The Sun.
London, England, 1862-12-17 00:00:00

711 E HEALTH OF LONDON.

(From t/ Registrar General's Report.)

IThe weather has been much warmer in the
present month than it was in three weeks in
November, and under the influence of this favour-
able change the mortality has much declined.
The deaths in Loudon in the weeks that ended
last Saturday were 1,408, and they show a great de-
crease on the numbers of the two previous weeks,
which were 1,745 and. 1,619 successively.
It will be found, if a correction for increase of
population is made, that the average number of
deaths for a week near the middle of December is
1,393, and therefore the return of last week differs
little from the result obtained by calculation.
By a comparison of the results of the last two
weeks it will be seen that the decrease has occurred
not only in pulmonary diseases, but also in those of
the nervous system and the heart. Deaths from
zymotic diseases also decreased from 425 to 380. In
the previous week 379 persons died at the age of 60
years and upwards; last week the number was 317.
Seventy-four children died of measles; 4 of these
in Camden-town, 5 in the east sub-district of Isling-
ton, sin Battersea. Of 84 deaths from scarlatina 5
occurred in the sub-district of St. Peter, Walworth,
5 in Kennington, 5 in Peckham ; in which places
the disease appears to prevail most. Smallpox ex-
hibited a decided increase, for the fatal cases of it
rose to 22, of which there were 3 in Poplar.
A mother and her two children died in a cottage
in Wells-road, Sydenh am, from scarlatina maligna.
Ten nonagenarians died in the week, the oldest of
whom were two widows, aged 95 and 96 years.
A woman died from swallowing a fish-bone; a
child from swallowing a slate pencil, which lodged
in the bronchus ; a boy from pleurisy and pneu-
monia caused by a needle which had entered the
thorax eight years ago, a fragment of which had
remained there during his life. A child died of
laryngitis from inhaling the steam that issued from
the spout of a kettle. i

Last week the births of 953 boys and 933 girls,
in all 1886 children, were registered in London. In
the ten corresponding weeks of the years 1852-61
the average number (corrected) was 1903.
At the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, the mean
height of the barometer in the week was 29,870
in. The barometrical readings fell to 29,55 in. on
Wednesday, and rose to 30.20 in. on Friday. The
mean temperature of the air in the week was 44.1
deg., which is 3.8 deg. above the average of the
same week in 43 years (as determined by Mr.
Glaisher). The mean daily temperature was 11
deg. above the average on Sunday, and it was 1.7
deg, below the average on Friday. The highest
day temperature was 57.1 deg. on Sunday. The
lowest night temperature was 33.7 deg. on Friday.
The range of temperature in the week was therefore
23.4 deg. The mean daily range was 10.5 deg. On
Monday and Saturday the range was only 4.9 deg.
The difference between the mean dew-point tempe-
rature and air temperature:was 3.6 deg. The mean
degree of humidity of the air was 87, complete
saturation being represented by 100, which point
was almost reached on Saturday. Every day or in
part of every day, except Monday, the wind blew
from a south-westerly point. There was rain on
five days, and four-fifths of an inch fell. The mean
of the highest temperatures of the water of the
Thames was 46.8 deg.; the mean of the lowest was
42.9 deg.