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38
Inquests.— Twenty-four cases were the subject of
inquiry before the Coroner in this Sub-district during the
year, and may be thus classified according to the verdicts
given:
Drowned (1 Suicide, 1 Wilful Murder) 9
Killed by Locomotives 4
Suffocated in bed, (Infants) 2
Scald 1, Poisoned by Carbolic Acid 1 2
Natural Causes 4
Hanging 1, Cut Throat 1, (Suicides) 2
Excessive drinking
24
Uncertified Deaths.—There were 23 persons consigned
to the grave during the year from East Battersea, in
whom the cause of death was not certified by a registered
medical practitioner. Comment is superfluous.
Sanitary Operations. — During the . past year a
systematic house-to-house inspection has been made of
nearly every inhabited dwelling in the Sub-district by the
Inspector of Nuisances, under the supervision of myself
and the Surveyor, Mr. Pilditch, to which latter gentleman
I have to express my thanks for his prompt assistance on
many occasions.
Several nuisances of a character injurious to health
were discovered by this means, which is the only
practicable method of bringing sanitary measures to bear
on the habitations of the lower section of the working
classes, as they, from indifference or want of knowledge,
are with their families those who, at all events in the
first instance, pay the tribute of disease and death to
imperfect hygienic conditions. It must not, however, be
forgotten that when Zymotic disease is once engendered,
it invariably spreads by infection to the classes above.