View report page

80
the population than in the others consists of domestic
servants— a class which represents the healthiest
period of life, and in which death (when it does occur)
rarely occurs in the house, or even in the district in
which the patient is taken ill. Further, it is amongst
the poor especially, owing to their closer packing and
to their habits of life, that infectious fevers prevail and
prove fatal; for this reason again the mortality of
Peckham and St.George's is higher than that of
Dulwich and Camberwell. And lastly, births are
much more numerous as a rule amongst the poor
than they are amongst the rich, and as children
under five die in much larger proportion than persons
above that age, we should expect on that account that
the poorer districts would present a higher mortality
than the others. On comparing the births of the
several districts with the populations deduced from
the Census returns of 1881, it appears that while the
births in Dulwich were only 15 in the 1000, those of
Camberwell were 35 in the 1000, while those of
Peckham and St. George's were, respectively, 39 and
38 in the 1000. The birth-rate of the entire Parish
was 37 per 1000.
Under any circumstances, looking to the deathrates
only, the health ol the Parish during 1880 was