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and in the number of cases of illness in the district, so that, if possible, remedies
may be used to mitigate these calamities I have on former occasions stated,
and I now repeat it, that we have no evidence to show that our population is
increasing It is true that there has been an excess annually in the births
over the deaths, which in eight years, from 1857 to 1864, has amounted to
2,425 This is at the average rate of annual increase of about 300 During
the last three years, however, the excess of births over deaths has been only 305,
which is at the rate of about 100 annually But in a migrating population,
such as exists in this district, the excess of births over deaths will not be found
to indicate that the population has increased; for, in 1857, I estimated, by
adopting this mode of calculation, that our population was at that time upwards
of 84,000, which, when the census papers were published, was found to be
greatly in excess of the actual amount The population in 1841 was 71,879;
in 1851 it increased to 79,756, which is at the rate of about 11 per 1,000
annually; while in 1861 the population decreased to 78,970, notwithstanding
that the excess of births during the decennary had been annually much
greater than it has been during the last four years The annual increase
in the rate of mortality has not been confined to this district, but it prevailed
over the entire metropolis Thus, in 1860 the deaths in London were 226 percent
of the population; in 1861 they were 232; in 1862, 234; in 1863,
245; *and in 1864, 266 During the last twelve months very little rain has
fallen; but how far this deficiency of moisture has been the cause of the
increased mortality, it is, perhaps, impossible to assert with confidence
Although the atmosphere was, by the long drought of last summer, deprived of
the purifying influence of rain, which may, perhaps, in some measure account
for the increase of mortality during this year, it will not account for the annual
increase of the rate of mortality during the last four years
It would be exceedingly gratifying to myself were I able to satisfactorily
account for this annual increase in the number of deaths and cases of illness,
but I must candidly confess my inability to do so I may, however, venture to
offer a few conjectures upon the subject The first one that I would put forth
as a not improbable cause of this increase of mortality is, that either the
type of diseases has changed, or that a change has taken place in the
constitution of the people, so that they are now less able to bear the effects
of disease than formerly Those inflammatory diseases, for the cure of
which large and frequent bleedings were practised, do not now come under
the notice of medical men; or, if similar inflammatory diseases do occur, the
patients are now unable to bear those depleting remedies formerly used
Stimulating remedies, such as wine, brandy, and nutritious food, are now
found to be absolutely necessary for the cure of a very large proportion of the
diseases which attack the inhabitants of towns These remedies the mass of
the people are unable to procure If, as is very probably the case, a change has
The fall of rain in the year was only 167 in The average yearly fall is 253 in
each of the years 1858 and 1847 the rain fall was 178 in