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7
Death rate
sub-districts
The death rates of the sub-districts bear some
relation to the density of the population. Taking a
general survey, the death rate of the inner Wards
stands several points higher than that of the outer. But there are
disturbing elements which arc difficult to eliminate from the
calculations. The people who die in the general hospitals, the
hospital of the Asylums Board, and the workhouse, do not necessarily
belong to the district in which their death is registered. On
the contrary, the majority have been removed from other districts.
The deaths of those who die in the public institutions cannot fairly
be apportioned to any special district, but must be generally
distributed, having regard to the district populations. The average
death rate of the four inner districts is 25.9 per 1000. The
average death rate of the four outer districts is 20 2 per 1000.
Influenza.
The unusually heavy death rate of 1890 is in a
large measure attributable to the influence exerted
on the public health through the incidence of
Influenza. Under the heading of that disease itself, 47 cases
appear in the returns. But this is not a tithe of the mortality
which is traceable to this unexpected visitation In 1889, 966
persons died from diseases affecting the lungs and bronchial
tubes. In 1890, from the same causes, 1,850 persons died. The
Influenza year claims an excess of 884 deaths, or an increase by
91 per cent.
Influenza
infcction.
As to the nature of the poison by which Influenza
is produced in man, and even among horses and
cattle, little is known. That in effect it exhibits
many of the recognised qualities of the Zymotic poisons is a
subject of observation and no doubt can be entertained that it is
microbic in kind. The Italians in the eighteenth century ascribed