The Sun.
London, England, 1863-07-08 00:00:00

HEALTH OP LONDON.

(From the Registrar-General's Weekly Return.)

The rate of mortality in London was nearly con-
stant during the month of June. In the week that
ended last Saturday the deaths were 1,187. The
average weekly number at the beginning of July,
corrected for increase of population, is 1,142, and
therefore in the present return there is an excess of
45 above the estimated amount.

There were 43 deaths from smallpox in the week.
In June the weekly number varied from 43 to 46.
Of the 43 cases 4 are stated to have occurred to the
vaccinated.

Scarlatina was fatal in 73 cases, 5 of which oc-
curred in Limehouse.

There were 4 deaths from intemperance. Six
cases of infanticide were recorded in the week, 3 of
which were in the sub-district of St. Mary, Pad-
dington.

A girl, aged one year, died of in'uss eP
caused by swallowing a cherry-stone; anudscabtoi7,
aged eight years, of apnoea from a cherry-stone im-
pacted in the larynx.
Last week the births of 995 boys and 942 girls,
in all 1,937 children, were registered in London. In
the ten corresponding weeks of the years 1853 62
the average number (corrected) was 1,728.
At the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, the mean
height of the barometer in the week was 29 673 in.
The mean reading was above 30in. on four days of
the week. The reading decreased to 29.78 in. on
Sunday, and rose to 30.17 on Wednesday. The
mean temperature of the air in the week was 594
deg., which is 2 deg. below the average of the same
week in 43 years (as determined by Mr. Glaisher).
The lowest night temperature was 45.5 deg. on
Wednesday. The highest day reading was 74.2
deg. on Friday. The range in the week was there-
fore 28.7 deg. The mean daily range was 22.3 deg.
The difference between the mean dew-point tem-
perature and air temperature was 9.9 deg. The
mean degree of humidity of the air was 70. On four
days the humidity was only 67. The wind blew most
frequently from the west-south-west. On Saturday
it was in the north-east. There was no rain, except
some slight showers on Monday.

In the 13 weeks that ended on Saturday, June
27, a high mortality prevailed in London. It was
above the average in each successive week till the
13th, when it fell below the estimated number for
that week. In the second week the deaths rose to
1,610, and to April 25 the weekly number was never
below 1,400. In the first week in May the deaths
rose to 1,459, and in the last week of that month
they were 1,296. During the rest of the quarter
they were about 1,200 in a week, or not much below
that number.
In April the mean temperature of the air at
Greenwich was 49 deg. ; in May it was 52 deg.;
and in June it was 58 deg. Between the mean
temperature of the first week in the quarter and
that of the last there was a difference of 16 deg.
The mean of the quarter was 52.7.
The total number of deaths in the quarter was
17,417. In the four corresponding quarters of 1859-
62 the lowest number was less than 14,000, and the
highest less than 16,000. The mortality from zymo-
tic diseases was excessive, the deaths classed under
this head having amounted to 5,003. In the last
four corresponding quarters they ranged only from
2,900 to 3,900.
Smallpox and scarlatina chiefly contributed to the
high aggregate result produced by zymotic diseases.
Scarlatina, which caused 1,055 deaths, was the most
fatal in this class. The deaths from smallpox rose
to 788, of which 574 occurred to persons under 20
years of age, 165 at the age of 20-40, 43 at 40-60
years, and 6 at a more advanced age.
With reference to the sub-districts in which fatal
cases of smallpox were most frequent the table shows
there were 12 in St. Mary Paddington, 12 in Ken-
sington,' 12 in May Fair, 13 in Belgravia, 28 in
St. John Westminster, 17 in St. Margaret West-
minster, 21 in the Rectory, Marylebone, 14 in Cam-
den-town, 30 in Islington East, 15 in St. Giles
South, 11 in St. Anne Soho, 10 in Holton New-
town, 16 in Church Bethnal green, 10 in Town
Bethnal-green, 20 in Limehouse, 14 in Mile•end
Old-town-east, 42 in Poplar, 12 in Leather-market
Bermondsey, 14 in Borough-road, 16 in St. Peter
Walworth.
The Smallpox Hospital returned 62 deaths.
The deaths from scarlatina were 677 in the Spring
quarter of 1862 against 1,055 in that of the present
year ; the deaths fru." diptheria in the same times
were 172 and 175. The fact that the mortality of
the former disease should have been greatly aug-
mented, while that of the latter was stationary,
supports the conclusion that the two complaints
are specifically different.