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13
In the Table which exhibits the principal causes
of death you will perceive that the number dying
of violence has risen from a general average of
130 per annum to 157; those of phthisis, from 519
to 523; and those of measles, whooping-cough,
and croup, from 192 to 277. These last, in fact,
are the diseases which have been unusually prevalent
during the year; and, although they are not all
preventible to a like extent, yet there can be no
doubt that in every case their force might be lessened
by the aid of sanitary science. The chief increase
in the mortality from zymotic diseases has occurred
in the East London Union, but the largest proportion
of deaths from phthisis, has been in the Western
districts. The mortality from other diseases
has, in almost every instance, fallen below the
average, for the deaths from fever were but 88,
instead of 150; those from diarrhoea and dysentery,
among adults, have fallen from 153 to 38; scarlet
fever from 103 to 50; small-pox, from 24 to 6;
and erysipelas from 26 to 19. Altogether, indeed,
the deaths from zymotic affections, excepting croup,
measles, whooping-cough, and diphtheria,—which
have been unusually prevalent, have fallen from an
average of 456 to 201, or to less than half. This is
strong proof of the value of sanitary measures; for
nothing speaks so forcibly of the general condition
of a place as the death-rate from such maladies.
It is true that some of these diseases have gained