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129
with an annual average rate of 0.21 during the preceding
decennium. 65 of the deaths occurred in St.
Mary's Sub-district, and 10 in St. Johns.
All the houses in which the deaths occurred were
carefully inspected, attention being specially directed
in each case to the condition of the water supply, and
to the soundness of the house-drain as proved by the
smoke test or the peppermint test. In the large
majority of cases defects of some sort were discovered
and made good.
In London the rate was 0.30 per 1,000 inhabitants,
and was not only greatly in excess of the decennial
average rate, which was only 0.20, but was higher
than in any single year since 1859. The increase in
1888, as compared with the preceding year, was
especially marked in Paddington, Kensington, St.
George's, Hanover Square, and Westminster, among
the Western Districts.
With the view of determining whether during the
previous seven years (1881-87), Diphtheria had shown
any tendency to be endemic in any streets or groups
of streets in Paddington, and if so, whether the visitation
from which the parish has been suffering during
the past year has had any special fatality in the same
streets or areas, I have prepared the following tables,
which show the streets in which deaths from Diphtheria
occurred in each Sub-district of the Parish in each
quarter of the eight years, 1881-88 inclusive.