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certain localizing causes of the disease,
such as over-crowding, filth,
imperfect drainage, &c, these
causes were not limited to, neither
were they more marked in the East
than in several other districts, as
for example Bermondsey and Westminster,
in which Cholera early appeared.
ALTITUDE.
Mr. Radcliffe, in affirming Dr.
Farr's rule that the deaths from the
late epidemic were in the inverse
ratio of the elevations at which
people lived, observes "that a deviation
from the rule has been wide,
as under 3 feet above Trinity highwater
mark the deaths were less
than from 3 to 10 feet."
the most favoured of London. To
mention just one instance, in 1864,
it had by far the smallest degree of
small-pox, while the Limehouse
District, as a portion, had not a
case* This and the like discrepancies
can only be explained by applied
meteorology, of which, at pre.
sent, we arc in profound ignorance.
In relation to filth, &c., in all forms,
the influence of meteorology is unequivocal
and certain; and this action
is commensurate with its
accumulation. But when Mr.
Radcliffe says that the East of
London, in point of filth, &c., in no
way differs from "Bermondsey and
Westminster," I avow myself at
once and wholly at issue with him.
The facts justifying this antagonism
will be presented in their order.
REMARKS.
A low altitude has doublessmuch
to do with the destructiveness of
Cholera, as well as with the exaggeration
of almost all other diseases.
But in " the explosion" the fatality
arose not from the altitude altogether,
but along with other disadvantages,
more especially from the
eminently bad construction of the
habitations of the bulk of such as
were affected during the epidemic.
* This was one case, that of a child a few days old, in Shadwell. Such strange anomalies as
these— and they are not uncommon— can only be explained by differences in the Meteorology, in eve*
so limited an area at the Metropolis.