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49
tion. A more trustworthy method under the circumstances
consists (as was explained in the Annual Report for 1875,
pages 6 to 8), in the employment of the ratio borne by the
mean annual number of births to the mean annual population
during a considerable time as a measure of the ratio
borne by the births to the population during the year
under review, the proportion of births to population being
almost uniformly constant, and capable of accurate verification;
by this method of calculation the mean population
of the past year was not less than 26,000.
Mortality.—The total number of deaths registered
during the year was 516, 248 of males, and 268 of females.
104 took place in the following public institutions, viz.,
in the Surrey County Lunatic Asylum, 85; in the Hospital
for Incurables, 11; in St. Peter's Hospital, 3; in the
House of Correction, 4; and in the Royal Patriotic Asylum
for Girls, 1. 24 deaths of Wandsworth parishioners
occurred in the Infirmary of the Union, which were
registered in Battersea, in which parish that institution is
situated.
Death-rate.—The death-rate calculated from the deaths
registered and a population estimated by the official
method was 20.56 per thousand persons living on an
average during the year. But, as has been explained in
previous reports, a rate so derived cannot be accepted as
the natural death-rate of this sub-district, in consequence
of the disturbing influence of several public institutions
which requires to be taken into consideration; these are
the Surrey County Lunatic Asylum, the Hospital for
Incurables, and St. Peter's Hospital, the inmates of which
are derived from without the parish, undergo no natural
increase, and are subject to a high mortality; the latter
formed last year no less than a fifth part of all deaths
registered, so that the above calculation must be entirely
valueless. To arrive at the natural death-rate, therefore, it
becomes necessary to eliminate from this calculation the
D