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first half of the year. Diphtheria and diarrhœa
were less fatal than in the previous year. Eight
cases of smallpox were notified, and one death
from this disease occurred in hospital. Influenza
appeared at the beginning and end of the year and
caused 9 deaths.
The ordinary method of estimating the population
by supposing that the increase or decrease which
had been found to exist at the end of one period
of ten years will be steadily maintained, year by
year, for the ten succeeding years, is not infallible.
When applied to the entire country, or to London,
it affords a very close approximation to the truth,
because a great rise in the population of some
districts is counterbalanced by a corresponding
decline in that of others, and thus an average result
is obtained. When applied to a single parish of
moderate extent, it is less exact, as the normal
growth of the population may be interfered with
by local circumstances, such as the clearance of
unsanitary areas, the erection of large blocks of
artisans' dwellings, and the state of trade in the
place. Our natural increase of population, or
excess of births over deaths, was 1361, but for
statistical purposes we are not justified in assuming
a greater population than was ascertained at the
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