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8
exactly, 3'8 times as fatal in Hackney during 1871-80 as in
1861-70. To put this in a more clear light and avoid the
use of decimals, I now give the numbers per 100,000 population
for London and Hackney.
Deaths from Small Pox per 100,000 inhabitants.
London, 1861-70 28
Hackney ,, 17
London, 1871-80 46
Hackney „ 64
The contrast, as regards the two decennial periods, of the
annual death rates from this disease was so great, especially
on comparing them with those for all London, as to lead to
the conclusion that some cause or causes had been in
operation during the last 10 years which were not in the
former. There is no doubt that the increase during 1871-80
of the poorer population, and the number of small houses
somewhat densely inhabited, although scarcely overcrowded,
which have been built, must to a small extent have
increased the death rate from small pox, as I shall show
further on. But this, and as far as I know, no other
altered conditions in the District or population, could
account to any marked extent for the change. It was
necessary therefore to look further, and see if there had
been anything new introduced into the District during
the last decade, to account for the increased mortality.
Now as the only new thing was the opening of the Small
Pox Hospital at Homerton in 1871, I shall proceed to
test statistically, in the most careful manner, its effects, by
the number of cases notified to me during the 10 years
1871-80, and of deaths in 1861-70 and 1871-80; and then
assigning them as shewn in the appendix, to the streets in
which they occurred. The streets, population, and deaths
were divided into groups to calculate the mortality for the
disease, with, as I think, the most conclusive results against
the Hospital.
The total number of deaths from small pox registered