View report page

56
CLAPHAM.
The following report requires but few words of introduction.
The tables of mortality (page 59 and 60),
and of sanitary work executed (page 22), give in a
succinct form the causes of death which are in
operation, and the efforts made to diminish the
incidence of preventible diseases. The year 1886
was on the whole a healthy one, and the general deathrate
was lower than in any except the last preceding
year. One striking feature of the year's sanitary
history was the complete absence of Small-Pox. Another
important point is the increasing number of persons
who apply to have their houses disinfected after the
occurrence of infectious diseases, or to have an inspection
made for the detection of suspected nuisances. Such
cases are unfortunately still in a small minority; but
there is abundant evidence that the public is beginning
to regard the visits of the sanitary inspectors not as an
inquisition into their private affairs, but as a necessary
safeguard to health. The educative value of the sanitary
inspections made on the householders of Clapham
should not be forgotten in any estimate of the sanitary
work executed during the year.