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TO THE
LIMEHOUSE BOARD OF WORKS.
Gentlemen,
The time has again come round for taking an account of
the sanitary condition of the District, in accordance with the requirements
of the "Metropolis Management Art, so that we may see how
far disease and other causes have affected the population in the aggregate,
as well an in the distinctive parts of Parishes; to notice any differences
in those divisions, and in what these differences consist; to take a glance
at our neighbours—to give a little attention to the sanitary condition,
in relation to mortality, of other Districts, and observe how far they
approximate to, or diverge, in their more important features, from
our own. For to give a summary from one year to another merely of
the births and deaths, with a classification of the diseases, conveys very
little information; and to compare this with preceding Reports, does
not add much more. What is required, as coming within the design
and spirit of the Statute, I take it, in that, while watchful of disease,
especially epidemics, an hearing on mortality generally, the Medical
Officer of Health should be on the alert for discrepancies which are
occasionally sure to attract his attention. He will, at times, notice
mortality, it may be, unusually large in his own District, while but an
average in another; again, ho may be called upon to see special
diseases making sad havoc with human life elsewhere, where, his own locality,
in the meantime, presenting nothing out of the ordinary course of
mortality.
With this view of the duties of the Officer of Health, I have now
to present, for your information, a statement of the vital statistics of
the District for the past year, with such references for comparison that
the good and evil in our sanitary condition will be readily discernible.