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of these is the true typhus, which, like small pox, scarlet fever,
and allied diseases, is propagated by contagion, but spreads
with remarkable virulence amongst the crowded inmates of
unwholesome and closely-packed dwellings. The other, which
passes under the denomination of typhoid fever, is little or not
at all catching, and is developed almost solely as a direct consequence
of bad drainage, filth, over-crowding, and other like
conditions. It is far more common than the deaths referred to
it might lead one to suppose; for it varies in intensity for a
fever of the most malignant type to a slight diarrhoea, or a slight
malaise; on the one hand being likely to be confounded with
typhus, and on the other, in the majority of instances, being
regarded as a simple disorder of the bowels, or as a mild
catarrh. But whether mild or severe it is attended by ulceration
of the bowels, and is never free from the danger of producing
a fatal result. The ravages of typhus may be arrested by improving
the habits and dwellings of the poor; and typhoid may
be altogether prevented by remedying those defects on which
its development depends—defects, which happen to be precisely
those to which the attention of your health officers are
particularly directed.
1,065 boys, and 1,018 girls, in all 2,083 children were born
during the same period as that for which the mortality has been
reckoned. The births, therefore, exceeded the deaths by no
less a figure than 824.
The Sanitary labours of myself and your Inspectors of
Nuisances, have been actively carried on during the year
terminating March 31st, 1858, and with a result as satisfactory
as that which attended our previous efforts. 2,594 houses,