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8
MEDICAL OFFICER'S REPORT.
Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen.
The statistical Tables which I have the honour to place
before you on the present occasion, compared with those of last
var exhibit a marked improvement in the sanitary condition of
the St. Saviour's District. The total deaths registered was 918.
This number includes 57 cases from other parishes, which terminated
fatally in the Hospitals, and gives a decrease of 148 in
the mortality of the past year. The annual death rate since this
Board was first constituted has been respectively 868, 920, 1047,
996, 929, 1066 and 918. The number of deaths registered in the
year 1862 being, with one exception, lower than on any previous
occasion.
The rate of mortality in the whole of London during the past
year was 2.349 per cent.,— in the South 2.261, and in the St.
Saviour's District 2.396. The highest mortality prevailed in the
East and Central Districts where it was respectively 2.592 and
2.578. The mortality in the St. Saviour's District, therefore, very
nearly corresponds with the aggregate, and is a little higher than
that of the South Districts as a whole, which, as the Registrar
General justly observes, "have achieved for themselves a marked
improvement."
These general results will be readily deduced from the tables
now in your possession; but as the condition and circumstances of
the District have lately been, and still are somewhat exceptional,
I shall, with a view of affording a more just and minute estimate
of our actual position than can be obtained by a mere comparison
of figures, offer a few observations by way of elucidation.
It will be observed that although there was last year a
decrease of 148 in the number of deaths from all causes, there was
an increase of 10 in the mortality from Epidemic diseases. This
arises principally from an alteration in the classification. For the
purpose of more exact comparison with the published Reports of
the Registrar General I have this year introduced a column for
Diphtheria under the head of Epidemics. In former years these
deaths were classed under the general head of other causes. As
there were 9 deaths from Diphtheria during the past year this
would reduce the difference to 1. Measles, Hooping cough and
Typhus were considerably more fatal than in the preceding year;
Scarlatina and Diarrhoea less so. In 1861 there were 12 deaths
from Measles and 72 from Scarlatina. Last year there were 36
deaths from Measles, and only 31 from Scarlatina. It does not
however appear that this higher mortality from Epidemic is disproportionate
to the other Districts of the Metropolis.
In estimating the decrease in the number of deaths it must be
remembered that thepopulation of the District is probably smaller