The Sun.
London, England, 1863-12-29 00:00:00

~~~~ ~~

U

. EWSPAPER •
,
rkWll6i'Zr kik?
,fit,A-7,3
von s
irthe

tione, addressed to the Registrar-Gee
Acland, the Regius Professor of Medic
University of Oxford, in reference to the _
that city, and in the region extending ove:
Thames Basin. It appears that there were two cases
of typhoid fever in Worcester College which were
registered. The site of the college is low and not
well-drained, but these defects apply to the whole
city. There is no systematic drainage, and the whole
subsoil is infiltrated with filth from cesspools and
other reservoirs of putrescent matter. The evil is
too great and ramified to be cured by local improve..
meat, and Dr. Acland assigns this as a reason why
the inhabitants are apparently so indifferent, they
deeming it useless to engage in minor plans which
would fail through inadequacy. He, therefore,
advisect, "that the drainage of the whole Thames
valley above Teddington lock ought to be in the
bands of a Government commission." 'Phis is even
a gaander 'scheme than the metrooolian elrainape
now being effected, though it really forms a part of
it, for unless the upper Thames be conserved in
purity the lower Thames must be foul with constant
descending filth. Under proper regulations each
town on its banks would divert its sewage from the
progress on
river. It is true that some drainage Weeks have
been during many years in the upper
Thames and its tributaries, but they have not been
prosecuted on any concerted plan. There can be eo
doubt that the gigantic works superintended by Mr.
Bazalgette
will conduce most powerfully to the
health of London, but Lis labours cannot be come
plete if, from the higher grounds, the Thames be-
t Ween the bridges is liable to daily invasion by
cerrupt waters, which poison the supplies of the
water companies. Dr. Acland insists that the ele-
ments of disease are conveyed in water,
though the
distance may not be accurately known. He also
thinks that " the soil, modifies in a high degree the
effects of the surface waters:" There are other evils
from impure weter which cannot be expressed in •
tket death Tate, I?ecause they 46.21,3 t actually egin-
guish life; these aie-a-teeble power, tardy conval-
escence, distress, and discomfort incalculable." Of
course all these are fatal to labour as a productive
power, be it physical or intellectual, and therefore
fatal to national wealth.
On the Bth April, 1861, when the census was
taken, the population of London was 2,803,989.
If we take the difference between the two last
censuses as the guide to calculation, it Would
appear that the daily increase to the population of
London is 121 souls; but its natural increase, that
is the excess of births over deaths, was about 72
only; thus it received daily an immigrant population
of 50 who settled permanently. Here is a fertile
text for those speculative and ingenious statisti-
cians who anticipate the future, and extend or
limit the builded area of citi • •
es according to their
fancy, their hopes, and their fears.
Of course
much depends on the sanitary state of localities;
fever, the offspring of overcrowding and imperfect
ventilation, rapidly thins
numbers, and cholera
and influenza smite their thousands
and tens of
thousands. But, as in the past 20
years so in time
to come, that increased regard for human life which
attends civilisation is not likely to tail, and there-
fore it may be presumed that population will con-
tinue to increase. But much yet remains to be done
in the direction of preventive measures. The streets
must be widened and better cleansed, the rivers
purified, and the dwellings of the poorer classes in,..
proved in accommodation ; though the greatest of
all reforms must be sffected by individuals them-
selves, in strictly adhering to habits of temperance,
the great conservator of life and health.
An appendix to the report of Dr. Farr is most
valuable in a medical point of view. It refers to
the public health in 1861. He shoWs that since
1832 there ha's been an unusual prevalence of diarr-
hoea, passing into cholera or dysentery, and in 1861,
these diseases killed more than 20,000 persons,
while fever immolated more than 15,440 victims.
Dr. Farr confirms the views of Dr. Acland as to
water, soiled by impure admixtures, being one of
t.h© vehicles of disease. He says :—" The ova of
worms and the seeds of various diseases are thus
diffused among children ; while great Lumbers of
men and women in the prime of life also suffer, and
often die of the maladies which are the inevitable
consequences of violations of natural laws." Dr.
Farr also refers incidentally but significantly to the
sewage of towns, and shows it to be a part of the
economy of nature to restore to the lard, the source
of food, the refuse arising from it after consumption.
In common with all other natural laws its viola•
tion is attended with heavy and certain penalties,
for not only does subsistence frequently fail in con-
sequence, but putrid dirt, through its accumulation,
generates pestilence.
