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Annual Report of the Medical Officer of Health,. 11
Parish of saint Beorge the Martpr, Southmark.
ANNUAL REPORT
MADE TO THE VESTRY
by the
MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH.
FOR THE YEAR ENDING LADY-DAY, 1867.
Ma. Chairman and Gentlemen,
With the last day of 1866, there closed a year full of domestic calamities. Earliest
and most important of them all came the rinderpest, carrying loss and gloom into many a
flourishing homestead: and increasing the price of two of the necessaries of life, viz., [milk
and animal food. With the crowded stall and the lowing of kine was connected the health
of the people. Those who had only small and fixed incomes, and those who were poorer
still, had to exercise yet a moro rigid economy. Then followed the Cholera, an expected
though unwelcome and dreaded visitor. So far, however, our fears have not been realised;
its ravages having been confined within certain and narrow limits. A scanty harvest filled
up the measure to the full. Passing into the year 1867, who could have dared to predict
what grave consequences would have issued from the longer continuance of the intense cold
with which it commenced? Statistics uniformly show, that not only are crimes more prevalent
in times of scarcity and dearness, but that they are also of a far more serious and
aggravated kind. I have not mentioned the financial panics, nor the political commotions,
which have characterised the past year, and which have not rolled over us innocuously.
% one, or other, or all of these, has the health of this district been affected.
We have now entered a fresh decenniad: the works and labours of the past ton years
He behind, and have become history. It is solemn to stand as we now do, upon the
threshold of another decade of time, and reflect how much the health and happiness of this
larish will depend upon what is done within these walls. It is well you should magnify
your office, for it is one of immense importance to society, and it is one also attended with