The Sun.
London, England, 1865-01-11 00:00:00

Terrible Coal-pit Accident in Belgium,

On the 3d inst. an explosion of fire-damp took
place in a coal-pit called St. Catharine, situated at
Dour, in the province of Hainault, Belgium. This
pit has already been the scene of a calamity of a
similar nature, for only last year 17 miners lost their
lives in it from the effects of an explosion. The pre-
sent catastrophe occurred just as the men were
about to leave work and ascend. At this time a
strong column of flame was seen to rush out of the
principal shaft, seize on the ropes, the machines,
and the roofs, and with the rapidity of lightning
the building erected over the shaft was in flames
from one end to the other. It would be impossi-
ble to depict the horrors of the scene which en-
sued. Mothers instantly assembled calling for their
children, children called for their parents, all utter-

ing most heartrending cries. At the time of the
explosion more than 100 workmen were exposed to
the effects of the fearful blast.

The work of delivery was commenced immediately,
.but this was not an easy matter, for so dense was
the smoke which arose that the few men who at
first volunteered to descend were obliged to return,
or they would certainly have been suffocated.
The daring and humane men who had undertaken
the task of delivering those of their comrades who
might yet be alive within the pit could not be
long restrained by the obstacle which opposed
their descent, and at last they arrived at the
bottom, where lay the living and the dead. The
full extent of the calamity could not be ascer-
tained for some time, nor indeed even when the
last accounts left; but in a short time 50 living men
had been rescued, though as many dead bodies had
been met with. It was ascertained that 117 miners had
gone into the pit in the morning, .and of these many
had saved themselves by getting into a new venti-
lating shaft, and others had escaped by the lad-
ders ; but more than half of those who were exposed
to the explosion perished instantly. An approxi-
mative estimate of the number sacrificed gives
64 as the total, with four wounded by the falling
of a wall ; but it is feared that this number
is below the sad reality, as but very faint hopes
were entertained of finding more living men
within the works. Eleven bodies were brought
up to the night of the 3d inst., and 20 on the follow-
ing day. The damage caused to the interior of the
pit is very considerable. When the last accounts
left Dour 42 bodies had been recovered, and it was
calculated that at least 16 or 17 remained in the pit.

HEALTH OF LONDON,

4

(From the Registrar-General's Weekly Return.)
London has hitherto been the only great city of the world
Ln which the causes of all the deaths and the births have

been inquired into and published weekly. The bills were
commenced in the reign of Elizabeth, when thousands of
the people were swept away by zymotic diseases, and Lo-
ndon was, in truth, periodically the city of the plague, con-
taining within its walls and liberties a population of only
130,178 souls. The bills, imperfect as they were, appeared
weekly, as they were returned by the confraternity of
parish clerks from 1603 until the new system of registra-
tion was introduced, which placed in the hands of the Re-
gistrar-General the means of publishing the London weekly

tables in a complete form.
The cause of nearly every death is certified by the medi-
cal attendants, and the certificates are copied by the 135
registrars, who forward abstracts of their registers weekly,
which reach the General Register-office every Monday

morning.-The population of London was 2,803,989 in 1861.
It is no longer decimated by the plague, and it is some
years since cholera ravaged its parishes. But the causes of
death are numerous, and their operations can only be
arrested by a knowledge of the laws which govern death
as they govern life.
Our knowledge of these laws is likely to be increased by
extending the area of observation, and in endeavouring to
accomplish this object the Registrar-General has every-
where-met with co-operation. The utility of weekly re-
turns is admitted all over Europe. Vienna is at present one
of the great medical schools of the age, and from that city
the returns are punctually dent to this office every week by
Dr. Glatter. Berlin will probably supply the same infor-
mation.

Baron Haussmann, whose efforts to improve Paris are
well known, has been communicated with, and he will,

with his admirable administrative organisation, have no

difficulty in supplying science with the same information
about the state of the public health of Paris as is furnished
here respecting the health of London.
Tho Registrar-General of Ireland publishes weekly tables
for Dublin; and the Registrar-General of Scotland zealously
co-operates by procuring returns for Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Under these circumstances it has been thought right to
procure returns from Liverpool, Manchester, Salford, Bir-
mingham, Leeds, and Bristol, six of the greatest cities or
boroughs of England. The returns are furnished by the
local registrars, who have laudably aided in the work.
Mr. Glaisher, whose services to meteorological science it

is impossible to over-estimate, compiles the return of tem•

perature :and rain from six observers, whose namos give
authority to the tables ; and any prevailing epidemic or re-
markable variation in the mortality will be noticed.
The weekly returns of births and deaths for the cities of

the United Kingdom extend over a population of 5,167,187

among whom 3,713 births and 3,389 deaths were registered
during the first week of the year ending Saturday, January
7, 1865.

