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135, Bethnal Green Road,
February 15, 1857.
" The great work of the day it to improve the health of the people"
Gentlemen,
The Instructions* to Medical Officers of Health
direct them to inquire into, and to report, periodically, upon
the physical conditions of the place and people, their vital
statistics and sanitary state, the ventilation and drainage of
houses, the drinking waters and water supply, the condition
of the burial grounds, slaughtering places, and homes of the
industrial classes, and to state, on referring to existing evils,
what sanitary appliances are best for their mitigation.
Accordingly, in my Report on 1856, I have comprised these
several matters under the following heads:—
1. Births and Immigration—Increase.
2. Mortality and Sickness.
3. Health, Present, and Previous.
4. Sanitary Transactions.
5. Defects and Requirements.
6. Correlative Matters.
7. Summary and Conclusion.
1.—BIRTHS AND IMMIGRATION—INCREASE.
The number of Births fell from 3717, in 1855, to 3640, in
1856. 3.6 children were born to each hundred persons, or 1.9
to every death. As 1905 persons died, the natural addition
to our population by excess of Births over Deaths was 1735.
But the births do not constitute all the increase; the influx of
* From the General Board of Health, December 20th, 1855.