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12
Town District and 16 in Brompton, death was registered upon
the information of the Coroner (Inquests) : a number equal
to 6.3 of all the deaths, the equivalent number in London
being 6.2. In 102 cases a verdict of "Death from natural causes"
was returned, the reason for enquiry being, in 83 cases, the
suddenness of the death, and in 19 cases the fact of the deceased
being found dead in bed. The diseased conditions found upon
pod mortem examination were connected with the heart in 29
cases; the Nervous System in 29 cases; the Respiratory Organs
in 31 cases, and various in the remaining 13 cases, such as
Diarrhoea, Scrofula, Dropsy, &c. Thirty-six verdicts of " Accidental
death " were recorded: the deaths being due to burns and
scalds in 9 cases; to falls in 3 cases; to carriage accidents in 3
cases ; to other injuries in 2 cases. Twelve cases of " Suffocation "
occurred, besides 2 of " Choking." In 3 cases newly born children
were found dead, and 1 case each of poisoning and drowning
happened. Five Suicidal deaths were registered, viz., 2 by hanging,
and 1 each by drowning, poisoning, and cut throat.
Verdicts of Wilful Murder and Manslaughter were recorded in
4 cases. Death was by drowning in 1 case ; the other cases were
simply returned as Wilful Murder, 2 (newly born children),
and Manslaughter 1. In a large proportion of the cases the
subjects of inquiry in the Coroner's Court were young children.
DEATHS IN PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS.
Two hundred and fifty-two deaths were registered at Public
Institutions, viz : 98 in the Brompton Hospital, (8 of parishioners
included) ; 1 at Kensington House, and 153 (males 82, females 71)
at the Workhouse, which of course receives its inmates from both
registration districts. The deaths at St. Joseph's Home, Portobello
Road, a Roman Catholic charitable establishment where some
200 aged persons are maintained, are not returned under this head.
Thirteen deaths were returned as " not certified," but I have
ascertained that several unregistered and unqualified practitioners
of medicine have been in the habit of giving certificates of death,
thereby bringing themselves within the penal 40th clause of the
Medical Act. J here is no public prosecutor and therefore no one
takes lip these cases in the Police Court. I felt it my duty, however,
to take steps to prevent such certificates being received
in future. I hold (en that were tendered to aud accepted by the
Registrar of deaths during the year.
MET EOROLOGY.
The Registrar General states that the mean temperature of the
air at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, during 1871, was 48°7,
the same as during 1870, and nearly identical with the average in
100 years. In the first and third quarters of the year the mean