The Sun.
London, England, 1863-11-24 00:00:00

The Sanitary Condition of the City,

Dr. Letheby, the corporation officer of health, has just
presented his report as to the sanitary condition of the city
of London for the quarter ending September last. In that
interval 704 births and 639 deaths have been registered.
Both numbers are below the average for the corresponding
period of the last 10 years, the births having declined about
11 per cent, and the deaths 5 per cent. The proportion of
births to the population of the several unions was stated.
In the East London Union it has been at the annual rate of
28.5 per 1,000 of the population, in the West London Union
25.1 per 1,000, and in the City of London Union only 20.8,
the mean of the whole birthrate being 24 6 for the entire
city. This is an unusually small proportion, for the average
annual birthrate in the city during the summer quarter is
28.5 per 1,000 of the population, and in the whole of Eng-
land it is 32.9,

Of the 638 deaths in the quarters 363 were of males and
216 of females, and they are thus distributed-232 were in
the Eastern Union, 178 in the Western, and 238 in the city
proper. They are in the annual proportion of 22.5 per 1,000
of the first-named district, 26.9 of the second, and 19.6 of
the third, making together a general average of 22.3 for the
whole city. In all England the usual mortality for the
summer quarter is at the annual rate of 19.8 per 1,000, and
in the town districts of England it is 22'4 ; but, as the last
quarter was unhealthy, the deathrate for the whole country
rose to 211, and for the chief towns to 24.0. Although,
therefore, the mortality in the city has been a little above
the summer average (21.9) of former years, it has not been
so large as in the other towns of England. In the Western
Union, however, the deathrate has been as usual high; in
fact. if the same mortality had prevailed throughout the
city there would have been 771 deaths during the quarter,
instead of 639. The cause of this excessive mortality Dr.
Letheby ascribes chiefly to the habits of the people. On
comparing the condition of the population in the Eastern
and Western Unions, where the deathrates are so dis-
similar, not much difference, he says, is found in respect of
density, or poverty, or occupation, or in the number of the
infant population, for both of the unions are largely in-
habited by the labouring classes, and in both there is a
large proportion of births ; but that which is most notice-
able is that the Irish element prevails in the Western Union
and the English in the Eastern—a circumstance which makes
a great difference in the sanitary conditions of home and in
those circumstances which so largely affect the wellbeing of
the young. This is manifest on an examination of the ages
at which the principal mortality occurs. In the Eastern
Union the proportion of deaths among children of less than
five years of age is only about 35 per cent of the total mor-
tality, whereas in the Western Union it is nearly 46. The
other ages at death do not present any remarkable feature,
except that the proportion of deaths among persons in the
prime of life, as from 20 to 40 years of age, amounts to
about 12 per cent of the total mortality ; of those in mature
life, from 40 to 60, to about 15 per cent; and of those at 60
and upwards to nearly 19 per cent, -the average for the
former years being 13, 17, and respectively. These num-
bers show that while the mortality of infant life has been
greatly diminished during the last ten years, that of old age
has been increased. The principal causes of death in the
quarter are thus stated :—Piathisis, 64 ; tabus and scrofula,
44 ; hydrocephalus, 13 ; bronchitis and pneumonia, 61;
continued fever, 21; scarlet fever, 56; smallpox, 10 ;
measles, 4; whooping-cough, 17; croup and diphtheria, 19;
erysipelas, 5; and diarrhoea, 45, of which last 33 were
among children. Altogether, therefore, there have been 126
deaths from tubercular diseases, 192 from inflammatory
affections of the lungs, and 177 from diseases of a zymotie
character. Looking at the averages of former summers,
the first-named diseases have declined from 155 in the quer •
ter to 126, the decline of phthisis having been from 82 to
64, and of tabes and scrofula from 53 to 44. The total num-
ber of deaths from zymotic diseases is nearly the same as
that of former years—but the proportions of the individual
diseases have been very different. Diarrhoea, for example,
has declined from 62 to 45, continued fever from 29 to 21—
and measles from 18 to 4—but the number of deaths from
scarlet fever has increased from 24 to 56. This is the largest
mortality from the disease in any summer quarter 'of the
last eight years, and, although it has declined to some ex-
tent since the last quarter, when the mortality was 68, yet
it has prevailed, as in the rest of England, to an unusual
degree. Even swine, Dr. Letheby adds, have been affected
with the malady, for the city sanitary inspectors had seized
and condemned the carcases of many pigs that had died
from it, or been slaughtered while suffering from it, and
had been sent to the London markets for food. The cause,
he says, of this unusual severity of the disease is involved
in mystery, for, unlike many maladies of this class, it
has not selected the haunts of poverty or of filth, but
has been found in all places and among all grades of
society. It has been, in fact, most fatal in the cleanest
districts of the city, where it has advanced from a general
mortality of 6 in the .quarter to 22, while in the filthy
purlieus of the Western division of the city the increase
in the mortality from it has been only from 6 to 9.
Among the other records of death there were 45 from vio-
lence, privation, and poison, the average being about 40;
and 38 from convulsions and teething, the average being
33. As to the sickness returns in the quarter—which
are a little under the average—there have been alto-
gether 2,752 cases of illness attended among the city poor
by the union medical officers. Of these, 200 were cases of
fever, 382 of diarrhoea, and 73 of smallpox, all of which
were the subjects of immediate inquiry as to the sanitary
condition of the places where they occurred.
As to the sanitary work of the quarter, there have been
1,278 inspections of houses, and 799 visits to the common
lodging houses. These had resulted in the issuing of 470
orders for sanitary improvements. The officers had con-
demned rather more than 31 tons of meat, and 239 head of
game and poultry in the city markets and slaughter houses
as unfit for human food. The amount of meat condemned in
the corresponding quarter of last year was less than half of
the quantity seized during the last quarter. The excess is
said to be chiefly due to the circumstance that on two occa-
sions a large quantity of meat became putrid during its con-
veyance to London, in consequence of the heat of the wea-
ther; but independently of that, there had been a consider-
able increase in the dead and diseased meat condemned in
the city markets, and legal proceedings had in several cases
been taken against the persons concerned. The proceedings
in all these cases were taken under the Amended Nuisances
Aet, which empowers the magistrate to inflict a fine of £2O,
with the alternative of three months' imprisonment.