The Sun.
London, England, 1853-11-05 00:00:00

THE CHOLERA.

Evident cases of the epidemic of 1848-49 well), regis-
tered in London and in Sunderland during the first week
of October. The deaths from cholera in all England
were 1,105 during the last three months of the year.

The epidemic dedlined, and in April, 1849, the deaths
were only 107 ;in May, 327. The great epidemic
eruption began, and in June 2,046 persons died of it,

July, 7,s7o,—Atigust 15,172, September 20,379, October

4,6.54, November 844, December 163. The thirty-sixth
and thirty-seventh weeks of the year 1849 were the most
fatal ; the deaths from cholera in those two weeks were
12,592. On the most fatal day, September 6, the
deaths by the disease were 1,121, I
The total deaths from cholera in 1849 were 53,293.
12,152 of the number were of persons under 10 years of
age. The mortality by the disease was at the rate of
30 in 10,000, of the inhabitants. Diarrhoea of a severe
form was fatal in the same year to 18,887 persons, chiefly
children ; or to 11 in 10,000 of the inhabitants.
The danger of dying by the epidemic was greatest at
advanced ages ; the rate of mortality was 13 in 10,000
at the age of 12 ; 64 in 10,000 at the age of 70 ; the
danger advancing progressively with age.
The duration of the fatal attacks of cholera is recorded
_n 39,468 cases; and it was found to be 50 hours on an
average. More than half of the cases (20,684) termi-
nated within 24 hours.

In 85 of the 623 districts of England no death from
cholera was recorded.

Only one death was referred to cholera in Hereford-
shire, and only one in Westmoreland.
The centres of the attacks of the great epidemic were
London, Portsmouth. Plymouth, Bristol, Merthyr Tyd-
vil, Wolverhampton, Liverpool, Hull, and Tynemouth.
In the following districts the rate of mortality by cho-
lera exceeded 100 to 10,000 inhabitants :—lt was in
Hull 241, Merthyr Tydvil 234, Stoke Damerel 193,
Salisbury 185, Neath 169, Liverpool 167, Plymouth
167, Sculcoates 152, East Stonehouse 148, Leeds 145,
St. Germans 143, Wolverhampton 137, Tynemouth 129,
Gravesend 119, Newcastle-under-Lyme 117, Hunslet
(near Leeds) 102. The districts which in London were
most fatal were Rotherhithe 205, St. Olave 181, St.
George, Southwark, 164, Bermondsey 161, St. Saviour,
153, Newington 144, Lambeth 120. It was in Wands-
worth 100.

The mortality was at the rate of 50 in 10,000 on the
coasts ;17 in 10,000 over the inland districts. It was
at the rate of 125 in 10,000 in the districts including the
large ports ; 47 in the districts of the secondary ports ;
15 in the other coast districts.
Of the inhabitants of low river and seaside districts.
85 in 10,000 died by cholera ; in London the loss was
62 ; in inland towns 38 ; in small towns and the coun-
tcoryifantaherht
around
d t
uisnodlearnt, and reher:ver sources only 12 in 10,000 perished.
se,dsWolverhampton, Merthyr Tydvil,
atlow 35
the greater part of
the mortality; in the
In London th the e
water supply y
other large inland towns the
mortality was
orpapt el of
had 11 in 10 ,000.
density of considerable
influencethe
on the mortality. The density population and
esroe.lnot without effect, but
poverty of the inhabitants
the effect of elevation of they itrscended all other
influences. On an average the .mortalityooo by 3
s oc
fh
leaso l e r a
thanwas
2i n 0
the several London districts at elevations
in 6 10,000 ; in
feet above Trinity highwater mark
001000 feet ;
the districts at an elevation of 20-40 feet, 65
850 in 10,000 ;
of 40-60 feet, 34 ; of 60-80 feet, 27 ;
22 ; of 100 feet, 1 ; of 350 feet, 8 in 10,
inhabi-
tants.
The present epidemic has appeared first, like all that
have preceeed it, in the seaports. The first well-defined
cases in London were registered in August, and the epi-
demic may be dated from August 20 ; up to October 1,
the registered deaths, including some by English cholera,
have amounted to 133. The origin of the last epidemic
may be dated from October 1, 1848 ; and that of 1831.-
32 also began in the month of October, 1831. The pre-
sent epidemic has attacked us earlier in the year, but it
has not yet in the aggregate been more fatal in London
than it was during the same number of weeks in 1848.
In Newcastle-upon-Tyne,
with a population of 89,155
in 1851, the mortality from cholera has raised the deaths
by all causes from 638 to 2,035; in Gateshead from
374 to 771 in three months. The epidemic poison was
DO sooner introduced into the region, than it, as it were,
exploded, and destroyed nearly 2,000 lives.
In neither of the previous epidemics was any such
sudden destruction of life observed. Is the present epi-
demic—so quickly following the epidemic of 1848-9—of
a different and more fatal character ? or are there local
circumstances, independently of the nature of the epi-
demic, that account for the desolation that now surrounds
Newcastle-upon-Tyne? These important questions can,
it is evident, only be definitively answered by careful
inquiry into all the circumstance ; but enough has been
elicited to justify us in refusing to admit at present that
the epidemic is in its nature more destructive than its
prye.eecren sesors, while it yields an awful sanction to the
I head, in 'I ~,I, i law which prohibits the use of impure water.
replysuperintendent
t
! has made,
show-
ing, that rom the and have state, inquiries
which the Registrar-General
been
largelysu have forwarded documents show-
P,,Pflrieodmbteifeer'iernNvith salubrious water, was supplied
of July last the town, which bad
nity of the sewerage impure
The fact cannot be cyl'uenetes°tivonned'
source of the Tyne, in the vici-
astplen-ruep
supplied in
that the water with
r ljd that 1 iwhich
comparativelyNe Newcastle-upon-Tyne clB4B-9 was
mitous loss of life was recorded theonniBs3' when the cala-
was supplied with water containing registrars, the city
the contents of the sewers. The Z:etrong solution of
stilt of the same cause in Hull in 1849, And was the re-
envies may be cited in which the converst.ll:l d other ex-
at Exeter, where the inhabitants, after havingtappened, as
severely from cholera in 1832, obtained 'mitered
pure water, and
escaped its ravages in 1848-9.
In the East and in Europe, observation has shown tha