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8
MEDICAL OFFICER'S REPORT.
Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen,
Notwithstanding the extensive prevalence of Small Pox
which marked the beginning of the year 1863, and the very severe
visitation of fever at its close, it affords me pleasure to have to
report that the deaths registered in the District were fewer by ninety
than in the year preceding. The total mortality was 828, against
918 in the year 1862. Of these 696 died in their own homes, 106
in the Workhouse, and 26 in Guy's Hospital. In consequence of
the removal of St. Thomas's Hospital, the registration of persons in
the District, who previously lived in other parishes, is 82 less than
in the preceding year; so that the decrease in the number of deaths
of persons previously resident is 55. It must be observed, however,
that the numbers for the past year extend over a period of 53 weeks;
and, if for the purpose of comparison, 15 deaths are deducted from
the number registered, there appears an actual decrease of 70.
The mortality of the District during the eight years your Board has
been in operation has been respectively 868, 920, 1,047, 996, 929,
1,066, 918 and 828. The deaths of the year 1863 are therefore
fewer by 40 than in any former year, and 135 less than the average of
the seven years preceding. Possibly this result may to some extent bo
referred to a diminished population; but it should bo remembered,
that the larger portion of the dwellings which have disappeared from
the District were either taken down or empty at the date of the
census, and that, since that time, the excess of births over deaths
has been no less than 970—a number probably equal to those who
have migrated from the District.
The Statistical Tables which I have prepared for the information
of the Board, afford a ready means of testing the general healthiness
of the District, as compared with former years. It may nevertheless
be desirable that I should indicate a few points of interest tending
to elucidate our real position, both as respects former years and the
districts contiguous to our own.
Of the 828 persons who died during the past year, 152 were
upwards of 60 years of age, and of these 24 were more than 80.
220 were children under one year. In fact, considerably more than
half the mortality of the District was due to persons under two years
of age and above 60. So far as respects the aged, these figures are
satisfactory, but it is a lamentable consideration that infants under
one year old should represent more than a fourth of the total
mortality. This unnatural state of things appears to be incidental
to the crowded districts of all large towns. Boards of Health may