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from all causes having been registered. Among them are six of persons
above the age of 70, or nearly one-sixth of the whole. One a waterman,
aged 70, from diseased stomach; the second, a man aged 73,
in the workhouse, from paralysis. The four others are elderly
women, aged respectively, 74, 84, 87, and 88, who are all registered
as having succumbed to the decay of nature. The month of January
being the coldest in the year, is generally more fatal to the aged,
than the following month; but in Rotherhithe this has not been the
case, there having been in January only one death registered of a
person above 70. During the month just elapsed, the parish has
been, and I am happy to say, continues still remarkably free from
all epidemic diseases, excepting hooping cough. One death occurred
from typhoid fever, and two from hooping cough, one of which was
complicated with scarlatina. No other case of scarlatina, no measles,
no diarrhœa, and finally, no small pox. The latter malady having
entirely disappeared from the neighbourhood, and from enquiries
made, I am inclined to think that there is not now in Rotherhithe a
single case of small pox under treatment.
Eighteen deaths or nearly half the number have been caused by
afflictions of the heart and respiratory organs, among them is one
case of croup, a child 4 years of age. The prevalent diseases have
been acute bronchitis, pneumonia, and hooping cough. The number
of rheumatic afflictions has decreased since my last report.
W. MURDOCH.
4th March, 1856.
THIRD REPORT.
To the Vestry of the Parish of St. Mary, Rotherhithe.
Gentlemen,
On the 10th of March, and on several other occasions, I examined
the open ditch beginning near the back of the house, 44, Lower
Queen Street, and running eastward between that street and Surrey
Place towards the sewer in Cow Lane. This ditch receives the
privies and refuse of twenty houses or thereabouts, and in my
inspections of it, it always appeared about one-third full, the
water stagnant, and standing at the same level. I consider it a
nuisance, injurious to the health of the immediate neighbourhood
and deserving the attention of the Yestry.
On the 13th of March, on the complaint of some of the inmates
of the block of dwellings known as the " seven houses" in
Trinity Street, I examined the drain of these houses. The drain,
according to the statement of Mr. Durrant, one of the complainants,
is a narrow cutting, about three feet deep and fifteen inches broad,
with enlargement of breadth at the points where it receives the
privies of some of the houses; its sides are of brick and its upper