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REPORT
ON THE
SANITARY CONDITION OF ST. MARY, ISLINGTON,
FOR AUGUST, 1867.
No. CXXIV.
The registered number of deaths in Islington during the month of
August was 284. The mean mortality of the corresponding four weeks
during ten years past being 302.
Of the 284 deaths, 167 took place under twenty years of age; 137
under two years. Of the last-mentioned number, 42 were deaths from
diarrhoea. Altogether, there were 44 deaths from diarrhosa, and 2 from
sporadic cholera, or choleraic diarrhoea. This number is not excessive.
Three hundred and twenty-six cases of diarrhoea, dysentery, and
cholera (bowel complaints) have come under observation at the several
institutions which furnish me with returns—a number smaller than was
observed in 1864, 1863, and 1861. There has been a good deal of
general sickness among the poor; 2831 cases of all kinds having been
recorded. With the exception of last year, the highest number of
cases in August which I have yet noted, was 2722 in 1863.
There is a feature in the mortality table worthy of remark, namely,
the large proportion of 45 deaths attributed to diseases of the nervous
system—I have never yet recorded more than 31 in August. Out of
the 45 deaths, 21 were of infants under 2 years of age, and of these,
17 are referred to convulsions. I have never yet recorded more than 9
deaths in any August from infantile convulsions. The excess was
probably due to a peculiarity in the meteorological conditions of the
season. One remarkable fact at any rate is, that each of these 17
deaths occurred on days when the barometer was comparatively high,
or had been so on the day preceding the death.
EDWARD BALLARD, M.D.,
Medical Officer of Health.
Vestry Offices,
September 5th, 1867.