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The Hospital for Consumption and Diseases of the
Chest.— The deaths in this institution were 130 (87 males and
43 females). Six only of the deceased were parishioners. This
hospital, widely and favourably known, is less strictly than most
others a merely Metropolitan Institution, drawing patients as it does
from all parts of England. Of the 130 people who died in it
last year, less than half had been residents in London—44
came from distant counties, and 27 from the Metropolitan
Counties. The quarterly numbers of deaths were 35, 23, 31 and
41—76 deaths, that is, in the 1st and 4th, or winter quarters,
and 54 in the 2nd and 3rd, or summer quarters. Phthisis
(consumption) alone, was the registered cause of death
in 106 cases, and with complications in other 13. Diseases of
the heart, arteries, and lungs, not phthisical, were returned in eight
cases, and there was one death each from tubercular meningitis,
cancer, and diarrhoea. Death took place at ages as follows :—
Ten Years and Under 3
11 to 20 Years 21
20 to 40 „ 89
40 to 60 „ 17
St. Joseph's House.— The deaths in this institution were 33,
males 14 and females 19—22 in the winter and 11 in the summer
quarters. They occurred mostly at great ages ranging, with three
exceptions under 60, between 60 and 96. The causes of death
were diseases of the brain 8, of the lungs 9, of the heart 4, of the
kidneys 5, cancer 3, rheumatism 1, old age, &c., 3. A girl of 10
years died of chorea (St. Vitus's Dance), at St. Elizabeth's Home
—a conventual establishment and school opposite St. Joseph's
House.
INQUESTS.
The causes of death in 142 cases (males 63, and female 79),
were returned by the Coroner (inquests), and were ascertained in
103 cases by post-mortem examination. The apparent reason for
holding the inquest was the suddenness of the death or the
finding of the dead body in 115 cases, and "violence" in 37.
Forty-seven of the deceased were under one year of age, 22
between one and five; from five to twenty 3, twenty to sixty 48,
above sixty 22. Many of the inquests w ere held on children who
survived birth but a very short period. Among the violent deaths
26 are set down to accident, 8 as suicidal, 2 as "wilful murder,"
1 as " manslaughter."