Dr. Farr refers to Dr. Murchison's book on the
" Fevers of Great Britain," and divides those
which are well known, and capable of exact defini-
tion, into the three distinct heads of typhus,
typhinia, and typhoid, or typhia. These are
chiefly generated by overcrowding, and are often
diffused by infection. Of typhus, 21 in 100 cases
die in :the London Fever Hospital, but second at.
tacks are very rare. Typhinia is a form of relaps-
ing fever. The patient attacked by it, after being
s, i
apparently recovered at the
end of seven
fourteenth day; thday
e fevers
again prostrated on the
.etime o
f famine.
epidemic, and infectious, prevails i
one
case 011 t of
It is generally fatal in the ratio of
49. Typhoid, or typhia, is endemic in character,
and its presence may be known by the eruption of
kin. Ia the London
rose spots on the s _ Fever
rata ly.
Hos-
pital 19 cases in 100 terminate It attacks
rarely recurs a second tune. Filth
the young, but
and the exhalations arising from it generate this
prevalence of this
disease. The p scourge, greatly
preventible by cleanliness in dwelling-houses, has
induced us to enter on these details as warnings to
the working classes, who cannot be too much on
their guard against its insidious approaches in close
and unventilated neighbourhoods. In 1661 there
died in London of fever 1,770 persons, but the ave-
rage of deaths from this
cause is larger in the whole
kingdom. The chief metropolitan fever fields cover
Shoreditch, 'Whit , efile-end, eenapel; Stepney, . . Fin ton
Pop-
lar, and Bermondsey. The hospital is in Si g
a
where the deaths are register e
d--but theto iy re not
nt t from
due to Isligton, the patients bet se
all parts of London.
Quitting the m ells and entering the pro-
etrop
vinces in forums Island and Alver-
quest of fever,
no port, the great seats of
stoke, Portsmouth anddescribed as fatal
Military and naval power,
arelsle of Wight, which
fever districts; nor vlss• the
1 h. t
ntation for ea t mess, exemp .
enjoys a popnlarrept
he Itchen Valley to Winches-
Fever travelled
uP
aa another centre, from which it
ter. Abinx
ci?lidlecor and Eton. It was typhoid which
spread to
country of the lamented Prince Albert.
deprived the;
mortality in the 12 years ending in
The rang e
was from 6.63 to 10.41 in 10,000
1861, from sever,
peD rsons.
iphtheria is a comparatively new form of dis-
ease, and on
its first appearance its true:, character
was only recognised by the ablest medical practi-
tioners,
it being generally confounded with putrid
' r o throat and scarlatina. This epidemic was at
itsso
height in 1859,- and has since slowly subsided.
It is chiefly fatal to the young. "In seven yeaas
1553 adults died of the disease at 25 and upwards;
under that age 28,216 died." The ravages of scar-
latina are chiefly felt in the coal districts of the
north of England, and it is recommended that the
cause should be investigated. Small-pox is said
now to exist "by sufferance." The legislature has
provided for the protection of helpless children by
vaccination,which is either neglected or inefficiently
performed, but where the blame lies it Seems to be
impossible to determine. Another fatal disease
which entirely depends on individual free will, is
alcoholism, described as " slow poisoniug by
spirits." It not only k 11
ills, but
those who- sur-
vive its attacks are sure to become en-
feebled in body and mind.

The annual mortality from derangement of the
respiratory organs is peculiarly fatal. Of these the
most dangerous are bronchitis and pneumonia. It
appears that the latter has not much varied in the
lust ten years, but within the same period the
former has increased from 17;073 to 30,986. Bron-
chitis is chiefly atal to the eici ; pneumonia to .he
young. From honk these inflammations girls are
more freo than boys. It is remarkable how many
meet their death?, fmm burns and scalds, and barns
have increased in recent rears.
skin injuries from these cdausel Even suby
ness, are frequently fatal after many weeks.
followed siccial
k-
Rieke are Popularly ascribed, in the majority of
cases, to accidents, but tbe more correct term would
he carelessness. It is advised that all open fires,
liZhts, and kettles of hot water, should be
guards,sur-
and that dresses should
rounded by good ~ • , . ,
be starched with such c,,,,;,..;,ca materials 58 render
them incombustible.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
THIS DAY.—Morning, 4h. 38m.—Afternoon, 4h. 55m.
To -voßaow.-Morning, sh. 10m.—Afternoon, ih. 26m.