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14
these causes, in the several districts, were very nearly in proportion
to the births, and hence more numerous in Peckham than
in other parts of the Parish. These diseases (but diarrhoea more
especially) prevailed with peculiar severity in the months of July,
August and September, and produced during that period, a
larger number of deaths than during the other nine months collectively.
On striking a balance however between the increased
severity of certain diseases, and the diminished intensity of
certain others, the result is decidedly a favorable and gratifying
one.
The births of 2195 children (1101 boys and 1094 girls) were
registered during the year. This is an increase of 94 on the
returns of the former year; and exhibits an excess of no less
than 828 over the deaths.
It may have been observed that, during the last year or two,
I have become more and more reserved in making comparisons
between the health of this and that of other districts. In the
present report, I have contented myself with giving a simple
abstract of the mortality of the year, accompanied by a brief
comparison with that only of the year immediately preceding.
The reason of this increasing caution on my part is, not that I
have any fear of contrasting our health with that of other
parishes, but that the fallacies which beset such an inquiry are
becoming from year to year more and more numerous and large,
and consequently the results to be deduced from it proportionately
untrustworthy.
A comparison of health cannot be a just one, unless the
true death-rates of the districts to be compared have been
ascertained. And the death-rate can be ascertained only by a
comparison of the actual number of deaths, with the actual number
of the population among whom these deaths have been
distributed. The first item in this inquiry we obtain regularly,
and pretty accurately, from the returns of the district registrars ;