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47. "Whooping Cough.—Our deaths from whooping cough
amounted to 27. There were 7 in Bloomsbury, 16 in St. Giles
South, and 3 in St. Giles North. Our mortality from this affection
was much below the average, our mean for ten years being 46.
48. Fevers, including typhus, enteric, and common continued
fever, rendered 54 deaths; only 14 of these were registered within
the District, the rest occurred either in Stockwell or the general
hospitals. The number for the past year was rather in excess of
our mean, which is 43.3.
From the Report forwarded to us by the authorities of the
Metropolitan Asylum District Board, I find that there were, in the
course of the year 1874, 113 cases of fever of all kinds sent to
Stockwell Hospital from this District, of which 37 were cases of
typhus fever.
Attention is drawn to the fact that, out of all the cases of fever,
27 came from the Great "Wild Street Section, viz.: 11 from Lincoln
Court; 2, Orange Court; 1, Wild Court; 4, Little Wild Street; 9,
Great Wild Street; and of all the pure typhus cases (37) 15 came
out of the Great Wild Street Section! The other groups of houses
yielding the largest numbers of cases of fever, were King Street,
Drury Lane, 9; and Little Coram Street, 9. There were 5 cases
from 63, New Compton street, and 4 from 10, Charles Street.
49. It will be in the recollection of the Board that in my
Report for 1873 I described the outbreak of typhus fever in the
Great Wild Street Section of this district, an outbreak that originated
in Lincoln Court; for two years, therefore, this endemic has haunted
this quarter. Lincoln Court has long been notorious as the nestling
place of fever, and your Board has, on numerous occasions, insisted
upon large improvements being carried out there; but it has long
been obvious that no partial measures can have any avail in destroying
the seeds of pestilence in that locality.
50. I am glad to say that Little Coram Street and its surroundings,
which have been equally conspicuous for disease and premature
death, are likely soon to undergo a great change; the east side of
that street, with Chapel Place, Marchmont Place, and the vacant
sites of Coram Place and Russell Place, having recently been
purchased by the Peabody Trustees.
51. Diarrhcea.—Our mortality from this disease was 59, our
mean number for ten years being 78.2. We have, therefore, suffered
from this cause a much lower mortality than usual, and it is to the
diminished number of deaths from this disease and whooping cough,
that our comparatively small mortality from zymotic diseases must
be chiefly attributed.
52. Inquest Cases.—There were 108 inquests held during the
year. In one instance the verdict was wilful murder, the occasion
being an infant found dead on a door-step; there were 3 cases of
suicide by hanging, 1 case of suicide by poisoning with cyanide of
potassium, 1 by carbolic acid, 1 by throwing himself out of window,
and 1 by cut throat. Two deaths occurred from fracture of skull,
and 1 from fracture of ribs by a fall. There were also 2 deaths