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The death-rate in the first four weeks of the year ended
January 25th, the highest in 1890, was 22.4 per 1000 of the
estimated population, and 3.3 above the decennial average (19.1):
it was, however, 7.3 below the rate in the Metropolis as a whole
(29.7), this moreover being 6.5 above the decennial average (23.2).
The deaths from the principal diseases of the zymotic class were
15 only, and 11 below the corrected decennial average, whoopingcough
being the cause of 10 deaths, diphtheria of 4, and scarlet
fever of 1. The fatality of diseases of the respiratory organs was
very great, no fewer than 136 deaths having been registered (including
bronchitis 106, and pneumonia 20), although the temperature
was 6.3° above that of 1889, when, in the same four
weeks, only 57 deaths (including bronchitis 43, and pneumonia 5)
were registered from these causes. The deaths from "Influenza"
were 13—two of them in the Brompton sub-district: one, four,
five, and three, in the four weeks respectively—this disease being
returned in nine cases as the primary cause of death. But there
can be no doubt that many additional deaths were really due to
Influenza, or to the causes of Influenza, whatever these may have
been. The deaths of children under five years of age were 73,
including 47 under one year, those of persons aged 60 and
upwards being 99. The mean temperature of the air was 42.1°
Fahr., and 5.2 above the means in the corresponding weeks in
the previous ten years (36.9).
In the second four-weekly period of the year (5th—8th
weeks, January 26th to February 22nd), the death-rate fell to
20.3: it was 2.3 above the average (18'0), but l.l below the
Metropolitan rate (21.4), this being 1.7 below the decennial
average (23.1). The deaths from the principal zymotic diseases
were 18, and 5 below the average. Whooping-cough was the
cause of 11 deaths, diphtheria of 4, and scarlet fever of 1. The
diseases of the respiratory organs were fatal to 81 persons (a
reduction of 55), as against 48 in the corresponding weeks in the
previous year: fifty-one of these deaths were due to bronchitis,
and ten to pneumonia. Influenza was the certified cause of 13