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46
a large proportion of the deaths, and in 1904 the rate during the summer
was considerably above the average, being 3.39 per 1,000 inhabitants
in London, more than double the rate in 1902 and 1903, 2.73 in
England and Wales, 0.65 above the decennial average. In the
City of Westminster the rates in the corresponding quarter of the
three preceding years were 163, 0.73, and 0.82. This disease is
intimately connected with temperature and rainfall; thus the mean
temperature of the third quarter of 1904 was 61.2 as compared with
59.8, 59.l, and 61.7 in the three preceding years, while the rainfall was
only 4.9 inches as compared with 12.3 last year, 5.9 in 1902, and
5.1 in 1901. The rates in the quarter in Metropolitan Boroughs varied
from 0.34 in the City of London to 5.29 in the Borough of Poplar, the
City of Westminster being third on the list with l.35, Hampstead
being second. As the deaths fall almost entirely on infants, I have
calculated the rates on the number of births, which alters somewhat the
relative positions of the various boroughs, but the City of Westminster
still maintains its satisfactory position as third lowest on the list, with
75.3 deaths per 1,000 infants. The diarrhœal deaths were chiefly in
Victoria, St. John, and St. Margaret Wards. This might mean that
more children are centred there than in the other wards, and so far as
Victoria Ward is concerned this partly explains the excess, as the
rate (83.7) was not much above that for the City as a whole, but in
St. Margaret and St. John Wards the diarrhœal rate for the third
quarter was no less than 240 and 155 respectively per 1,000 infants
born. The total infantile death-rate from all causes during this
quarter was 183 per 1,000 births in Victoria, 280 in St. Margaret, and
205 in St. John, the City rate for the same quarter being 158.
During the last four years the diarrhœal rate in St. John Ward
has been persistently high, while in St. Margaret it has risen each year.
Venereal Diseases.—The attention of the Council was directed to
this subject by a letter from Col. C. W. Long, M.P. He submitted a
considerable body of evidence showing that the diseases, physical and
mental, resulting directly or by inheritance, from venereal disease are
so serious and numerous, that it is desirable that there should be full
enquiry into the matter, particularly in the direction whether there is
adequate provision for the treatment of the poorer classes in the
various stages of the disease.
The Council agreed as to the desirability of an enquiry being held.
From the few deaths which are attributed to these diseases, it might
be assumed that they were of little importance, but it is well known
that many illnesses owe their inception to venereal infection, and it is
generally only the final manifestation which is recorded as the cause of
death.