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QUARTERLY REPORT,
Ending 28th September, 1861
Gentlemen,
In the thirteen weeks that ended on Saturday, September 28th, the total
number of deaths registered in the Whitechapel District are 549 (including those of thirty-eight
non-residents who died in the London Hospital), of which 280 are males and 269 females
The births during the same period are 612, viz: 313 males and 299 females The excess of
births over deaths, excluding those of the non-residents, is 101 The population being 78,964,
the birth-rate is in the annual proportion of 31 per 1000, and the death-rate of 258 per 1000
By excluding the total deaths in the London Hospital (eighty), the annual proportional rate of
mortality is reduced to 237 per 1000 On comparing the mortality in this quarter with the
corresponding one of last year, it will be found that the deaths are more numerous by thirtyfour
This increase in the mortality may be accounted for by the greater number of deaths
from diarrhcea, (68 against 35), which took place during the quarter recently ended The
increased number of deaths from diarrhoea may, perhaps, be attributed to the greater heat of
the weather—the temperature of the air during the months of July, August, and September,
being 604°, whereas in the corresponding months of the preceding year, the mean temperature
of the air was 568° or 36° less It is supposed that a low temperature during the summer
months is less favourable to the development of epidemic diarrhcea
During the quarter, small-pox has been fatal in five instances The deaths from scarletfever
and diphtheria, which are considered modifications of the same disease, and are
now generally registered under the same head, rose from eight to sixteen; hooping-cough,
from sixteen to twenty-two; fever, from eleven to seventeen; while, on the other hand, the
deaths from measles fell from thirty-nine to three Cholera was fatal in four instances, while
in the corresponding quarter of the previous year, not a single death from this disease occurred
The total increase of mortality from epidemic diseases is 21, viz, 123 against 111