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REPORT
TO
The Board of works for the lewisham district
TO THE END OF THE YEAR 1890,
By
Dr. S. BLAKE JOLLY,
Medical Officer of Health for the District.
Gentlemen,
The sanitary condition of the Lewisham District during
the year 1890 has been eminently satisfactory. There has
been a slight rise in the death rate, but this has been due
to causes which have raised the death rate for 1890 over the
whole kingdom. Those causes were, in the first place, the
Influenza epidemic, which accounted, both directly and indirectly,
for a large increase in the number of deaths at the
beginning of the year; and, secondly, the intense cold
during the last part of the year, which was fatal in many
instances to both very young and very old persons. Notwithstanding
these unfavourable conditions, the death rate
for the district during 1890 was 13.9 per 1000, which compares
favourably not only with that of the other outlying
districts of London, but also with that of most of the
principal health resorts.