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11
in the spring, ending in June : in fact, if we take
1000 as the average for each quarter, it will be
found that only 944 occurred in the spring time, 996
in the summer, 988 in the autumn, and 1,072 in the
winter. This is a little abnormal, for the average
proportions throughout England are 1,036 for the
spring quarter, 965 for the summer, 960 for autumn,
and 1,039 for the winter.
The death-rate in the City ranged as we have said
from 14*6 per 1,000 of the inhabitants of the Central
district, to 20 of the Eastern—the average for the
entire City being 17.7. In the preceding ten years,
the average has been 22.5. In the whole of the
Metropolis it has been 24.1; in England, 22.5 ; in
France, 23.3; and in Austria, 30.6. These large
differences of death-rate are, as I explained in my
last yearly report, attributable to similar differences
of birth-rate; for as the mortality of children
is excessively high (amounting to not less than
160 per 1,000 per annum, the rest of the population
being only 20) it follows, as a matter of course,
that wherever the birth-rate is large, the death-rate
also must be large; and therefore, the death-rate
alone of any place will afford no indication of its
comparative salubrity. I entered very fully into this
matter in my last annual report, and showed you
that a high death-rate, instead of being an indication