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the deaths of females were 243, and of males 208, giving
an excess of 35 on the side of the females.
The registered births during 1868 were 801, the excess
of births over deaths was therefore 551. The sexes in
this case were also nearly equal, the female births slightly
predominating, in the ratio of 410 of the latter sex to
391 of that of the male; hitherto the male births have
generally predominated in this Sub-district.
In the absence of any reliable datum beyond that furnished
by a calculation of the excess of births over deaths,
and called the "natural increase," it becomes very difficult
to estimate the population with accuracy, and perhaps,
under all circumstances, it is best not to attempt it until
another census shall have given us more accurate information.
This much I may say, that the increase of population
by immigration has been such of late as to render the
usual method of calculating the death-rate more a matter
of conjecture than ever. Notwithstanding this there are
some grounds for thinking such death-rate to be anything
but generally excessive in this Sub-district compared with
many towns having a similar mixed population. During
the last year, it must be admitted, the deaths were considerably
in excess of the average of the ten previous
years, owing to the undue prevalence and fatality of
Zymotic diseases.
From the following table (the construction of which
from the manuscript weekly returns furnished by the Registrar
General to all the Metropolitan Medical Officers of
Health, is a work of considerable nicety and labour) may
be gathered the number, the sex, the ages, and the social
positions of all who have died in the Sub-district within
the year under review, and it will also be found to afford
a considerable amount of other information interesting to
the sanitarian.