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75
REPORT
on the
SANITARY CONDITION OF ST. MARY, ISLINGTON,
FOE, APRIL, 1866,
No. CVIII.
The mortality of the Parish during the four weeks ending the 2Sth
of April has been below the average. As registered, it amounted to 236
deaths—the corrected mean mortality of April of the last ten years being
314. The deaths from small-pox have been about twice as numerous
(taking the number of weeks into consideration) as they were in March,
and hooping-cough has also increased somewhat in fatality. The deaths
from fever, however, have been considerably reduced. The warm
weather which succeeded the first week of the month has been effectual
in largely reducing the mortality from chest diseases. But the laws
which govern sickness and mortality, in their relation to weather, are not
the same, and hence, it is not to be inferred that, because the mortality
has been reduced, the general health of our population has been
influenced in a corresponding manner. The best index of healthiness
is the table of sickness which 1 invariably append to my reports. As
a matter of fact, our sickness during the four weeks was excessive. The
mild weather of the past autumn and winter, although it has kept down
our death rate during these seasons, has, at the same time, deprived us
of the benefit which a winter's cold effects, in raising the amount of
vitality, to be opposed to the depressing influences of the succeeding
summer.
The public announcement of cases of imported cholera at Liverpool
and Bristol, and the issue of Privy Council Orders for the quarantine
of vessels coming from Rotterdam, warrant me, I think, in breaking
silence now upon this subject. The public must look the approaching
epidemic fairly in the face. Since the local outbreaks last year, cholera
has not receded beyond the western shores of the European continent,
where it has continued its ravages through the winter months. Strict
quarantine regulations may delay its advent amongst us, but experience
shows of how little avail they are likely to be in preventing the
importation of the disease. As the sanitary authority in this Parish,
you have much to do—the general public, and those amongst them
that possess influence and sanitary knowledge, still more. I myself, and
the staff at my disposal, shall be chiefly occupied with the dwellings of
the poor and ill-informed; those of our population who are otherwise
situated, must themselves see, under the direction of their private medical
advisers, that their own houses are set in order. Unfortunately,
I am aware, that many of those conditions which promote outbreaks