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one short exception, was mild,* no great epidemic prevailed,
and the health of Bethnal Green, as of all London, was
"unusually good." In no year since 1850, the year after
Cholera, has our mortality fallen so low. Among your
Six Poor Law Divisions, the health-improvement was marked,
for, notwithstanding the large population-increase, the cases
of sickness were little more in amount than in 1846. Then
however, the Dispensary and Consumption Hospital did not
exist, now, doubtless they draw off a part. During the last
six months of the year, 2825 cases were attended by your six
Medical Officers. Of these 608 occurred in the Workhouse;
—316 in District No. 1;—428 in No. 2;—514 in No. 3;—
568 in No 4;—and 391 in No 5. If calculated on the estimate
of 8.25 attendances to every case,† the attendances would
number about 23,300 in the latter half of the year. Two
cases of Cholerac Diarrhoea in Wharf Road, on the borders of
the Canal, and one in Claremont Cottages, all threatening
collapse, were successfully treated by Mr. Welch. Of the
epidemics, Typhus was most rife, and Hooping Cough next
in amount. Their proportions one to another, and to each
Sub-division, are given in No. 3 of the Tables adjoined. That
Table shows that the epidemics formed nearly a third of the
total attacks, and that 1 out of every 35 persons, was under
the care of your efficient Medical Staff.
3.—HEALTH, PRESENT AND PREVIOUS.
To estimate correctly our standard of health, we must
compare the present and past, and contrast the Parish with
other localities. The statistics of the Registrar-General prove
that, of late years, our deaths have decreased. When Registration
commenced, the mortality in Bethnal Green was at the
* The "10 cold days (November 26th to December .5th,)" during which "the
excess of deaths was 339, or nearly 34 daily."
†This estimate is deduced from the returns of the Medical Officers in 1847, and
closely agrees with the estimate of Mr. Welch.