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13
in this country diphtheria. This disease, which in
some parts of the country has committed great
ravages, prevailed to a considerable extent in
London in 1858. In this parish only five fatal cases
were recorded in that year. Although in these
particular cases no unusual deficiency of sanitary
arrangements could be detected, there can be no
question that this disease is one that has originated
in conditions of the system brought on by the
presence of impurities in the atmosphere, arising
from deficient drainage, and the consequent
presence of animal and vegetable matter in a state
of decay. Once developed, the disease spreads
rapidly by contagion or infection, especially
amongst families and populations where sanitary
regulations have been long neglected. It is to
be hoped that the attention which now, for three
years, has been given to the sanitary condition of
your parish, has been a check to the progress of
this disease, and that it will not present more
formidable features in future than it has done in
the course of the year 1858.
Turning from the zymotic group of diseases, and
glancing over the other causes of death which
present us with the highest number, we find
standing out very prominently amongst diseases of
the lungs, phthisis, ox pulmonary consumption.
The following Table will enable you to compare
the deaths from this disease in the three last
years:—