The Sun.
London, England, 1864-09-14 00:00:00

Sanitary Condition of the City.

Yesterday, at a meeting of the City commissioners of
sewers, Deputy De Jersey presiding.
Dr. Letheby, the medical officer of health, reported the
results of 989 inspections of houses made since the last
meeting of the Court in July—and submitted a list of 208
places for sanitary improvement. He also reported that
that the markets and slaughter-houses had been duly in-
spected, and the officers had condemned 41,7901 b, or nearly
19 tons cf meat, as unfit for human food. It consisted of
236 sheep, 15 calves, 78 pigs, 200 quarters of beef, and 1,009
joints of meat-12,5911b were diseased, 24,3791 b were
putrid, and the rest was from animals that had died from
accident or disease.

In the course of the last sem n weeks there had been 357
births and 357 deaths in the Ci,y, and they consis'ed in
each case of 210 miles and 177 fentale. The mortality re-
turns are a little in excess of the average (311) fur the corre-
sponding period of the last eight ye irs. The chief mortality
was among children of less than five years of age. These
deaths amounted to 192, or nearly halt the total mortality,
and there were 71 deaths among persons at 60 and upwards.
The ckief causes of death were as follows ;—Phthisis 54
tubes 27—bydrocephalns 3—pneumonia 11—bronchitis 19
continued fever 14—scarlet fever 12—whooping cough 14—
croup 6—measles 25—diarrhoea 65, of which 55 wore the
diarrhosa of infants, making together 71 deaths from dis-
eases of a tubercular character-29 from inflammatory
disease of the lungs, and exclusive of the infantile diarrhea
--81 from disease of the zymotic class.
THE GAS SUPPLY TO THE CITY.

Dr. Letheby presented his quarterly report of the illu-
minating power and chemical quality of the gas suppliei to
the City. lie stated that 798 examinations had been made
of the photometrical power of the gas, each being the mean
of ten observations; and the results were that, with the
exception of six instances on the part of the Chartered Gas,
the illuminating power had always been equal to the re'
quirements of the act of Parliament. The average power of
the City Company's Gas had been 13.63 candles; that of
the Chartered, 13.49; and that of the Great Central,
13.50. In the corresponding quarter of last yell. the mean
illuminating power of the City Gas was 13.78 candles;
the Chartered, 13 03; and the Great Central, 14.15; and in
the same quarter of the last ten years, prior to the Act of
1801. the power of the Great Central Gas was 12.93 can-
dles; while therefore there has been a slight falling off in
the power of the gas during the last quarter, as compared
with that of 1853, there has been an increase of about 4
per cent. over that of the gas prior to the passing of the
Metropolitan Gas Act.
As regards the purity of the gas of the several com-
panies, Dr Letheby reported that it was always free
from sulphuretted hydrogen, and that the amount of
ammonia in all, except the Chartered Gas, was not
excessive, but the proportion of sulphur in the gas
was frequently greater than that sanctioned by Parlia-
ment; in fact, of 76 examinations made of the gas of each
of the three companies, there wore 31 instances in which
the gas of the City Company contained an excess of sulphur,
42 in that of the Chartered,and 70 in that of the Groat
Central—making together 143 cases out of 22S in which
the requirements of the law in this particular had not been
complied with. The average amount of sulphur in the City
Gas been 19 69 grains per 100 cubic feet; in the Chartered
Gas, 1917 grains; and in the Great Central, 22.51 grains,
the range having been from 35 grains to 144.
Lastly, he reported that the average pressure of tho gas
had been about an inch of water, the range having been
from rather more than two inches to about three-quarters
of an inch.