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the more crowded parts of the parish, but also in the better class of houses where the
sewerage is defective, and other insalubrious causes are in operation. The deaths in the
last week are less by twelve than in the week preceding. This comparative diminution in
sickness is general over London. It is, however, no justification for security and inactivity.
Such lulls or remissions are often nothing more than the forerunners of a pestilence. As
the heats of July approach, it may be surely foretold, that the seeds of disease now lying
comparatively dormant amongst you, will germinate into vigour.
You will have a clear idea of the high death-rate of Shoreditch, if I state, that it
amounts to 28 deaths for every 1000 persons living, annually. This is the highest figure
attained by any district in the metropolis. Dr. Farr has fixed the normal death-rate—
that is the rate at which people die in healthy districts—at 17 in 1000. It thus appears
that the death-rate of Shoreditch exceeds the natural rate by 11 in the 1000. Here I
must make a remark in anticipation to an objection that may be raised against stating the
death-rate of Shoreditch at 28 in 1000 ; this includes the deaths in St. Luke's Workhouse,
and it may be plausibly urged that these deaths must be struck off. I answer, that if some
deaths take place within the boundaries of Shoreditch, which do not belong to its population,
so there are others, and not a few of the population of Shoreditch, whose mortal
diseases are contracted in the parish, and who die in the hospitals. For example,
there is a bill at the workhouse from the Smallpox Hospital for the care of 28 cases of
small-pox, admitted from this parish in 1855. I have, under consideration, plans for
arriving at something like precise information as to deaths taking place out of the parish.
There are one or two other points touching the sanitary condition of the parish which
we may here record. An important element in a medical survey is the elevation of the
district. The general elevation of Shoreditch is 48 feet above Trinity high-water mark.
This elevation is in itself a most fortunate circumstance; and it becomes even more so because
it exceeds the elevation of most of the surrounding districts : thus, the elevation of Bethnal
Green is only 36 feet; of Whitechapel, 28; of East London, 42; and although the
general elevation of Islington is 88 feet, that part which is contiguous to Shoreditch is little
above the level of Shoreditch. You are, therefore, elevated above the influence of the
pestiferous Thames; and did you not create and entertain especial local morbific influences,
your district might reach a high degree of salubrity.
The next point is the Water Supply. There are three principal sources. The New
River Company and the East London Company supply the greater portion of the
inhabitants. The workhouse, with its population of 800 souls, is supplied by an Artesian
well. I have taken specimens of each of these waters for analysis, and shall report upon
their condition hereafter. I believe that all will prove to be of good qualtity. But this is
not enough. In many of the most wretched abodes, water cannot be had in sufficient
quantity for the purposes of health; in many others, it is rendered unwholesome by storage