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35
REPORT
on the
SANITARY CONDITION OF ST. MARY, ISLINGTON,
FOR MARCH, 1863.
No. LXXII.
During the five weeks which ended on the 28th of March, the mortality of this
Parish has been excessive. It has been high throughout London, but not to the
extent that it has been with us where the deaths have been one-third higher than
the corrected mean of six years. The number registered was 422, the corrected
mean of the previous six years is 316. Whatever the cause of the higher mortality
of London may have been, Islington suffered from it disproportionably to the rest
of the Metropolis. Among possible causes there is one which cannot be overlooked,
namely, the sudden change of temperature of the air which occurred in the
middle of the month. During the two first weeks the mean temperature was
respectively 4 and 7.3 degrees above the mean of 21 years; in the second week it
fell to 2.4 degrees below the mean; in the fourth week it was 0.8 degrees below the
mean; and then in the fifth it again rose to 5.8 degrees above it. All this irregularity
must have exercised a baneful influence upon the public health. Besides, the
unusually high temperature during the early part of the month depressed vital
energy, the low temperature in the middle favoured the occurrence and fatality of
pulmonary diseases, and introduced complications in those Zymotic maladies which
were prevailing at the time. Doubtless, too, there were other atmospheric conditions
engaged in producing the high mortality. We commenced the month
with an unusual amount of Small Pox, Scarlet Fever and Hooping Cough,
and although these diseases figure largely in the mortuary table, neither they nor
yet all the Zymotic diseases together constitute the whole explanation of the high
death rate. The diseases of the Respiratory Organs caused 96 deaths, the corrected
mean of six years being 70, and Cancer, Consumption, Hydrocephalus, Apoplexy,
and Infantile Convulsions were all much above the average for March in the
number of deaths they occasioned. It is clear then that the chief cause of all was
of some such general character as I have indicated above.
The deaths from Zymotic maladies amounted to no less than 150, that is, they
were twice as numerous as in any March during the previous six years. Out of
these, the diseases which claim special notice are Small Pox, Scarlet Fever,