorded mortality since 1892.
According to the Return of the Registrar-General,
Camberwell has a death-rate of .33 per 1,000 for diphtheria,
the death-rate for the whole of London being .39; while for
scarlet fever the death-rate for London is .13, while that
for Camberwell is only .07 per 1,000.
I last year drew attention to the figures for diphtheria
and scarlet fever, and I point out below in tabular form the
mortality obtained by making a percentage calculation of the
number of notifications received for the years 1895 to 1898.