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xxiv
Appendix.
It has been estimated that there are 312 children under 5 years
of age in the represented Area; were the death-rate the same as the
average for London for that age-group during the decade 1881-90
(Annual Report of the Medical Officer of Health for the County of
London for 1893, p. 8) the expected number of deaths would
be 20, instead of that however 39 were registered in 1895,
and the average for the last five years is 49.8. I have in my
Annual Reports drawn attention to the fact that a certain amount
of poverty exists in this part of the district, and it might be assumed
that this of itself might be sufficient to cause an increase in the death
and sickness rates, but while a certain degree of this may be admitted
it cannot be denied that the general arrangement of the streets and
courts, with the want of air and light, accentuates the tendency to
ill-health, which exposure, deficient food and intemperance has
initiated. But, at the same time, it must be remembered that many
of the inhabitants endeavour to make the best of their surroundings
so far as these will admit, and conditions existing are not all to
e placed to the credit of the careless habits of the people.
The same factors which produce the high infant death-rate
also affect the health of the older members of the community and
lead to a gradual deterioration of the constitution, rendering them
susceptible to disease and unable to withstand it.
While the course of all diseases is aggravated by such conditions
it is found that persons living in crowded, insanitary, and badly
ventilated houses, suffer especially from diseases affecting the respiratory
system and from tubercular disease (as Pulmonary Consumption).*
In the represented Area nearly half (46.3 per cent) the
deaths in the last five years were due to these causes.
The average death-rate for the five years in the represented
Area from Respiratory Diseases (exclusive of Phthisis) is 12 per
1,000 inhabitants. This is double the average rate for the Strand
District and three times that for all London.
The average death-rate for the five years in the Area from
Phthisis and other Tubercular disease is 6.5 per 1,000 inahabitnts,
while for London and the Strand District it is 2.6 and 4.1 respectively.
* Barry and Gordon Smith: Report on Back-to-Back Houses, 1888.