The Sun.
London, England, 1865-01-25 00:00:00

a total number of 80 deaths in the year, 65 occurred in the
summer quarter, and these mostly in the hot months of
August and September. On the other hand, there were
some forms of zymotic disease which were most virulent
in the colder months of the year. This was so with small-
pox, which was by far more fatal in the mild weather of
spring and early summer than at any other time, and so
also of whooping-cough, croup, and erysipelas—these
were especially the zymotics of winter. The explanation
of that was not altogether clear ; indeed, there was much
to be done in the classification of these facts before any
notion could be formed of the laws which governed the
manifestations of these diseases. That, however, which
they did perceive was that whensoever the start was given
to any one of them it was more likely to run into an epi-
demic, and to become seriously virulent at certain seasons
than at others. Phthisis, for example, was most fatal in
winter, hydrocephalus in spring, and tabes and scrofula in
summer, and each form of zymotic disease had its special
season of activity ; and lastly, with regard to the ages at
which these diseases were most severe, it appeared from
the returns of the last ten years that the greatest sufferers
from smallpox, pneumonia, and diarrhoea were infants of
less than a year old—that, in fact, more than half of the total
mortality from those diseases were among infants of that age.
The deaths from measles were more numerous at from one
to two years of age, and then from two to five. Scarlatina
showed the largest mortality at from two to five years of age,
and the smallest at less than a year; but whooping-cough
was almost equally fatal at each period of infant life. Some
of these facts were easy of interpretation. The child was
easily susceptible of the morbific influences which hang
about the filthy and overcrowded dwellings of the poor ;
and in summer time, when these influences were brought
into a state of great activity by the putrefying action of
warmth the child fell a victim to diarrhoea, or its vital
powers were so depressed that it succumbed to an attack of
measles or scarlet fever, or it more slowly perished by tabes
or scrofula. It was manifest, too, that the young infant was
very susceptible of an attack of smallpox, and this indi-
cated the necessity for early vaccination. As to the greater
mortality from scarlet fever at the ages of from two to five,
it was evident that it arose from the circumstance that chil-
dren were then first associated in play and in school, and
were thus unusually exposed to infection. Lastly, the sta-

