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35
Thus it will be seen that in the three quatrennal
periods the last has been the most unhealthy. It
would appear from this that our sanitary action was of
but little avail. There is, however, a very obvious
explanation of the want of apparent proof of the
value of our sanitary activity. The first four years
were those which followed the fatal epidemic of
Cholera in 1854; in these years great precautions
were taken against the recurrence of this disease,
and the district where it occurred was less populated
than it had been previous to that distressing
epidemic. In the last few years you will find, by
referring to my reports, that we have had two years
of unusual cold, an agent of disease over which
sanitary measures have but little control, this
accounts for the slight excess of the average mortality
of the last four years; at the same time the
average mortality of 733 in the year, although not
large in comparison with many districts in London,
and many large towns in England, is one that ought
to be reduced, and only shows the necessity of
increased activity in weeding out the sources of
disease. It should always, however, be recollected,
that in the Parish of St. James's, Westminster, the
death-rate weighs very differently in the three
divisions of the Parish. Thus taking the districts,
independent of that of the Workhouse, it will be
seen that whilst the deaths in the St. James's