London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Mile End 1860
Report of the Medical Officer of Health to the Vestry of Mile End Old Town
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7
Some deaths are necessarily returned for the East Ward
which do not properly belong to its own mortality. The
number is increased by the bodies of those who are found
drowned in the Regent's Canal being nearly always taken to
the east side, which is in the East Ward, there being no
convenience for their reception on the other side.
The proportion of Zymotic diseases to those of an ordinary
character is greater by one third than in 1858,—and the
Centre Ward appears to have been visited more heavily than
the others—one of every three deaths which were there
registered was the result of Zymotic influence, snch as are
regarded as being to a great extent capable of prevention.
The general proportion last year of Zymotic disease to the
whole number was about 1 to 3.8, in the year 1858 it was
1 to 5.
TABLE III.
| WARDS. | Deaths from all Diseases | Deaths from Zymotic Diseases. | Or in the proportion of 1 to— |
|---|---|---|---|
| North | 280 | 82 | 3.4 |
| East | 153 | 37 | 4.1 |
| West | 293 | 83 | 3.5 |
| Centre | 362 | 120 | 3. |
| South | 341 | 73 | 4.6 |
| Workhouses | 96 | 8 | 12 |
| Hospitals | 8 | — | — |
| Total | 1533 | 403 |
Diseases of this kind produced the greatest number of
deaths in the third week in July and the second week in