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should never tire in endeavouring to remove. It is fair, however, to say
that, whilst in the whole of London the mortality in two of the ten years
was nearly as low as last year (70,893) viz., in 1863 (71,060) and in 1867
(70,924), in St. Giles the registered death-rate was never lower than 1345,
except last year, when it was 1269. The past two years, therefore, have
manifested a most remarkable and steady improvement.
78. Again, whilst the average death-rate of London for the ten years
was 24.3, and the death-rate for 1872, 21.4—a diminution of 2.9 per 1000
—the average death-rate for St. Giles District for the same period was
28.25, and the death-rate for 1872 (including all hospital deaths), 23.77—
a diminution of 4.48 per 1000. This is a hopeful state of things, and
should give us encouragement to persevere in our work.
The Death Bate among Infants in St. Giles. 79. The causes that
dispose to premature death operate more powerfully on the delicate
organizations of infants than on persons of maturer strength. Children
are, moreover, liable to a variety of noxious and enervating influences,
from which older persons are exempt. Being unable to take care of
themselves, they are entirely at the mercy of their mothers and nurses;
and should this solemn charge be neglected, they are doomed to perish
prematurely of various diseases which might have been easily averted.
The mortality of children becomes consequently a criterion of the domestic
pollutions of a district, and of the poverty and intemperance of its
inhabitants. Moral as well as physical causes share in the production
of this mortality.
80. The mean mortality of children under one year of age was, in
London, for the year 1872, 15.9 per cent. of all the children born. This is
a standard by which we shall presently be able to judge of the condition of
St. Giles District.
81. I find that we lost last year 332* infants under one year of age,
a larger number than in the preceding year (319), but exactly the same
number as in the year 1870. Of this number, 89 deaths occurred in St.
George, Bloomsbury, 130 in St. Giles South, and 113 in St. Giles North.
82. The following Table represents the results:—
Whole District 1 death in every 4.8 births = 20.08 per cent.
St. George, Bloomsbury, 1 5.2 =19.2
St. Giles South 1 4.6 =21.7
St. Giles North 1 4.8 =20.08
83. It is apparent that in each of our sub-districts there was a considerable
excess over the mean mortality of the metropolis just cited (§ 80).
The mortality of the whole District was, in fact, one-fourth greater,—
a lamentable evidence of the low social condition of a large section of our
District. As regards the sub-districts, St. George, Bloomsbury, and St.
Giles North, had a higher mortality than usual (though a lower birth-rate),
and St. Giles South a lower mortality.
84. With respect to the proportion of deaths among infants to population,
it was in the whole District 1 in 160.9 persons living; in Bloomsbury
1 in 200; in St. Giles South 1 in 146.9; and in St. Giles North 1 in 146.
The Death Bate among Peesons 60 Years of Age and upwards.
85. In the year 1872, 255 persons at the ages named died in the
District, which is at the rate of 1 in every 209 persons living, or 4.78 per
1000, which is considerably lower than last year (5.6 per 1000).
* It should be borne in mind, however, that of the deaths enumerated for Bloomsbury,
16 occurred in the Infants' Home, and did not belong to our District. Subtracting
these our aggregate would be reduced to 316, and the number allotted to Bloomsbury to
73.