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The returns of general mortality show a large
increase in the number of deaths from diseases of
the lungs and heart. The deaths from measles,
whooping cough, diphtheria, and cancer, exceeded
the average numbers. There were fewer deaths
from scarlet fever, enteric fever, and diarrhœal
diseases. Small-pox was almost absent, there being
only four deaths from this cause during the year.
All were adults, of whom one had been vaccinated.
Among the accidental deaths, nearly one-fourth
of the whole were infants under one year of age,
suffocated in bed. Twice as many of these deaths
took place on Saturday night as in any other night
in the week.
About 1 in 8 of the persons dying in London
died in a workhouse; 1 in 90 in a Metropolitan
Asylum Hospital; 1 in 12 in some other hospital;
and 1 in 48 in an asylum for lunatics or imbeciles.
The mean temperature of the air was 48°.6 F.,
which is only o ° .7 below the average. Some very
cold weather was experienced. On the first day of
January the temperature was below the average
9°7; during the first five days of March, 14.0
below it; on the 28th of November, 21°.4 below it;
and during the whole month of December the cold
was remarkable for its severity and persistency.
It was the coldest December in this century.
Rain fell on 162 days, the total amount during
the year being 21.88 inches, and 2.99 inches below
the average of 75 years. During the first nine
months of the year the rainfall slightly exceeded