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DIARRHCEA.
Under the heading Diarrhoea are included several different affections
confounded with one another on account of the presence of Diarrhcea as a
symptom, but there is no doubt that Summer Diarrhcea, to which the
majority of the deaths were due, is essentially a specific disease. 147 deaths
were registered from Diarrhoea, the average for the previous 10 years being
130. In addition to these, the majority of the deaths of infants, 63 in
number, ascribed to Gastro Enteritis or Gastro Enteric Catarrh were of the
same nature, and it is certainly advisable that all these deaths should be
reckoned under the head of Diarrhoea for comparative purposes, as some
practitioners seldom return a death as due to Diarrhcea, but nearly always to
Gastro Enteritis, so that the number of deaths really due to Diarrhoea may
be much understated. The disease was in excess in Fulham as compared
with the metropolis and the adjacent parishes, but not to so marked an
extent as has generally been the case, as will be seen from the following
table, which gives the Diarrhceal death-rate of Fulham, London and the
three adjoining parishes for 1897 and the previous 10 years :—
1885—1891. 1892. 1893. 1894. 1895. '896. 1897.
Fulham 1.05 0.94 1.3o O.53 1'18 1.15 1.21
Kensington ... O·51 O·4l o'6o O-33 O·68 O·35 O·070
Hammersmith... 1·05 0·70 O·079 0·46 0·79 o·8o 1-20
Chelsea 0.77 0·77 0·76 0·34 0·82 0·67 1·03
London 059 o·6o o·8o 0·41 0·82 0·71 0·92
In London the death-rate from Diarrhcea was higher than in any year
since 1868, and of the large provincial towns the highest rates were those of
Sheffield 1'81, Liverpool I-93, Salford 2-0, Birmingham 2 o, Wolverhampton,
2·II, Preston 2'22, and Hull 2'23.
On reference to Table J, it will be seen that the summer rise of Diarrheal
mortality did not commence until the mean temperature recorded by the
three-foot earth thermometer had attained 6o° Fahrenheit, and that, as is
usually the case, the maximum mortality occurred in the week in which the
temperature recorded by the three-foot earth thermometer attained its
maximum.
In connection with the heavy DiarrhOeal mortality, I would again draw
the attention of the Vestry to the necessity for the more frequent removal of
horse refuse during the summer months, and also to the need for the better
scavenging of our streets, which, in common with most streets outside the
City of London, are not remarkable for their cleanliness, as some recent