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population on the assumption that the death-rate of Camberwell,
during 1888, was exactly equal to the death-rate determined
by the Registrar General for the South of London.
Now there is no particular reason to believe that Camberwell
has been more healthy during the past year than the parishes
in its immediate neighbourhood ; and if we assume, therefore,
that the death-rate of 17.3, which is the Registrar
General's estimate for the whole of South London, is also
the death-rate of Camberwell, by an easy process we arrive
at the conclusion that the population of Camberwell in the
middle of 1888 was 232,890, a sufficently large population
but less by 38,590 than the estimate based on former
experience. On the whole, I believe that the smaller
estimate, though obtained in an unorthodox way and
doubtles incorrect, is much nearer the truth than the other is.
During the year 1888, 7,132 children were born in the
parish, of whom 3,594 were boys, 3,538 were girls (see
Table V.); of these, 86 belonged to Dulwich, 2302 to Camberwell,
2530 to Peckham, and 2214 to St. George's. The
total births were less numerous in 1888 than they were in
1887 by 317 ; and the diminution was general throughout
the sub-districts. In Dulwich the falling off amounted to
21, in Camberwell to 61, in Peckham to 175, and in St.
George's to 60.