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10
In glancing over the table we must not allow ourselves to
conclude that the districts having the highest death-rates are
the most unhealthy, or have the worst sanitary supervision, as
there are many causes which modify the death-rate, such as
density of population and relative wealth of the residents; the
proportions of infants and yomig children to the total inhabitants
; and the ages and employment of the adults.
On looking at the table we see a line drawn across it, which
serves to separate the 14 districts having the lowest rate of
mortality from the 14 having the highest rate. On comparing
the figures, we ascertain, that the annual death-rate varies in the
14 districts which have the smallest rate of mortality, between
152 and 232 deaths per 10,000 inhabitants, which is a very
considerable difference. The variation in the rate for the other
districts is also very large, as in one, Marylebone, the rate was
234, and in St. George's-in-the-East no less than 286 per
10,000 inhabitants. Now it is quite evident that the difference
between 152 and 286 deaths per 10,000 cannot arise from any
one cause, and our main object of this table is to show, as far as
possible, the chief causes. I may say, that the figures in column
3 do not agree with those published by the Registrar General, as
except at long intervals, his calculations do not include the
corrections for extraneous workhouses, which materially modify
the results. Thus in Hackney there were, during the 10 years,
1,211 deaths in the City of London Unions, as well as 751 deaths
in the German Hospital, or nearly 10 per cent, of the whole.
If we now refer to column 4 setting out the number of
persons to an acre, we must be struck with the great difference
in the density of the population, which varies on the one hand
from 5 per acre in Lewisham to 237 in Westminster. Lewisham
includes also Sydenham and Penge, so that it is quite a rural
district. In Woolwich there were 10, in Wandsworth 11, in
Hampstead 14, Camberwell 25, Greenwich 26, and Hackney 32,
against 190 in Whitechapel, 196 in Shoreditch, 197 in St.