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first of these causes we have it in our power to remedy, and I trust that by our
exertions, judiciously applied, this cause will be removed; but as regards the other
mentioned causes of the great and disproportionate mortality, I fear that the powers of
this Board will be unable to overcome them. As might be expected, during the warmer
months comprising the last quarter, the deaths from diseases of the respiratory organs
have been less numerous; they being for the winter quarter, ending April 3rd, 23 per
cent.; and for this quarter, 17 per cent. Consumption proved fatal to 57, or about
10 per cent., which is about the same proportion to the total mortality as for the preceding
quarter.
The deaths from epidemic diseases have increased from 73 to 106, as compared
with the quarter ending June, 1857; the great increase is in measles, 14 against 37.
There is not much variation in the number of deaths from the other epidemics. The
following cases of death from zymotic diseases are also recorded; 2 from diptheria, 2
from cholera, 1 from rheumatic fever, 2 from syphilis, and 2 from erysipelas. The
deaths from old age were 28, 14 of which occurred to persons of 80 years and upwards.*
In the week ending Saturday, May 29th, 1 death only from epidemic disease (hoopingcough)
was recorded in this district. As 10 deaths only (a number considerably below the
average) were uncertified by a medical practitioner, I am in hopes that this class of
cases will still further diminish, and that ere long nearly every death will be
duly certified. There is only one of the uncertified deaths which requires
notice : it is that of a male, aged 72, registered as "rupture." I presume that, in this
case, the registrar, by personal enquiries, was satisfied that it was properly recorded.
The number of inquests held was 56, and they are thus classified: in 17 instances,
Or in nearly one-third, the verdict was "found dead"; in 5, "Natural death"; 9 were
cases of burns and scalds, 7 of which were occasioned by the clothes taking fire, the
other 2 were scalds; 1 of these was a man, aged 22, who fell into a pan of boiling
sugar; 19 were cases of violence, including wounds; 3 of poison, 2 of which were
from the effects of ardent spirits, and the other from laudanum taken to procure rest,
and not with the intention of self-destruction; 2 were cases of accidental death from
drowning, one by falling into the docks, the other into the river; 1 from suffocation,
the infant being found dead in bed. Included in the above list are 2 cases of suicide,
one from hanging, the other from a wound in the throat.
The number of sick poor attended by the Medical Officers of the Union, during
the last quarter, was 3334, including the 379 attended in the workhouses. For the
year ending January 3rd, the number was 10,714, exclusive of about 1700 attended
in the Workhouses, making a total of about 12,414. As the number of sick poor in
*The Registrar General appends the subjoined note to his weekly return for the 26th
June:—"No. 1, Brownson's Court, Alie Street, a gentleman, aged 108 years, 'diarrhœa
senectus.' The Registrar says: 'The medical certificate states the age at 108. I am hardly
able to say whether that was his exact age. I have seen the relatives, and there appears a
little confusion about dates; some say he is a little older, and others that he is not so old, but
all agree that he is several years beyond his hundredth. From what I can gather, he has
retained his faculties to the last, has been through life a most temperate and abstemious mail,
and possessed, in an extraordinary degree, a cheerful flow of spirits,'"