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12
Parish of St. George the Martyr, Southwark.
until it has washed over the old tide mark, and gone beyond; for, in 1864 the death rate
had reached 26.45 in 1000 persons living. The causes which have been in operation, and
which have produced these calamitous results, have not been confined to London. They
have spread over nearly all the divisions in England and Wales; and Scotland also. The
countryman has suffered alike with the citizen: the village with the town. If asked what
change there has taken place upon the earth; or, what deleterious agent there has been
infused into, or formed in the atmosphere, rendering what was productive of health alone,
now productive of disease: and which has affected both the animal and vegetable kingdom?
I answer, that I cannot tell. The epidemic which fell upon the potato, which it well nigh
destroyed, and the dread results that followed, are still fresh in our remembrance. But
what error had this plant committed ? It had neither breathed impure air, nor been intemperate,
nor starved, nor overcrowded, nor in any way transgressed those sanitary laws
which humanity is daily transgressing. Yet, it became terribly diseased. Our ignorance
should make us tolerant, whilst at the same time it should urge us onwards in the carrying
out those duties required of us. Progress is slow and laborious; and there will be many a fall
and backward slide on the way. But, suppose our sanitary conditions had been less favourable
during the last few years; who can tell what fatal epidemic might have ravaged
the land, and to what extent the mortality might have been raised ?
I place before you the following Table, shewing the number of deaths in each subdistrict,
for every week in the year; with the mean temperature as determined by Mr.
Glashier at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich.