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weather of the year. There were only six deaths
and all of these were infants under one year of age
so the cause was presumably connected with the
staple one of "improper feeding," and not materially
affected by climatic or weather conditions.
The majority of such cases of sickness that did
occur were towards the end of July shortly after the
spell of hot weather that constituted the summer.
It is probable that this comparative immunity was
in some measure due to the following influences :—
(i) That the temperature at no time during the
past year was excessive over periods sufficiently
prolonged to have material effect upon the
temperature of the soil at a depth of three or four
feet from the surface; (2) That rain was never
absent for long together during the whole of the
year, but was considerably above the average
during the third and fourth quarters, the third
quarter being the one in which diarrhoea is as a
rule most prevalent.
How far the influence of the rainfall has
been direct, that is by washing the atmosphere
and preventing the dissemination of dust and
by the cleansing and removal of dirt from
the areas around houses, especially of the
working classes, and how far indirect by
preventing the rise of the earth's temperature
at a depth of three or four feet it is impossible
to decide. It is however an established fact
that " the maximum mortality of diarrhoea by
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