View report page

20
12 of the deaths from misadventure were due to an explosion
of lyddite in the Royal Arsenal. Of the remaining 53 deaths
from accidental causes, 10 occurred on Sunday, and 11 on
Saturday.
27. Certain accidental causes of death shew an increase:
thus burns were 4 in 1901, 6 in 1902, and 11 in 1903; suffocations,
by being overlain in bed, were 2 in 1901, 5 in 1902,
and 10 in 1903. Homicides were 22 in 1901, 9 in 1902, and
20 in 1903.
28. Uncertified deaths.—There were only 6 deaths which
were not certified either by a medical practitioner or by a
Coroner after inquest. The rate per cent. of total deaths was
0.4, the lowest yet recorded. An inquest is now held on almost
every person who dies without having medical attendance. It
is most important that this should be the case, pending the
introduction of a more scientific method of enquiry into the
causes of such deaths.
29. Deaths in Public Institutions.—Table I. shews the
actual number of deaths occurring in public institutions in the
Borough, viz., 272. Only 245 of these however were residents
in the Borough. 171 deaths of residents in the Borough
occurred in public institutions outside the Borough. Table lb
shews how the institutional deaths were distributed among the
various hospitals, asylums, &c.
Of 171 deaths from phthisis, 53 occurred in the poor law
infirmary, and 16 in asylums, chest hospitals, &c.
Small-pox and Vaccination.
30. Six cases of small-pox only were notified, and there
were no deaths. Tbe cases occurred in the months of April,