tistics showed that all the exanthematous diseases were most
virulent in the haunts of the very poorest classes, where
there was not merely a total disregard of the, commonest
decencies of life,. but where the necessitous overcrowding of
members of the same family encouraged the spread of dis-
ease by intensifying the virus by bringing the healthy into
contact with the sick, and by so lowering the vital powers
as to render the system very susceptible of attack and less
able to endure the effects of it. Nor was it alone in the
manifestations of zymotic diseases that this unwholesome
state of things exhibited itself. The mephitic atmosphere
of the dirty and overcrowded dwellings of the poor acted
slowly on the nutritive functions of the body, and engen-
dered a strumous condition which before long showed it-
self in scrofula, tabes, mesenterica, and hydrocephalus, or
in the early symptoms of pulmonary consumption. All that
was seen in the pallid look of the child and in the sickly
condition of the parent, or in the longing for artificial sti-
mulants. How to improve that and to make the homes of
the poor consistent with physical and moral wellbeing was
one of the most serious questions of the day. Already in
the course of the last 20 years much had been done for the
improvement of the dwellings of the industrial classes,
and the efforts of many societies, as the Labourers'
Friend Society, the Metropolitan Association, the Mary-
lebone Association, the Parochial Association, the Strand
Building Company, the Improved Industrial Dwelling
Company, as well as the labours of private indi-
viduals, as Lord Kinnaird, Miss Burdett Coutts, Mr.
Barry, Mr. Newson, Mr. Gibbs, Mr. Hilliard, and more re-
cently those of Mr. Alderman Waterlow, the trustees of the
Peabody gift, and the Corporation of London, had been de-
voted either to the improvement of existing houses occu-
pied by the industrial poor, or to the construction of model
dwellings with every appliance for health and convenience.
But although about 2,500 tenements had in this way been
provided, capable of accommodating as many families, and
also nearly 1,000 lodgings for single men, yet the result
was insignificant in comparison with the work which was
yet to be done. Besides which, the houses in question
were only suited for the better and the decent class of arti-
sans ; they were not fitted for the accommodation of the
very poorest of unskilled labourers. And here there was
work of no ordinary difficulty for the philanthropist ; for
at present the denizens of the worst districts of the city
were so little accustomed to the comforts of a decent home
that their habits were but little removed from those of the
untutored savage, and all their efforts at sanitary improve-
ment were frustrated by ignorance and carelessness. Every
sanitary appliance was abused ; water-butts and cisterns
were broken, pipes and taps stolen, drains purposely
stopped up, closets intentionally fouled, and the' dust and
refuse of the houses cast into every out-of-the-way corner.
It was, indeed, almost impossible to deal with that condi-
tion of things ; and there was little or no hope for any per-
manent improvement until the* was an education of this
class of tenantry to a better use of sanitary appliances, and
that could only be done through the example of better
homes and more considerate landlords. The sickness re-
turns among the poor had not been so numerous as usual
during the year. Altogether, there had been 10,187 cases
of illness attended by the medical officers of the city
unions, the average number per annum for the last four
years being 11,486. The most important ailments had
been fever, 795; diarrhoea, 530; and small-pox, 110—all
of which had been the subjects of special sanitary investi-
gation. The mean temperature of the year had been 50.8
deg. Fahrenheit, which was about 2 deg. below the
average ; and the range had been from 221 deg. iu
January, to 78-5 deg. in July and August. While, too, the
temperature had been less than usual, the humidity of
the air had been under the average. The mean proportion
of it for the whole year had been rather less than 78 deg, of
saturation, the range having been from only 63 deg. in July
to 93 deg. in November ; in fact, the mean proportion of
moisture in the atmosphere during the whole of the sum-
mer months was barely 66 deg. of saturation, or scarcely
four grains of aqueous vapour in a cubic foot of air. That
was due to the remarkably small proportion of rain in these
months—a proportion that amounted to only about 3.5 in.
in the course of all the summer months ; and so dry was
the atmosphere that the rain guages upon the roof of Guild-
hall showed a larger quantity of rain than those on the
ground, the difference being due to the evaporation of the
rain in the act of falling. In consequence of that absence
of wet the river was charged during the summer and
autumn with a large proportion of saline matter. As early
as the end of May it contained as much as 124 grains of
solid matter per gallon, the average proportion in a normal
state of the river being but 24 grains ; and by the end of
August the quantity of impurity had risen to 386 grains
per gallon. Nearly the whole of that was saline matter
from the ocean, the flow of the stream having been upwards
instead of downwards ; but with that saline matter there
was also brought up a large proportion of sewage, the
quantity of organic matter (chiefly of sewage) being 43 grains
per gallon. It was fortunate that the weather was unusually
cold during the whole of that time, and therefore the river
did not become offensive from putrefactive decomposition,
but if the temperature had risen to 68 or 69 degs., as it did
in the summers of 1858 and 1859, the effects of it would no
doubt have been seriously unpleasant. That which kept
down the offensiveness of the river during the summer
time was either a low temperature or a copious rainfall ;
and it was manifest, from the experience which had been
gained from the regular examination of the water of the
river during the last six years, that there were periods
of many months' duration in every year when, from the
evaporation of the water and the small supply from above,
the flow of the stream was not downwards but upwards,
and that at such times the sewage discharged into the
river, even so low down as the present outfalls, would
flow upwards to a distance far above the city bridges. If
at those times the temperature of the water rose above 66
deg. Fahrenheit, and the rainfall was less than usual, the
river would undoubtedly become offensive unless some
means were taken for the defecation of the sewage before
it was discharged into the river at the new outfalls. He
had brought that under their notice on several occasions,
.because he believed it to be a matter of very great public
importance. The last point to which he directed their at-
tention was that during the year there had been 7,429 in-
spections of houses for sanitary purposes,and 3,301 visits to
the common lodginghouses of the city. Those had resulted
in the issuing of 3,091 orders for sanitary improvement.
And with regard to the inspections of the markets and
slaughter-houses, the officers had condemned 229,1801 b. or
upwards of 102 tons of meat as unfit for human food, and
of that quantity 96,7791 b were diseased, and 43,4971 b. were
from animals that had died from natural causes. The
quantity of meat condemned during the last year was
greatly in excess of former years, the average quantity
being about 154,9001 b. yearly, and that excess was chiefly
in the proportion of meat from animals that had died from
disease. The amount of that kind of meat had been nearly
doubled during the year, and it indicated the necessity for
the severest treatment of those who had consigned such
meat to the city markets. In the course of the year there
had been 20 legal prosecutions and convictions of such
offenders, viz., nine at the Old Bailey and 11 before the
justices at Guildhall and the Mansion-house, and the penalty
had ranged from a fine of 10s. and costs to £5O and 12
months' imprisonment. Besides the meat thus condemned
in the city markets, there had also been condemned at
Billingsgate, by the meters of the Fishmongers' Company,
upwards of 774,000 fish, chiefly whiting, plaice, herrings,
haddocks, gurnets, dabs, and dace, and 1,2641 b. of eels,
9,572 gallons of shrimps, and 120 bushels of whelks and
winkles, all of which had been destroyed. Finally, Dr.
Letheby stated that the bakehouses of the city, 139 in
number had been periodically inspected, and that orders
had been issued, when necessary, for their sanitary improve-
ment in accordance with the provisions of the Bakehouses
Regulation Act of 1860.

FEVER IN LivERPooL.2-A short time ago the
Government sent down to Liverpool Dr. Buchanan, as a
medical commissioner, to report upon the cause and spread
of fever in Liverpool. Yesterday a summitry of his report
was read before the Liverpool Select Vestry. The report
is very minute and exhaustive. The conclusion arrived at
by Dr. Buchanan is that drinking and overcrowding are the
principal causes of the fever which has so long afflicted
Liverpool.