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As in former years the zymotic class of diseases has caused by far the
largest mortality, for 359 deaths or 23 per cent, of the whole were
registered from these causes, against 21.9 per cent, in 1858. The
greater per centage of deaths from these causes arose chiefly from the
enormous increase in the number of deaths from diarrhoea which was
produced by the extremely hot weather. In the third quarter of 1858
the deaths from diarrhoea were 30 and the mean temperature of the quarter
611 degrees, whilst in the corresponding quarter of 1859 the deaths from
diarrhoea were no less than 75, and the mean temperature 63'0 degrees
The actual number of deaths from zymotic diseases in 1859 was 359
against 358 in 1858, or an increase of 1 only, but the per centage was
much larger as there were only 1563 deaths in 1859 against 1629 in
1858. The chief diseases included in the zymotic class are, smallpox,
measles, scarlet fever, diptheria, whooping cough, diarrhoea, and fever.
The class of diseases under which the largest number of deaths were
registered, next after the zymotic, was tubercular diseases, which includes
consumption, mesenteric disease, water on the brain, and scrofula. The
number of deaths registered were 248 or 15.9 against 239 or 14.7 per cent,
in 1858. This increase is not so great as in the whole of London, for it is
very remarkable that the number of deaths from consumption and diseases
of the brain have increased of late. How far the system of sending children
to school at an earlier age than heretofore, and the consequent earlier
development of the brain to a certain extent at the expense of the rest of the
body, is concerned in producing this result we cannot at present tell; but I
am persuaded that in the end nothing is gained by powerful stimulation of
the brain at an early age. This is scarcely the place to enter into a discussion
on the important question of Education, but I cannot allow this
opportunity to pass without recording my conviction that learning should
be a pleasure to a child rather than a pain ; that his intellectual powers
shou d be excited rather than his sensational. For it must not be forgotten
that every object a child sees, feels, tastes, smells, &c., for the
first time, and indeed at all times until he becomes accustomed to it,
brings his sensational powers into active opeiation; whilst unless the
uses of the object be explained, the intellectual powers are kept in
quioscence. All parts of the brain, as well as all other parts of the
body should be kept in moderate action during the whole of life, and
especially during childhood, but no one portion should be unduly excited.
These remarks bear reference not only to the tubercular class of
diseases, but also to those of the nervous system, which were fatal to
218 persons, or 14 per cent, of the whole mortality in 1859, against
203 or 12.4 per cent, in 1858.
Whilst diseases of the nervous system and tubercular affections produced
an increased rate of death in 1859, diseases of the lungs caused
an unusually small per centage, for only 221 deaths or 14.1 per cent,
were registered iu 1850 against 263 or 16.2 per cent, in 1858. In this
manner the excess of deaths from one or two of the great classes of
disease is generally balanced to a certain extent by a reduction in one or