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ANNUAL REPORT
MADE. TO
The Board of works for the lewis ham District
FOR THE YEAR 1865,
BY
F. E. WILKINSON, M.D., L.R.C.P.E., M.R.C.S., L.A.C.,
Medical Officer of Health for the Lewisham District;
Medical Officer to North Surrey District School;
Surgeon P Division of Police.
Gentlemen,
In my report of lust year I had to speak of the increased
rate of mortality of the district—an increased rate which was
shared by the whole of the metropolitan district.
I have this year to shew you that the statistics are of a
more favourable character; and although I should wish that
the deaths from the preventable (epidemic) class of diseases
(those diseases which we firmly believe might be annihilated by
strict sanitary regulations) were materially lessened in number,
yet the mortality from these diseases bears a more favourable
aspect, and it is therefore to be hoped that our constant attempts
to remedy defects in ventilation, drainage, water
supply, &c., are not without their fruits in this district.
From the acknowledged salubrity of the neighbourhood, it
has been and is now the frequent resort of invalids, who
resido here in the hope of recruiting their shattered health;
and this fact is a means occasionally of swelling the mortality
tables of the district. Again, as I pointed out in my report
of last year, we have public institutions which contribute
largely to the population of the district; these, especially in
the case of the Union Workhouse, add from external sources
to the mortality of the district.
But if the mortality is increased from these causes in the
Lewisham Parish, the low mortality of the North Surrey
District School reduces the rate as far as regards the hamlet
of Penge.
There are many localities in the district which still require
the most anxious care as to drainage, and many localities