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8
31 per cent. of the deaths. Numerically the 6 Epidemics
proved fatal to 494 children under the age of 5, to 87 individuals
between 5 and 20 years, and to 56 who had passed
their twentieth year. Their virulency was greatest in the
Autumn, and least in the Spring. In per centage their proportion
was to the deaths 28.02, or 6 in excess of the
Metropolitan rate. Small Pox raged fearfully, and destroyed
91 more than in 1858. It is difficult, and in fact impossible,
to vaccinate every child, so many are the scruples against
vaccination. "Some of the objections are excuses for negligence,
others are based on a sort of fatalism," as was the
case vith the mother at Nottingham, who lost a child by
Small Pox, and then declared to the Registrar that" she wou d
rather lose half-a-dozen children by it than fly in the face of
Providence in having one vaccinated." As a public vaccinator,
I have met with similar cases myself. Measles
carried off 35 fewer children than in the foregoing year.
The severity of Scarlatina and Diphtheria, and of Whooping
Cough also declined. Typhus, too, was much less destructive
than in any of the years in which I have had to record its
returns. One Death among every 1,544 persons occurred
from it in London, and one among every 1,504 in Bethnal
Green. On the other hand, the fatality of Diarrhoea
increased, and swept off in the summer 160 of the 187 who
died of it in 1859. Of the three classes, the Gentry suffered
1 out of every 8 deaths by Epidemics, the Tradesmen 1 in
3*5, and the ArtisanSalso 1 in 3.5. Relatively, our Epidemic
proportions with those of London and its East Districts make
up Tables 5 and 6. Whooping Cough ranks highest in London,
Scarlatina and Typhus in the East Districts, Small Pox,
Measles, and Diarrhœa in Bethnal Green.
The " Diseases of variable or uncertain seat" destroyed 54
persons, 5 of whom died by various forms of Iloemorrhsge, 22
by Dropsy, 13 by Cancer, and 3 by Mortification.