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this direction, and to increased care in the performance of the operation,
is to be attributed the present comparative freedom from a pestilence,
which for some years past appears to have claimed a somewhat large
number of victims in the more populous parts of the district.
The Zymotic Diseases to which the greatest number of persons have
succumbed during the quarter, appears to have been Whooping Cough,
which proved fatal in 10 instances; Scarlatina which resulted in death
in 8 cases; and Typhus Fever which found 7 victims amongst the
scattered population of the district. Of the total number of Zymotic
cases, it is worthy of remark, that the majority of deaths occurred
amongst the families of those who are constrained to dwell in places
notoriously unhealthy, from absent or defective drainage, bad water,
and deficient ventilation.
From the above table we gather, that when the number of deaths
amongst the industrial classes is deducted from the general total of 284,
there will remain 83 deaths only to be distributed amongst the three
other classes, gentry, professions and trades.
The above may be termed the black side of the picture, and to
look at it almost destroys the gratification experienced in recording
the fact of a greatly decreased general rate of mortality. But may