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that which ended August 2nd (64.0), and the coldest that which
ended Dec. 6th (27°.l). The dryness of the atmosphere, i.e. the
difference between the dew point temperature and air temperature,
was 4°.0, an amount considerably below the average of 39 years (50,6).
The rainfall was 310.3 inches, the average of 40 years being 24°.5 inches.
The means of the readings of the barometer were 29°.770 inches; the
means of April, 29°.420, and of December, 30°.139, being respectively
the lowest and the highest. The influence of the meteorological conditions—
low temperature, excessive rainfall, saturation of air with
moisture, &c.— on the vital statistics of the year was well marked, as
has already been pointed out in the observations on the mortality
from chest diseases, diarrhoea, &c.
VACCINATION.
Table X (Appendix), is a return respecting the vaccination of
children whose births were registered during the year 1879, and for
it I am indebted to Mr. Shattock the Vaccination Officer, whose
energetic discharge of the duties of his appointment, it has always
afforded me great pleasure to recognize. The return shows a loss
of only four per cent, of the cases, which is better than usual, even
for Kensington, the loss in 1878 having been five per cent. It must
be remembered, moreover, that the present return is, after all, only
preliminary, the Local Government Board allowing vaccination
officers a period of twelve months (expiring in February) for the
completion of a final return, in order that the statement, in respect of
all children born in any given year, may be rendered as complete as
practicable. I beliove I am correct in stating that the "loss" in
the column indicating "removal of children to places out of the
parish unknown, or which cannot be reached; and cases not having
been found "averages between 8 and 9 per cent, in the Metropolis
generally, so that the Kensington return is fully 4 per cent, better
than the average. In a communication lately received, Mr. Shattock
states that during the year be prosecuted, under the Vaccination
Acts, in nine instances resulting in a compliance with the law in
each case. Keferring to the "Medical Act," he adds that he also
prosecuted under the Statute, an unregistered practitioner who had
certified that a child had been three times unsuccessfully vaccinated