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22 per 1,000; this rate was scarcely more than half the
mean annual rate from these diseases in the ten years1870-9.
" Infant mortality, too, measured by the proportion of
deaths under one year to registered births, did not exceed
141 per 1,000 during last year, a lower rate than in any
previous year of which record exists, while the mean rate in
the four years 1870-73, was 163 per 1,000.
" It would appear from these facts that the health of
London in 1889 was unprecedentedly good, and that its
improvement in recent years has more than kept pace with
the undoubted general improvement in the sanitary condition
of the whole country, judged by its mortality statistics."
Meteorological Summary,
The remarks upon the meteorology of the four quarters
of the year, at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, and at
the various other stations, are taken from the observations
of Mr. James Glaisher, F.R.S.
First Quarter.
January.—The beginning of the month was cold, with
general fog. During the remainder of the month, cold and
warm periods alternated.
February—was also changeable, and generally cold.
March.—Cold and cloudy. Snow at the beginning of the
month.
The days and nights throughout the quarter were cold,
and below their averages.
The mean reading of the barometer was 29 837 inches,
and was 0*070 of an inch above the mean reading for the
corresponding period of 48 years.
The mean temperature of the air during the quarter was