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4
portion of children to the entire population in each place, and from
the great difficulty in estimating the present population of the places.
Estimated by this standard they are found to take the following
order, beginning with the most unhealthyTottenham Court, Camden
Town, Somers Town, Gray's Inn, Regent's Park, and Kentish
Town.
The proportion of deaths under 5 years of age to the number of
births was as 10 to 37 in the whole parish; in Kentish Town it was
only as 10 to 45 ; whilst in Tottenham Court district it was 10 to 26 ;
but this last ratio is probably raised considerably by the presence of
the Strand Union Workhouse, in which, as in most workhouses, a
larger proportion of young children die than in the surrounding
districts.
The natural increase of population in the parish, that is to say,
the excess of births over deaths, was in the year 1856, 2,194; of
the increase by now residents coming from without, I have no means
of judging.
When the sub-districts arc compared, as regards the mortality
from six epidemic diseases to every 10,000 living, they stand in the
following order :—Gray's Inn, Tottenham Court, Somers Town, Camden
Town, Regent's Park, and Kentish Town.
As regards the total mortality to every thousand persons living,
the order is,—Tottenham Court, Somers Town, Gray's Inn, Camden
Town, Regent's Park, and Kentish Town.
In whatever way they are compared, the Kentish Town subdistrict
shows the most favourably. This is in accordance with what
I stated in my first monthly Report, namely, that elevation and
thinness of population are two elements which are always found very
much to influence mortality.
It may be useful to ask on what these influences depend ? An
increase of elevation is accompanied by an increased exposure to the
light and warmth of the sun, a more pure air, freer ventilation,
and superior drainage.
It is desirable, then, to give to the low-level localities, as far as
possible, the advantages of the higher ones.
This will be best accomplished by throwing open the courts
and passages to the light of day, by increasing the ventilation of
houses, by ensuring the removal of all refuse as quickly as possible
from the neighbourhood of dwellings, and preventing the escape of