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9
General did not report in his weekly return a single death
from Small-pox in the whole of London, and, at the most,
two in several previous weeks.
Before concluding these remarks upon the fatality of
Zymotic diseases, attention may be called to the
remarkably high mortality from Puerperal maladies
(Metria), recorded in the present table as having occurred
in Battersea. The Medical Officer of Health of East
Battersea, in his local summary, makes mention of a very
painful circumstance of no less than 14 women in the
prime of life, most of them mothers of large families, being
sacrificed to a nurse's ignorance ; and in the summary for
the division of West Battersea the Medical Officer of
Health alludes to 11 other deaths having been registered
from the same malady. As many, therefore, as 25 deaths
in the entire Sub-district of Battersea took place from
Puerperal Fever. The relation of this sad event will be
read with melancholy interest, and it is to be hoped will
lead to greater care being exercised by every one in the
choice of what is called " a midwife." In some of the
cases referred to in East Battersea, there appears to be
evidence enough to show that the woman who dignified
herself by the name of "a qualified Midwife" was not
only careless, but wanting in common prudence as regards
the cleanliness of her person and dress.
Ordinary (Non-Zymotic) Diseases, &c.—The fatality
attending ordinary diseases, including Violence, Accidents,
&c., furnished to the Begister records of 2,270 deaths.
A considerable increase over the numbers in the table of
the previous years will be observed in the present one,
under nearly all the headings, and will be found to have
exceeded in the aggregate the ten years' average by 118.
The Tubercular class of maladies (including a number of
deaths from Phthisis), diseases of the Brain and Nerves,
of the Heart, and of the Digestive Organs, all proved fatal
in increased numbers over those of the previous year, as