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Zymotic diseases generally, were more rife than in the previous year;
they were, however, below the average of the preceding five years. Scarlet
fever and measles were, with diarrhœa, the most fatal of the group. The
mortality from smallpox (606) was not the half of what it had been in each
of the two preceding years; and it is to be hoped that recent legislation
making vaccination compulsory, will be followed by increasingly beneficial
results.
If we compare the mortality of these diseases in the four quarters of the
year, we shall find that small pox was most prevalent in the first quarter (280
deaths out of a total of 606), measles in the second quarter (741 deaths out of
1989), diarrhoea, as is usual, in the third quarter (3145 deaths out of 4060), and
scarlet fever in the fourth quarter, when just half of all the mortality (1463
out of 2921 deaths) from this disease was registered.
It is difficult to say to what extent personal infection on the one hand,
and the influence of meteorological conditions on the other, promoted the
propagation of these diseases. It is well however, to bear in mind that the
excessive mortality both from smallpox and scarlet fever was coincident with
a moderate temperature and an excessive rain-fall—facts that point to the
confinement of people, especially children—in unwholesome rooms, the close
damp air of which is charged with miasmatic poisons. Infectious disease
under these circumstances spreads rapidly from person to person. A fresh
incentive is thus afforded to us for the enforcement of the law, with all
proper energy to prevent overcrowding; and in the case of small pox, to insist
stringently upon the protective efficacy of vaccination.
The mortality from typhus fever and other fevers (2483) was rather more
than that of the previous year; but still it was below the average of the
preceding five years. The largest proportion of deaths occurred in the last
half of the year.
The deaths from phthisis and other affections of the lungs did not deviate
remarkably from their usual number.
It is worthy of remark, that cancer is a disease that figures more largely
in our Registers year after year; in 1856 for example, there were 1074 deaths
registered; in 1857 there were 1152, and so on in successive years until in
1867 the deaths were 1464, and in 1868, 1580. This increase is out of all
proportion to the increase of the population, and awaits a sufficient
explanation.
As an evidence of the advantage to the public health arising from the
adoption of sauitary measures, I may instance the lessening of the death-rate
among the population of the South side of the river, since the improvements
in the drainage and water-supply have been carried out. A few years ago,
South London was conspicuous for its unhealthiness, and was peculiarly
exposed to the ravages of epidemic disease. In the five years ending in 1854,
its average mortality was 26. The sewage was then stagnent, and the water
supply, derived directly from the Thames, was always impregnated with
sewage and often loaded with impurities. In 1856 the improvements were
effected, and the mortality fell to 23, which with little variation, has
continued up to the year 1868. The Registrar General remarks "the mortality
is now lower in South London than it is in North London."
II.—The Mortality in St. Giles District.
Our own District has participated proportionately in the general' healthfulness
of the Metropolis. Our standard is yet too high; but any diminution
of it is a cause of thankfulness.
The number of deaths reported by the Registrars, for the year, was 1372,
to which must be added 95 for deaths of persons who were removed out of