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Again, this unfortunate locality of Dudley Street standing at the bottom of the list, and
presenting a pre-eminence in deaths (see Table VIII.) from measles, scarlet fever,
whooping-cough, and continued fever. All these diseases were prevalent to the next
degree in the Short's Gardens locality, and here it was that diarrhoea proved most
fatal. The Southern Drury Lane division stands the next lowest in this list of zymotic
deaths, by reason of an epidemic of measles, which destroyed the children of Lincoln
Court.
The high position of the Coram Street locality has been gained by a comparative
immunity from all diseases of the zymotic class, except small-pox, which has
been frequent here, and from which there was one death in Coram Place.
It will be observed, that the order in which the localities stand as to zymotic
disease, coincides almost exactly with their relative fatality to children, a circumstance
for which we were of course prepared, in the absence of any peculiar epidemic in
the year.
The next section of this enquiry is the localization of consumption and lung
diseases, the other two sets of maladies which, in 1857, presented in St. Giles a prominent
excess over the rest of the town.
The localities in regard to their mortality from consumption, and allied diseases
oj the tubercular class, stand thus:—
1. Bedford Square locality, 25 acres, 6 deaths, 8.9 p.c. of total mortality.
2, 3.
Bloomsbury Square „ 30 „ 15 „ 10.7 „
Lincoln's Inn Fields „ 13 „ 7 „ 12.8 „
4, 5.
Russell Square „ 42 „ 13 „ 20.6 „
Coram Street „ 28 „ 19 „ 15.0 „
6. Southern Drury Lane „ 14 ,, 23 „ 18.8 „
7. Dudley Street „ 13 „ 36 „ 12.3 „
8, 9.
Church Lane „ 12½ „ 33 „ 23.0 „
Short's Gardens „ 14½ „ 44 „ 19.2 „
10. Northern Drury Lane „ 14 „ 63 „ 30.8 „
Here Russell Square locality has lost its high position, perhaps because it has so large
a proportion of residents just of that age when consumption is most fatal, a peculiarity
before alluded to. Other remarkable points in this arrangement receive a partial
explanation from the relative numbers of common lodging houses in the district. Thus
the three at the bottom of the list contain almost all the lodging houses of St. Giles,
and in these houses consumption will be shown to be the most fatal disease. Still, on
reference to the actual numbers given hereafter, it will be evident that these are not
alone sufficient to explain the above position of the localities.