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and 21,005 in the 53 weeks of 1863. 2012 persons died of
small-pox in London, notwithstanding all the facilities for vaccination
; 345 persons died of the same disease in the previous
year, when measles was fatal to 2281 lives, while in the year
1863 its victims were 1698.
"Fever prevailed in the years 1862-63, and no less than
3635 and 2892 deaths were ascribed to typhus, under which
typhoid fever and relapsing fever are still included, as their
diagnosis is not attempted by all practitioners.
"The late Dr. George Gregory, in his classical lectures on
the eruptive fevers, described the ravages of scarlatina with the
hand of a master. 'The years 1838, 1839, 1810, were,' he says,
'years of epidemic prevalence. It is probable that no epidemic
of similar length and intensity ever before visited this country.
In the whole year (1839) the deaths were 2500.'
"Since that date the epidemics of scarlatina in London have
frequently swelled the mortality; and in 1858-59, the deaths
were 4118 and 4197; but in 1863, the deaths amounted to
5075 Since the time that Dr. Gregory wrote, diphtheria has
sprung into existence, and the deaths of the year from that
disease were 724."
From the above extracts it will be seen that, during the year
1863, certain diseases have prevailed in London with unusual
severity, of which small-pox, typhus, and scarlet fever are the
most important; and that the death-rate of London has been
unusually high; but that of the five groups of districts into
which London is divided, the death-rate in the Western group
was the lowest and that in the Southern group the next lowest,
the difference between the two death-rates being quite trivial.
The Registrar General's analysis does not extend to the illdividual
districts of London, much less to the sub-districts.
It devolves upon me therefore to determine the death-rates of
Camberwell and of its component parts for the year 1863, and