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A severe case of typhus fever, which terminates in the recovery of the patient, lasts from five
to six weeks. The annual diminution in the number of fever cases may, I think, be fairly
attributed to the additions that have from time to time been made to the sewerage of the
district; (the particulars of which may be seen on referring to the Surveyor's reports)—to the
improvements that have been effected in the drainage of 2172 houses—to the abolition of 3002
cesspools—to the better paving of many of the courts—to the systematic inspection of every
house where fever prevailed, and the enforcement, in each instance, of such sanitary measures
as were deemed necessary to prevent the spread of the disease—to the removal of 37,607
nuisances—to the total abolition of several offensive trades-nuisances, and the abatement of
the nuisances from several other offensive trades, especially those arising from the returning of
animal charcoal, from the bone-boiling premises, and from other establishments where animal
matter is manufactured into articles of commerce—also to the filling up of the vaults under
the churches and chapels where the dead had been deposited—to the improvements that have
been effected in the several slaughter houses—to the better ventilation of some of the poor
localities by the pulling down of old and dilapidated houses — and to the other sanitary
improvements whieh are recorded in the tables in the Appendix to this report.
Although great improvements have been effected within this district in the drainage
of the houses, by means of impermeable pipes communicating with the main sewers, yet, from
the imperfect manner in which several of the old sewers are constructed, and from the defects
which are frequently found in some of the house drains, the emanations from the sewers
occasionally find their way into the basements of the houses, and rapidly become diffused
over the entire house. When the basement of a house is not properly ventilated, so that a
current of air does not pass along it, the air in this part of the house is wanner than that in the
sewer, and consequently a ready ingress is afforded to the foul gases of the sewer when the
drain is imperfect and not well trapped; and it frequently happens that in consequence of
these neglects, persons occupying the basement of a house, lose their health, and sometimes
become victims of fever, and of other diseases, produced by the inhalation of air charged
with the products of decomposing organic matter. The importance of attending to the
thorough veutilation of the basement of houses cannot he over-rated.
The deaths from epidemic diseases in the year are 344, or 16.9 per cent. of the total
mortality; while in the preceding year, they were 471, or 20 per cent. of the total mortality.
The deaths from consumption are 253, or 20 less than the preceding year. The total number of
deaths from diseases of the respiratory organs is 491, viz. 211 in the quarter ending on the 30th
March, 101 in the succeeding quarter, 67 in the quarter ending on the 29th September, and
112 in the quarter ending on the 29th December. In the preceding year, the total deaths
from diseases of the respiratory organs were 377.
The excessive cold weather, which'prevailed during' the last two weeks of the year,
proved particularly fatal to those predisposed to, or suffering from, disease of the respiratory
organs. The Registrar General remarks, that during the week terminating on the 29th Dec.,
the temperature of the air was 11 degs. below the average of the same week during a period of
43 years. The greatest degrees of cold were on Tuesday, the 25th, and on Saturday, the 29th
December, when the thermometer stood at 8° and 10°, or 24 and 22 degrees respectively,
below the freezing point of water. The melancholy effects of this extremely cold weather
will be seen in the mortality returns of the next quarter, when the weak, the aged, the badly
fed and clothed, will be found to have succumbed in great numbers to the depressing influence
of the severe frost. Young persons who are in robust health, if well fed and clothed, and
able to take vigorous exercise in open air, may enjoy what is sometimes called seasonable
weather, but the returns of the Registrar General show that the prolonged continuance of the
cold weather is invariably followed by an increased mortality.
The total number of inquests held during the year was 220. In the last quarter the
number was 45. Of these, eight were cases of burns and scalds; one of which, was that of a
child, aged three years, from drinking hot water from a tea kettle; five were cases of suffocation,
of which, two were of children under one year of age, and illegitimate, who were
suffocated in bed; one of these deaths occurred in the workhouse, the child was six months old.
One of the deaths from suffocation is thus recorded: "Suffocation from natural causes, a child