The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1860-10-02 00:00:00

HEALTH AND DISEASE.

rim PUBLIC. HEALTH.

(Frous the Registrar-General's Report.)

.- - -
In the week ending Saturday, September 22, the
deaths, registered in London were 1.016. In the ten
years 18.10-t9 the average number of deaths in the weeks
corresimmling with last week was 1,152, but, as the pre-
sent retort is for • population which has annually in-
creased, the average with a view to comparison should
be raised in proportion to the increase, • correction
which will make it 1.:517. If the deaths from cholera
in the 38ili week of 1854 are eliminated from the calcu-
lation. Ste comparison will chow that the deaths in the
present return are lom by about 100 than would have
resulted from the average rate of mortality at this sea-
-16011 of the year.
The births last week exceeded the deaths in the saute
period by 654. .

r Sollo -c-otMIAs a low mortality; last week the
deaths from it were only 3. Diarrlima was fatal in 64
cases, the average of correaponding weeks in the last 10
years t18:50.59J, corrected for increase of populatiJn, is
95. Of the 64 deaths from this disease all except 10
were those of children. The death of a girl, aged 10
niontlis. is referred to choleraic diarrlaua. The deaths
from toes-lea were 42 ; in the previous week the num-
ber was 36. Scarlatina was fatal in 44 CA114,1 and six
children died from 4iptheria. A ls,y, seed five years,
died at Guy's Hospital f locked jaw. the result of an
injury. Five deaths occurred (ruin burns and scalds, of
these three were those of children. The infanta and one
adult were suffocated. Of four nonagenarians whose
deatlia are recorded in the week the eldest wiui • widow,
who had attained the age of 93 years; the other persons
died at the respective ages of 90, 91, and 92 years.
Lust week the births of 859 boys and 811 girls, in all
1.070 children, were registered in London. In the ten
corresponding seeks of the years 1850-59 the average
number was 1,607. . .

UN HV. ALTHT Hocar.s. —People in general have to
take houses mu they find toein, and hare no voice in the
building of them, and buibleri to not seem to think of
the mischief they may canine by omitting to provide fir
thorough ventilation sod the removal of noxious gases
into the open air instead of letting them into the house.
In the report of his recent examinstion of the sanitary
stile of some of our chisf towns Dr. Greenhow gives an
accoont of houses in Wales built so all LO shut out fresh
air iron the rooms. and produce in the healthiest spots
aeloseness scarcely equalled in tenements in • city allay.
A group of fever cases, lie says. was seen at Troed-y•rldw,
a hamlet beautifully situated in a picturesque valley
bevel al miles from Methry. The houses in which the
cases occurred Were nut overcrowded, but were very im-
perfectly ventilated. The bedrooms have no chimneys,
the upper sashes of the windows do out open, and the
lower are not hung, wallet when opened, which seldom
happen., it is necessary to prop them up. The rooms
were close and offensive ; oppressively so—a esmilnoti
attribute of the dwellings of the poor in this part of
%Vales, winch are generally bs.liy ventilated, an.t on that
ar.count, even when in other respects cleanly, unpleasant
tim atrangers. This applie m s ore particularly to mmlern
cottages, for the rough, picturesque, hut comfortless
looking old Welsh cottages, with their high-ps eked roofs
of thatch, wide hearths, and open chimneys. arc as a
general rule, much less close and unpleasant than the
neater and apparently niure et,lllfurtable modern
dwellings. Dr Gretnhow mentions among several
instanves, a house which he visited, where a fatal case
of typhoid fever had already occurred, and a second calla
PM nada tresttueat Us mom iszwhiait Um> patient

lay stank with the concentrated exhalation.: from the Alin
and lungs conse,,uent upon the entire ahschee of cow
tilation. The only aixidis to it wss by a narrow circular
staircase frogs' the kitchen, shut at top ant bottnto by
doors, while the shoelace of a chimney and the con-
stantly closed window almost entirely excluded the fresh
air. In other respects the room was beautifully clian.
Again, when he proceeds to Manchester. after noticing
a serious defeet in the construction uf the smaller houses
(with rt'Pril to the cessissil.). and u Welt. indeed. lie
culls the munst. r sanitary defect of that important City.
he remarks that the evil is most C 01.40160114 in the
newer portions of the town. Nur is it only in theliousee
of the poor that little thought is givtin to the ventilati ....
of plroping-rooms, and the exclusion of the noxious
exhalations which, on the contrary. commonly more or
leas permeate the house during wet days and Idtte
winter nights. Hut the time is fast coming when the
healthiness iif a lass. as depending upon its internal
arrangenients, will eutcr very appreciably into the quee-
Ilion of its value.