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The deaths caused by diseases of the respiratory organs were 51; Toy
disease of the heart 22; by consumption 65, and by the other diseases of the
tubercular class 39. Death was caused in two instances from the abase of
alcoholic liquors. Croup was fatal to 11 young persons. Cholera was fatal to 5
children under 5 years of age. Four young children were suffocated in bed. It
is difficult to ascertain whether these deaths were accidental or otherwise. Six
persons died from suffocation by drowning; one of these was a child 3 months old,
who fell out of bed into a pail of water. A man aged 44 died from the effeets of
chloroform administered before the performance of a surgical operation. The
death of a child aged 21 months occurred from the effect of laudanum administered
by its mother to cause sleep. The deaths from violence were 42; of these,
one was the result of laceration of the intestine caused by a blow (the man while
drunk knocking himself against a lamp post), and another was the result of a
full which happened to a man while in a state of intoxication. Five persons committed
suicide, two by cutting the throat, two by banging, and one from taking
poison. The deaths from consumption, as above stated, have been 65. Many of
the deaths from this disease are caused by breathing the impure air of crowded
rooms, and more especially of rooms where gas or other artificial lights are
used, and where the ventilation is bad. Schools, churches, workshops and other
places where persons assemble in great numbers are for the most part badly
ventilated. It is estimated that an adult consumes 14 cubic feet of air per
hour, and that an argand gas burner consumes as much of the vital portion of the
air as 8 or 9 adults. The importance therefore of efficient ventilation is obvious
to every person who reflects upon the subject. I have visited work-rooms
and crowded school-rooms where the closeness of the places was almost unbearable.
In a school-room in this District, having the dimensions of about 1952
cubic feet, 110 children have been congregated, each child having only 18 cubic
feet of space, or the space contained in a box 3-ft. long, 3-ft. wide, and 2-ft.
high! I have no doubt whatever that the seeds of consumption are sown by
persons frequenting and working in badly ventilated and overcrowded rooms, and!
it is with a view of mitigating the evils from these causes that I have thus;
deemed it necessary to direct your attention to them.
The number of inquests held during the quarter was 75, of these, 49
were held on persons who died in the London Hospital. In seven instances,
death was caused from burns; of these; one was a policeman's wife, aged 35,
whose dress took fire through wearing crinoline; and another,, a mariner's wife,
aged 21, whose death occurred from a similar cause.
In August and September last, several bodies, apparently of still-born
children, and of one, supposed to be about three or four months old, were found
in the belfry and in the roof of Whitechapel Church, upon two of which bodies
an inquest was held. From the evidence taken at this inquest it was found that
the laws relating to the burial of still-born children required amendment—that
undertakers received the bodies of children said to be still-bom, without a certificate
from a qualified Medical Practitioner—that a certificate- signed by any
person stating herself to be a midwife was all that an undertaker required to
justify him in burying the child—that the undertaker took no pains to ascertains
whether the child was still-born or not—that still-boras were occasionally kept
for several days in the premises of the undertaker before they were removed, or
until a sufficient number was obtained to remancrate the undertaker for the expense
meurred by conveying the bodies to a cemetery for interment. The expense