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number in 1875 (83), and they were 37 below the corrected
decennial average. Forty-four of the deaths were registered in
the first half of the year, and 15 in the second.
Diphtheria was the cause of 17 deaths : 13 in the Town subdistrict,
and 4 in Brompton ; 6, 4, 5, and 2 deaths in the four
quarters respectively. These deaths were 6 below the number in
1875.
Whooping Cough.—One hundred and twenty-four deaths from
this disease were registered, viz., 114 in the Town sub-district,
and 10 in Brompton. The disease was severely epidemic in the
first half of the year when the deaths registered were 109, only 15
deaths having been registered in the second half. The corrected
decennial average number of deaths from whooping cough is 74.
" Fever."—The deaths from the three separate diseases classed
under this heading by the Registrar General were 37; 8 above
the number registered in 1875 and 16 below the corrected decennial
average.
Typhus Fever was the cause of 3 deaths, in as many houses.
Enteric Fever is made accountable for 26 deaths, 24 of them in
the Town sub-district. The quarterly numbers of the deaths were
8, 2, 6, and 10.
Simple continued Fever.—The six deaths from this disease were
registered in the Town sub-district.
Diarrhcea.—The deaths from this malady were 126; or 18
below the corrected decennial average, viz., 110 in the Town subdistrict
and 16 in Brompton. The prevalence of diarrhcea as a
fatal disease in young children is determined by a high temperature
of the air. The deaths are always few in the winter
quarters, and last year they numbered only 20 in these quarters, 10
in each. The relative proportion of the deaths in the summer
quarters depends on the degree of heat. In 1876 the season was
backward, and we had little " summer " before July; and thus
it happened that only 9 deaths occurred from diarrhcea in the
second quarter of the year. Then followed many weeks of
brilliant hot weather which was attended with a large increase in
the mortality from this disease, the deaths registered being no
fewer than 97. Of the total deaths from diarrhcea, 91 occurred in
the first year of life, and fifteen in the second. One hundred and
nine of the deaths took place below the age of five years, and 13 at
ages above 55, six of them between the ages of 75 and 85.
Simple Cholera.—Six deaths in the Town sub-district were
registered, nearly all of them in the practice of one gentleman. I
have no sufficient reason for supposing that the cases differed
materially from other cases of acute and somewhat rapidly fatal
diarrhoea.