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44
REPORT
on the
SANITARY CONDITION OF ST. MARY, ISLINGTON,
FOR DECEMBER, 1863.
No. LXXXI.
The Report for the present December relates to six instead of five
weeks. This must necessarily happen about every sixth year. In the
six weeks, then, ending January 2, there happened 472 deaths of residents
in Islington. In order to compare this mortality with that of the
previous seven Decembers, it is necessary to add ith to the corrected
average, which will raise it to 457. The mortality recorded, then, is 15
above the mean.
Infectious fever (typhus), which still prevails largely in other parts of
London, happily makes but slow progress with us. Of the 12 deaths recorded
in the Mortuary Table, 8 are said to be due to typhus, but it is
right you should understand, in modification of any conclusion you may
draw, that even now, although the majority of medical practitioners distinguish
typhus from the endemic non-infectious fever, there are those
who, from want of opportunity to study the two diseases side by side,
still use the term "typhus" as synonymous with continued fever when ever
this assumes the character of prostration. Although, therefore, it is
certain that we have amongst us cases of the prevailing fever, it would
be premature to assert that the rise of mortality, from one death in four
weeks to eight in six weeks, is to be taken as an accurate expression of
its rate of increase. An examination of the books of the Fever Hospital
shows that only six cases of true typhus have been received from Islington
during the month, and one of them was a tramp. Out of the eight
reported deaths one was of a nurse at the Hospital, and three were of
persons of a rank in life which put misery and want, as causes, out of
the question. This merely shows us what we already knew—that in
epidemic seasons, while those badly clothed, poorly fed and wretchedly
lodged, are the most ordinary victims, typhus by no means neglects to
visit families whose circumstances are more comfortable. None are