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otherwise the ill results would have been greater, and the
deaths of very aged and very young persons far more
numerous. The deaths from the principal diseases of the
zymotic class, which in the previous month had been 14 above
the corrected decennial average, fell to 5 below the average, the
most fatal of these diseases being whooping cough; the deaths
from this cause, however, were 16, as against 31 in January.
In the third period, 9th-12th weeks, ended March 25, the deathrate,
under the influence of fine spring weather, and notwithstanding
the temperature, 41°.0, was slightly below the average, fell to
17.7, or 2.6 per 1,000 below the decennial average, and 6.1 per
1,000 below the Metropolitan rate. This reduced rate was accounted
for by a falling off in the number of deaths from diseases
of the respiratory organs. The deaths from these diseases, which
had been excessive throughout the Metropolis for many weeks, fell
to a number 66 below the corrected average in the 12th week of
the year. The deaths from whooping cough in Kensington, which
in the two previous periods had been 31 and 16 respectively,
rose again to 21. Scarlet fever was the cause of eight deaths,
the largest total in any month save October, when the deaths,
as we shall see, were twice as numerous.
In the fourth period (13th-16th weeks, ended April 22), the
deaths from whooping cough fell to 14, and the death-rate underwent
a further decline to 17.5, or 2.5 per 1,000 below the average.
The Metropolitan rate (21.9) was 4.4 per 1,000 higher than the
Kensington rate, but 2.3 per 1,000 below the decennial average.
In the fifth period (17th-20th weeks, ended May 20th), the
deaths from whooping cough further fell to 10; the death-rate
(15.3 per 1,000, the lowest to date) being 2.4 per 1,000 below
the average, and 4.3 per 1,000 below the Metropolitan rate,
which, moreover, was 1.9 per 1,000 below the decennial average.
In the sixth period (21st-24th weeks, ended June 17th), there
was again a reduction in the rate of mortality—viz., to 14 per
1,000, or 2.7 per 1,000 below the average, and 4.2 per 1,000 below
the Metropolitan rate: this, moreover, being 1.4 per 1,000 below
the average. The deaths from whooping cough declined to 8