The Express.
London, England, 1852-01-07 00:00:00

HEALTH OF LONDON DURING THE WEEK

The official report says : In the week ending !ast
Saturday the number of deaths registered in the metropo-
litan districts was 1,297. In the corresponding weeks of
the ten years (IS4I-50) the average number was 1,18;,
which, if raised in proportion to the great. r amount of
population now existing, will be 1,304. lieu,* it appears
that the deaths of the last week nearly coincide in amuunt
with the corrected average.
At this period deaths on which coroners have held in-
quests, and which consist in large proportion of those caused
by fractures, poison, burns, and other injury, swell the
return by considerably more than the fair contribution of
a week. Many of such eases that arc now returned
i occurred in previous weeks, and have been accumulating
till the end of the quarter when their registration was com-
pleted. There appear in the list 6 deaths *scribal to
poison, 13 to burns and scalds, 21 to suffocation, among
which arc 7 cases of suicide by hanging call nudes), and
11 cases of children suffocated by the bedclothes or ever-
laid, 26 deaths caused by drowning, and 34 by fractures,
contusions, and wounds. Among the last are 12 eases of
death by falling, and 6 of injury by horses and carriages.
Of the burns 4 eases arose from the clothes taking tire.
In the previous week 210 deaths were caused by di,ases
of the organs of respiration, exclusive of phtlusis ; last
week exhibits it rise in this chase, the number being 253.
Phthisis or consumption, which was fetal in the former
week in ea cases, produced 136 in the last. Laryngitis and
taryngistuus stridulus number in the present return 7 eases,
bronchitis 117, pleurisy 3, pneumonia 96, and asthma 20.
Diseases of the zyinutic or epidemic character have also
raised the mortality from 203 to 231 in the two weeks.
Small pox was fatal last week In 33 cases, looping-cough to
39, scarlatina in 41, typhus in 50. Other maladies in the
mime category exhibit smaller amounts contributed to the
wee k.'e mortality, namely,—measles, which carried off 20
children; croup, 2 ; thrush, 3; infantile fever, 2: syphilis,
4 • iliarrhcca, which was fatal in 16 cow's; dysentery, in 4 ;
influenza, in 6; purport, in 1 ; intermittent fever, in 2;
remittent fever, in 1; rheumatic fever, in 1: erysipelas, in
7. Puerperal lever was fatal to 2 women, and 3 other cases
are recur ed of women dying after childbirth.
The following is an analysis of the 1,207 cases re-
gistered last week
The cause of death wag certified by written
statement of a qualified medical prac-
titioner in 1.050 c.!ses.
Inquests were held and verdicts entered in
the register books iu
The c,ll/Ise of death was not certified bermum
deceased hail no medical attendant and no

inquest held in
The cause of deatn not certified, or only by
oral statement, or by unqualified informant,
iu 34 calm

Total
From the above, it appears that the eases iu which thu
cause of death wns regularly certined form a ei of
81 per cent., atel, edited to those in which irupteete were
held, a proportion of 96 per cent. of the whole number.

Last week the births of f 10.5 boys and tillo girls, in all
1,774 children. were registered in London. The average
number in seven corresponding week+ of 184041 was 1,06.
At the ]Loyal Observatory, Greenwich, the mean daily
reading of the barometer was above 30 in, on the first four
days of the week. The mean reading of the week was
30:00I in. The mean temperature of the week was :hi
ds-
giwet, which differs little from the average of corresponding
weeks in the lest ten years. With the exception of Sunday,
hen the temperature was slightly above the average, the
mean was below the average on every day till S..dor-
day, when it rose to 40.4 degrees, or 4 degrees above it. On
the last three days the wind blew from the south-west.