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to decide whether it is an ordinary cough or not, and it also
attacks children at a distance from the sufferer, so that a child
with the disease in a railway carriage or other public conveyance
may infect any person susceptible to it. Such exposure
is by no means infrequent, and it would be well if some action
were taken to punish those exposing infected children in this
way. I have not had any such cases reported to me, and do not
know of any proceedings being taken under these circumstances.
The annual mortality from whooping cough has not been
below 70 since 1878, and reached 136 in 1867.
Typhoid Fever.—The total number of cases reported to me
during the year was 92, which included 27 deaths. All the
premises on which these cases occurred were inspected, and all
sanitary defects abated. These were not numerous, and do not
require any special comment. The number of deaths was
smaller than usual, as the decennial average is 54, and the
disease has not reached this number since 1884, when the
mortality amounted to 84. In the ordinary course of the
disease an excess of the average might have been expected in
1888, as it has of late been prevalent once in every 4 years.
Diarrhœa.—The number of deaths from this disease was
much below the average, as we had a cold and wet summer.
The total deaths registered were 78, against the decennial
average of 139. In 1886 as many as 200, and in 1837, 130
deaths were registered. The mortality amongst young
children was much below the average.
The average annual number of deaths for the 10 years
1879-88 was 576.8 from zymotic diseases, or 162.4 deaths per
1,000 deaths from all causes for Hackney, and 159 for all London,
but the rates for Hackney and London were closer in 1888 when
they were 138.4 against 137.0, or almost the same, and it is
probable, as but few cases of small pox will hereafter be treated
in the Asylums Board's Hospitals in London, that our proportion
of deaths from zymotic diseases will be reduced,