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From this interesting Table we learn that in the years 1852—56,
small pox and measles were most fatal during the second quarter of the
year, scarlatina during the last, hooping cough in the first, diarrhoea in
the third, whilst the mortality from fever depended little on seasonal
changes. I therefore anticipate that sanitary measures will affect fever
far more than any other epidemic disease, for it is evidently influenced
by some fixed, probably terrene, or at any rate local causes. I am
also of opinion that we shall reduce the mortality from diarrhoea more
than either of the remainder, as its increased rate is tolerably uniform,
and must therefore depend on causes which are also uniformly in
operation.
In my former Report, I pointed out that measles was the least
fatal epidemic disease in Hackney during the year 1855, next smallpox,
then diarrhoea, next hooping cough, then fever, whilst scarlet fever was
the most fatal; but during 1856 small pox was the least fatal (two
deaths less having been registered than in 1855), next hooping cough,
then measles, next scarlet fever, then fever, the most fatal being
diarrhoea.
The following table shows the relative frequency of each epidemic
disease in several Metropolitan districts during last year, and the great
variations in the fatality of the different diseases. We perceive that
whilst the number of deaths from small pox in Marylebone, Hackney,
Shoreditch, Bermondsey, and Lewisham, was nearly the same, the
aggregate number from all epidemic diseases, varied greatly, being
nearly in the following proportions— 6½, 2½, 6¼, 2½, and l½; and a
similar remark applies to the other diseases. The table also shows
that in these districts, for the whole year, small pox was the least fatal
epidemic disease, measles the next, then scarlet fever, next hooping
cough, then diarrhoea, whilst fever was the most fatal.