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95
63 days, on every one of which the mean temperature was
below its average; the mean amount of deficiency for the
63 days was 60.5. During the continuance of the frost outdoor
work was stopped, and all growth was checked, many
shrubs and garden plants were killed, gas and water servicepipes
and some water-mains were frozen, and the mortality
among birds was great; at the end of the quarter vegetation
was very backward."
The total deaths from influenza during 1895 were 2,156,
against 2,336, 2,264, 1,526 and 750 in the four preceding
years.
In St. Giles District the mortality from it during the
past year was 34, against 23, 16, 24, 28, and 6 in the
preceding years.
In March the following Memorandum was received
from the Medical Department of the Local Government
Board:—
Epidemic Influenza.
Influenza became epidemic in England in the winter of 1889-90;
it recurred in epidemic form in the spring of 1891, and was maintained
up to June of that year; a third epidemic took place in the winter of
1891-92, and after a minor recrudescence in the spring of 1893, a fifth
prevalence on a wide scale took place in the winter of 1893-94.
England is now passing through a sixth epidemic period. Two
detailed reports have been issued by the Board on the subject. The
first was by Dr. Parsons, "On the Influenza Epidemic of 1889-90,"
with an introduction by Sir George Buchanan, M.D., F.R.S., the Board's
Medical Officer at that date. The second was a "Further report on
Epidemic Influenza, 1889-92," by Dr. Parsons, with papers on the
Clinical and Pathological aspects of the disease, by Dr. Klein, F.R.S.,.
and an introduction by myself.