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Among the cases described as "sudden," "found dead," &c.,
there were, as usual, many of persons who had died from ordinary
and curable visceral diseases, and it is impossible to resist the
conviction that there had been culpable neglect on the part of
someone in the failure to obtain medical assistance for the deceased;
for the illnesses must have extended over many days, and been
attended with obvious symptoms of a more or less serious and
painful nature; and there would have been no occasion for
inquests had medical certificates been forthcoming. The mere
finding of the cause of death by a jury, in such cases, seems
scarcely to satisfy the requirements of justice, considering that
the death of any person—but particularly of one very young or
very aged—from a disease like pneumonia or bronchitis, when
there has been no medical treatment, raises a presumption of
neglect which would justify a verdict of "manslaughter," equally
as in the case of the "peculiar people," who, whilst treating
their sick with care in other respects, refuse, on mistaken
conscientious grounds, to employ medical assistance, and who, as
a consequence of such refusal, death having ensued, have often
been found guilty of manslaughter.
METEOROLOGY.
The mean temperature of the air at Greenwich in 1881 was
48°.7 Fahrenheit, or 0°.5 below the averages of 40 years 1841—80.
The means of the four quarters respectively were 37°.4, 53°.5,
59°.8, and 44°.5. The highest reading by day (97°.l) was taken
in the week ending July 16, and the lowest reading by night (12°.7)
in the week ending January 31st, the highest readings in the four
quarters respectively being 59°.4, 83.9, 97°.l, and 63°.3, and of
the lowest readings 12.7, 29.3, 38.3, and 21.6. The hottest
week in the year was that which ended July 16 (70°.l), and the
coldest week that which ended January 16 (23°.4). July was the
hottest month, mean temperature 65°.4, and January was the
coldest month, mean temperature 31°.6. July was also characterised
by the greatest range in temperature—viz., 53.2, from 91.7 to
43°.9, while February exhibited the smallest range, viz., 27°.9—
from 26°.l to 54°.0. The dryness of the atmosphere, i.e., the
difference between the dew-point temperature and air temperature,