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quarter of 1860, were 390 There are included in the returns of sickness in the workhouse
one case of measles, one of scarlet-fever, three of hooping-cough, nineteen of diarrhoea, one of
cholera, and seven of fever
The ages at death during the quarter are recorded in the General Mortality Table, where
it will be seen that 152, or 276 per cent died under one year of age—that 266, or 48 per cent
died under five years—that 15, or 27 per cent died above the age of eighty, and 268 or 49 per
cent between the ages of five and eighty
The large relative mortality of children under one year of age, which takes place annually,
not only in this district, but in all crowded neighbourhoods, does not receive that attention
from the community at large which its importance, as bearing upon the general interests of
society, demands Out of the 152 deaths of infants, eighty are attributable to constitutional
diseases, such as scrofula, convulsions, mesenteric disease, water on the brain, teething,
atrophy, &c These diseases are produced by neglect, by defective nutrition, and by the
breathing of impure air That impure air is the cause of a large mortality of infants is now
so universally admitted, that I need not enlarge upon the subject, but will merely allude to
the fact, that in the Dublin Lying-in Hospital, the mortality of infants after the ventilation of
the building was improved, was reduced from 170 per cent to 17 per cent
Mr Farr, the Clerk to the Guardians, has, as usual, kindly furnished me with the
annual return of the number of cases vaccinated by the public vaccinators in the union ; from
which return, it appears, that while the births, for the year ending 29th of September,
are 2,717, the children under twelve months who have been vaccinated at the expense of the
union are 1,933, or seventy-one per cent of the total registered births ; and those above twelve
months are 235, or rather more than eight per cent of the births The importance of vaccination
is strikingly shown in the following case which came under the care of Mr Sequiera:—
At No 11, Shorter's Rents, two children were simultaneously attacked with small-pox, neither
of whom had been vaccinated; a fortnight afterwards, two other children in the same house
were attacked with the disease; then three more, making together seven, all unvaccinated
Of this number, four died; but by vaccinating with success two other children in the same
house, they escaped the virulence of the disease, a few pustules only appearing on each
child.
The inspectors having completed a house to house visitation of the entire district, and
thereby ascertained the general sanitary condition of each house as regards its drainage,
cleanliness and repair; they have recently been directed to inquire into the particular state of
each room inhabited by the poorer classes From the returns made of twenty courts, comprising
in all 175 houses, it appears, that out of the 433 rooms contained in the several houses of
these courts, twenty-seven of them, or rather more than six per cent were indecently occupied ;
that is to say, adults of both sexes occupied at night the same sleeping apartment; nearly all
of these rooms were over-crowded, for there was scarcely one so occupied, that a cubic space
of 400 feet was allotted to each inmate, (a less space than that for each person having been
decided by the Magistrates at the Clerkenwell Police Court, to constitute an over-crowded
room"), and some of the rooms were both indecently occupied and over-crowded.
In a room in Windmill Court, it was ascertained that there slept, the mother, two
adult daughters, and two adult sons In another room in the same court, were a man and
his wife, the daughter aged sixteen, and three adult sons In a room in Swan Court, having
only one window, seven persons slept, viz, a man and his wife, the daughter aged twenty-four,
who was in a consumption, and lying in bed, and four younger children The cubic contents of
this room are 910 feet, which allows to each person only 130 cubic feet In a room in Pool's
Place, two adult males, two adult females, and three children slept The Inspector remarks,
that in this room, at the time of his visit, there were a number of men, women, and children,
who were to sleep there at night, and to go "hopping" on the following morning In Bell
Court, Princes Street, four persons occupied a room, the dimensions of which were 378 cubit,
feet, affording only ninety-four cubic feet to each person A room in thiscourt was occupied