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last year. If, therefore, the unusually cold weather, accompanied as it has been by the
excessive number of wet days, has been productive of injury to the cereal crops, it would seem
to have exerted a beneficial influence on the atmosphere, as is shown by the diminished rate
of mortality from epidemic diseases; for, instead of there being 201 deaths from this class of
diseases, the number recorded in the corresponding period of 1859, they are reduced to 111,
or nearly one-half. Diarrhoea, which proved fatal to 114 persons in the summer quarter of
last year, of which number, 70 were children under one year of age, has been fatal in only 35
instances, in 15 of which the victims were under one year of age. The average number of
deaths from Diarrhœa in the corresponding quarters of 1856 to 1859 is 86, excluding in
each instance the deaths from Cholera, which, in 1857, were 6, in 1858, 4, in 1859, 5,
while, in the quarter just ended, not a single death from Cholera is recorded. Fever
has also declined from 28 to 11,* Scarlet Fever from 28 to 8; Small-pox from 16 to 2. On the
other hand, the deaths from Measles have increased from 10 to 39, and Hooping Cough from
4 to 16. On referring to the table showing the deaths from Epidemic Diseases in each
sub-district, it will be seen that the deaths from Measles have been very unequally distributed
among them, thus, in the Aldgate sub-district, with a population of 10,694, there are 13
deaths; in the Goodman's Fields sub-district, in a population of 12,069, there are 11 deaths;
and in the Whitechapel North, in a population of 12,530, there are 11 deaths;
whereas in the Artillery, Spitalfields, Whitechapel Church, and Mile End New Town subdistricts,
containing together a population of 24,406, Measles was fatal in only 4 instances.
On referring to the report of the Medical Officer of Health for the City of London, I find that
in the East London Union, or that portion of the City which is adjacent to the North-western
extremity of the Whitechapel District, containing a population of 44,593, there were 16 fatal cases
of Measles, which is a proportion of less than one-half than in those districts in Whitechapel
where Measles prevailed; while, in a sub-district of a Parish adjoining Whitechapel on the South
eastern side, in a population of 18,067, the deaths from Measles were 29, which is a rate of
mortality four times greater than in the East London Union, and nearly twice as great as in
any of the sub-districts of Whitechapel.
The coldness and dampness of the atmosphere, caused by the heavy rain-fall in May
and June, had the efiect of completely saturating the soil, and which saturation was kept up
by the unusual number of wet days in the three months following, have increased the mortality,
as might have been anticipated, from pulmonary diseases.
The deaths from diseases of the respiratory organs, exclusive of consumption, are 62;
while, in the corresponding quarters of 1857-8-9, they were 46, 64, and 44. The deaths from
Consumption, which during the same periods, ranged from 51 to 76, are 64. The coldness of
the season, therefore, has not been unfavorable to those predisposed to this disease. Not a single
death from Diphtheria, or from childbirth is recorded ; Croup, however, has been unusually
developed, 17 children under 5 yean having fallen victims to its effects. Congenital Syphilis,
* A fatal case of Fever, and one of Scarlet Fever occurred in the London Hospital. Both of these patients
were non-residents.