The Express.
London, England, 1861-09-20 00:00:00

SERIOUS INCREASE OF INFANTILE
MORTALITY IN LONDON.

At the weekly meeting of the representative
vestry of the parish of Paddington, Lieut.-Colonel WORTHY
in the chair, special attention was called by Dr. J. B. Bag.
DRIMON, the medial officer of health, in • report to be
printed and circulated by the board, to the enormous coati°.
gent which this parish had contributed annually during the
past five years to the general total of deaths by the morta-
lity of early iofancy. To prove this he exhibited a table
which illustrated it in • striking manner. It showed that
out of no less than 733 infants under three months of
age that had died in Paddington, an equal number had
lost their lives from violence as from small-pox, measles,
diphtheria, whooping cough, erysipelas, and fever, put to-
gether, making 5.6 per cent. of the total mortality under
that age (exclusive of 40 other deaths from doubtful causes),
which constituted 12.1 per cent. of the total mortality of
the parish. Only a small number of these fell victims to
the so-called diseases of infancy, comparatively few even of
diarrho-a,
he asserted, might be best grouped together, es being all of
them dependent on impaired or disordered nutrition, deter-
mined mainly, even in this somewhat aristocratic perish, by
overcrowding. The learned doctor then proceeded to illus-
trate, by facts already published, the pernicious influence
exercised by overcrowded dwellings in the first few months
of infantile life, and ho thought the must striking was one
set forth by Mr. Simon, who stated that in 17,650 children
born in the Dublin Lying-in-Hospital, when the hospital
was unventilated, 2,944 (17.0 per cent.) died within the first
fortnight of their life • by far the greater number of these
deaths being preceded by convulsions ; among 16,664 in-
fants born after the wards tad been ventilated only 286
died (1.7 per cent.), so that the general mortality had
been reduced to one-tenth of what it was, and the mortality
under one special head, that of convulsions, to 1.6 R. He
(Dr. Sanderson) mid in London the air of the dwellings of
the poor was subject to contamination of this kind, not
only by overcrowding, strictly so called, but by the ex-
halations from the lungs and skin of animals. Thousands
of families lived in rooms over stables, a practice which he
contended to be a very fruitful source of infantile disease.
Dr. (kinkier, of Edinburgh, had concluded, from a large
statistical inquiry, that the variations of infantile mortality
could not be accounted for, either by destitution or by the
prevalence of local conditions unfavourable to health ; and
that in the metropolis it was not only the overcrowded dia.
nide of the east which were fatal to children, but that in
St. George's, Hanover-square, which until recently enjoyed
I the lowest general death rate in London, the infantile death
rate was enormous—higher than that of the Strand district
or Stepney, and about equal to those of Shoreditch,
Bermondsey, and Lambeth. In explanation of so sur-
prising • result, he (Dr. Sanderson) suggested that
• Lug& proportion of the poor of the western dis-
tricts Inhabited stable dwellings, and were therefore
subject to thediseases arising therefrom ; but, on the other
hand, he considered the inhabitants of the weekend houses
were more favourably circumstanced than those of the
court' and alleys of the older districts, not only
as regarded general drainage and airiness, but
in the absence of those evils which resulted from
destitution. In addition to those evils, be thought
the infantile population was subject to other muses of un-
healthiness, rather moral than physical, and the large num-
ber of instances that stood in the register as the causes of
death, and besides these the numerous cases of infautkide
for ;which no motive could be ascertained, and probably
none existed except recklessness—all strengthened the sus-
picion suggested by Mr. Gairdner's statistical inquiry, or,
at all events, they pointed to the existenos of evils much
deeper than those of overcrowding and bad drainage.

SROCKINO CASE or EITADBING.—One of those
frightful cases of dabbing menet foreign sailors which so
frequently take place in seaport towns occurred Wit week
in Swansea. A lot of foreign sailors had been drinking and
frolicking in some of the low beta-houses in the neighbour-
hood of Regent's-court, and at last got to quarrelling and
fighting. During the row two men, a Spaniard and a
Swede, singled each other out, and a fearful struggle
ensued. The Spaniard, whose name is Matteus Matt, was
armed with a knife, and he attacked the Swede, John Slime,
in the most savage manner, giving bin, no lees than four
stabs in the left side, and one iu the thigh, two or three on
the head, and cutting a large piece of Nesh off cue of hie
arms. Notwithstanding these wounds, which caused the un-
fortunate man to bleed profusely, he kept firm hold of his
aessilant until a policeman arrived, who proved to be Police-
constable Treharne, and it was not until lie was satisfied
that the latter warn an of that Slime ►et go the than.
They were at once taken to the police-station in custody of
the officer and Sergeant Wray, and the charge mole out
against Matt. Slung was at once taken to the Sailors Home,
Where Mr. Hall examined the wounds, and he is now going
on favourably, although it was at first suticipoted that the
case would prove a fetal one. Matt was brought before the
mayor and maghdrates, and was remanded till Thursday,
when it is expected the wounded man will be able to attond.
He will then le charged with wounding Shuns with intent
to murder, and unlawfully wounding soother sailor named
I hassle' Bashley, who received a stab through the hand in
the affray.—Sironsta Herald.
A Boy SHOT DZAD NY A YOUNG WOMAN.—An
extraordinary event took place at Bolton, near Beadfonl, on
Wednesday evening. A half-witted youth, named Henry
John Fieldhouse, about seventeen years old, who lived is '
Noeth-wing, Bradford, was going about begging, sod between
five and six o'clock called at the house of Mr. Jacob
Wood, fanner, }token Fold, when Mr. Wood's daughter,
Nancy Wood, aged twenty-two years, took down her father's
gun and presented it at the boy, for the purpose of frighten-
ing him. The gun was loaded and the contents went off.
killing the boy on the spot. His lifeless body was removed
to the Bohai Hotel, EMT the Peel-perk gates, and the
young woman was yesterday committed for trial on a charge
of manslaughter, but was admitted to bail. The gun was
leaded and capped, bat it was an old worn-out piece, and the
trigger was tied on with a piece of string. The trigger
dropped on the slightest touch. The gun bad been used
for shooting sparrows, and was left on the bread creel em
Thursday or Friday last by the prisoner's brother.

SUICIDE THROUGH GRlM—Yesterday morning,
about eight o'clock, a suicide was committed by Mr. Thomas
Blackburn, at his residence, No. AO, Judd-place, Easton.
rued, under circumstanoes of a melancholy character. The
deoemod, who was over GO years of age, had for many 7eara
carried on an extensive business as a pawnbroker aud silver-
smith in Skinner.street, Somers-town. About two mouths
shim he lost his eldest son by • pulmonary complaint,wbich
so deeply affected him that he immediately retired from
business. Since then nothing had appeared to moomile him
to what he deemed an irreparable loss. He would fre-
quently sit and cry for hours together, and become so low
sad dejected that no endeavours on the part of hi. wife
could rouse him. Yesterday morning Mrs. Blackburn rum
and left her husband asleep in his bed, and on returning in
about ten minutes she was horror-stricken at finding biro
trig by his neck cloth from the bedpost. He was quite