The deaths in London were 1,660, or 102 above the cor-
rected average of the corresponding weeks.
Last week the births of 1,043 boys and 1,016 girls, in all
2,059 children, were registered in London. In the 10 cor-
responding weeks of the years 1855-64 the average number
(corrected) was 2,055.
At the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, the moan height
of the barometer in the week was 29.785 in. The mean tem-
perature of the air in the week was 36.7 deg., which is 0.2
deg. above the average of the same week in 50 years. The
highest day temperature was 49.2 deg., on Wednesday
The lowest night temperature on the grass, as shown by a
self-registering thermometer, read at 9 a.m., was 19.0 deg.
on Monday. On Tuesday there was a range of only 5.2
deg. of temperature within the 24 hours. The difference
between the mean dew-point temperature and air tempera-
ture was 4.6 deg. The mean degree of humidity of the air
was 84, complete saturation being represented by 100.
Rain fell heavily during the afternoon of Thursday. The
general direction of the wind was S.W.
In Liverpool the births were 321, the deaths 442 ; in
Manchester and Salford the births 269, the deaths 275 ; in
Birmingham the births 208, the deaths 213 ; in Leeds the
births 117, the deaths 138 ; in Bristol the births 124, the
deaths 81 ; in Edinburgh the births 109, the deaths 90 ; in
Glasgow the births 357, the deaths 313; in Vienna the
deaths 326, in the week preceding, where the temperature
was 14.4 deg. lower than in London.
DEATHS IN LONDON IN THE LAST QUARTER OF 1864.

In the 13 weeks that ended Dec. 31, 19,636 deaths were
registered in London. In the corresponding quarters of
the years 1860-63 the numbers of deaths were respectively
15,197, 15,866, 17,717, and 18,857. The increase in the
mortality is chiefly found in the local class, 8,535 per-
sons having died from diseases included under that
head ; in the same period of 1861 7,639 deaths occurred from
the same causes, and in 1864 only 6,300. Zymotic diseases
in the aggregate were not so fatal as in the corresponding
quarters of the two preceding years, the numbers in the
three quarters being 5,055, 5,016, and 4,847. The most
fatal disease in the list is scarlatina, which caused 1,095
deaths. 1,064 persons have died from typhus, which shows
a large increase as compared with the corresponding quarters
in the years 1860-63, the deaths for those periods amounting
to 311, 624, 796, and 881. The alarming inroads made by
this disease on the lives of the population deserves careful

investigation, and shows the necessity of carrying out at
once every available sanitary measute. Smallpox was
fatal in 120 cases, 81 of which were in young per-
sons. The mortality from measles varies consider-
ably. In the same period of 1861 the disease car-
ried 171 persons ; in the like period of 1862 900 fell
victims to its influence, and in the quarter which has
just terminated it destroyed 638 lives. Whooping-cough
proved fatal to 438 children, a number differing little from
that registered in the corresponding quarter of .1863, when
429 deaths were caused by this disease. Erysipelas and
inetria (childbed fever) show an increase. From the former
disease 151, and from the latter 82 deaths were registered..
Diseases of the respiratory organs (exclusive of phthismise)
were fatal in nearly 1,000 more cases than iu tnheedeathe
period of the year 1863. In the quarter which d
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572 persons lost their lives by accidents of various kinds.
In the corresponding quarters of 1860-63 the numbers who
came to such an untimely end were 415, 432, 428, and 563.
In the 13 weeks now ended 230 deaths were occasioned by
fractures and contusions, 27 by burns or scalds, 47 by
drowning, and 127 by suffocation—of these latter 115 were
young persons. 25 cases of murder or manslaughter and
64 cases of suicide were registered.

THIRD EDITION.

SUN OFFICE, 6 o'CLocK.

MARTINIQUE.

Advices from Martinique to the 21st December
have been received. On the previous day the
transport frigate eiv
Am. a
zone had arrived at Fort-de-
Francerec
from Vera Cruz and Havana, having on
board 1,900 men of the Mexican expeditionary
army, and was to continue her route titaTolaultotenr,
after a short stay. The last troops designated to
return to France had received orders from Marshal
partßazaineof January, when h
nottoleaveVtere Austrian Vera Cruz until
legion
ntil he
would
have arrived.