The Sun.
London, England, 1849-09-05 00:00:00

BRISTOL, SEPT. 4.

Notwithstanding all the precautionary measures
adopted, and the very zealous efforts of the medical offi-
cers employed by the corporation of the poor the cholera
is decidedly on the increase. The following is the re-
turn this day from the cholera hospital provided:—
" St. Peter's Hospital, September 4.—Diarrhcez,, 96 ;
approaching cholera, 5; cholera, 24; deaths, 10." The
disease is spreading in Lewins Meade, a populous place,
principally inhabited by Irishmen and the lower orders.
It has likewise made its appearance at the Hotwells,
there having been 2 cases at Avon-crescent, and 1 at Ca-
roline place.
From the district of Bedminster our accounts are also
unfavourable, as will be seen by the subjoined report
from the cholera hospital for the last two days:—Bed-
minster, Sept. 3—diarrhoea, 10; cramp, 4, cholera, 5;
death, I. Sept. 4—diarrhoea, 12; cramp, 2; cholera, 3;
deaths, 3.
In t. Philip and Jacob it is still prevalent, and three
deaths are reported to-day, one of which took place in
Marsh-street and one in Gloucester-lane.

In Stapleton workhouse there have been 27 new cases
of diarrhea, 3 approaching cholera, 6 cholera, and 6
deaths.

The weather continues very unfavourable.

MERTHYR AND NEIGHBOURHOOD.

Our accounts from this district are not quite so fa-
vourable as they have been. At Merthyr the disease
has increased, and likewise at Dowlais. The following
is the official return for Monday, Sept. 3—Merthyr, at-
tacked 10, dead 7; Dowlais, attacked 4, dead 2; Aber-
dare, attacked 4, dead 2. Total number of cases from
the commencement—attacked, 3,381; dead, 1,412.

THE HEALTH OF LONDON DURING
THE WEEK.
(From the Registrar-General's Return.)
The deaths registered in London in the week end-
ing Sept. 1 were 2,796, of which 1,663 were by
cholera, 234 by diarrhoea. The mortality exceeds
that of any previous week. The greatest number
ever registered before in any week since 1840 was
2,454 deaths, in the week ending Dec. 4, 1847, when
the last epidemic of influenza prevailed. In the
cholera epidemic of 1832, parish clerks, in the old
bills of mortality, returned 1,021 burials for the week
ending Aug. 28 ; which, allowing for the defects in
their returns, and for increase of population, are
equivalent to 2,450 deaths at the present time. The
burials after that week in 1832 declined.
The mortality is nearly three times the average of
the season, and is sensibly felt all over the metropolis;
but the inhabitants of the north and west districts,
and people in the distance, can yet scarcely form a
notion of the suffering on the south side the Thames,
and since the middle of August, in the east districts,
" the 12th, 13th, and 14th of August," says one of
the registrars of Bethnal-green, " will long be remem-
bered in this neighbourhood, the outbreak of this
fatal disease being without any adequate preparation ;
surgeons were wanted in many places at once ; the
hurried passing and repassing of messengers, and the
wailing of relatives, filled the streets with confusion
and wo, and impressed on all a deep sense of an
awful calamity."
Cholera has already destroyed, in this epidemic,
9,129 lives in London.
As it is one of the purposes of the Registration
Act to ascertain the " causes of death," and of the
weekly tables not to gratify idle curiosity, but to
point these out to the public, the registrars have been
requested to give all the information they can re-
specting the state of every part of their districts.
This many of them have taken considerable pains to
.10, and their notes will, it is hoped, be found service-
able to the guardians and medical inspectors, now and
at future times. For it is important to bear in mind
that cholera only brings into a strong light the
localities which elaborate calculations in the annual
reports prove are at all times fatal to the health and
life of the inhabitants.
After the perils of this terrible week we seem to
see land ; but as many thousands of lives may be
lost in an epidemic by negligence, so many thousands
may be saved by skill, vigilance, and energy—by
more ample supplies of water—by the rapid removal
of nuisances from the houses and streets—by the
prompt administration of medical appliances and other
comforts, by the active co operation of the medical
profession, of the boards of guardians, of employers,
of every householder, of every individual, with the
Board of Health, and health officers.
Of the 9,129 deaths from cholera, 4,731 occurred
on the south side of the Thames.

RETURN OF DEATHS FROM CHOLERA IN THE WEEK
ENDING SEPTEMBER 1.
London (population 1,948,369 t), 1,663.
WEST DlSTRlCTS.—Kensington (74,898), 34; Chelsea
(40,243), 29; St. George, Hanover-square (66,657), 10;
Westminster (56 802), 75; St. Martin. in-the Fields
(25,132), 10; St. James, Westminster (37,457), 11.
Total, 169.
NORTH DlSTRlCTS.—Marylebone (138,383), 41; Pan-
cras and Hampstead (140,078), 56; Islington (55,779),
15; Hackney (42,328), 11. Total, 123.
CENTRAL DISTRICTS.—St. Giles (54,378), 30; Strand
(43,667), 15 ; Holborn (44,532), 9 ; Clerkenwell
(56,799), 18; St. Luke (49,908), 22; East London
(39,718), 22; West London (29,188), 45; London, City
(56,009), 33. Total, 194.
EAST DisnucTs.—Shoreditch (83,564), 139 ; Beth-
nal-green (74,206), 128; Whitechapel (71,879), 74; St.
George in the East (41,416), 15; Stepney (90,831), 64;
Poplar (31,171), 27. Total, 447.
SOUTH DISTRICTS.—St. Saviour (33,027), 65 ; St.
Olave (19,869), 41; Beimondsey (35,002), 70; Sr.
George, Southwark (46,718), 77; Newington (54,693),
93; Lambeth (116,072), 181; Camberwell (39,931), 56;
Rotherhithe (13,940), 20; Greenwich (81,125), 89;
Wandsworth (39,918), 31; Lewisham (23,051), 8.
Total, 730.
The following remarks on the weather during the
month of August, 1849, are by Mr. Glaisher:—Till the
12th the air was in very little motion, from the 12th to
the 16th it moved rather quickly, and from the 17th it
was frequently in a calm state. At the beginning of the
month the sky was frequently cloudy, but at times it
was free from clouds; during the latter part of the
month, it was nearly always overcast, accompanied with
a very hazy atmosphere; at times the haze and mist
were so dense as to cause a great gloom. Within the
last seven or eight days of the month London was not
visible from Greenwick Park. it was hidden by a dense
fog-like mist which hung over the city. After the first
few days of the month the temperature ranged high, and
towards the end the air was close and oppressive;
scarcely any rain fell, the atmosphere was dry; the
reading of the barometer, at the height of 159 feet,
ranged from 29'46 in. on the 13th, to 30•22 in., on the
22d; the temperature of the air varied from 42.4 to
82.5, thus exhibiting a difference of reading within the
month of 40.1; on some days at the beginning of the
month the difference of temperature on the same day ex-
ceeded 30 deg., the average difference of day and night
from the 22d was 17 deg.
From the tables prepared, it appears that the reading
of the barometer exceeded the average by 0'066 in., and
that the water mixed with the air counterbalanced a
column of mercury of less than its average height by
o'o3o in., and therefore the pressure of dry air exceeds
its average value by the sum of these two quantities, viz..
by 0'093 in., the temperature airraofatvheege lu
veaxce from 70
years is 60 deg. 8 exceeded the
average by 2 deg. 1 min.
min., the years in which the averages
for August have been as high as in this year, are 1778,
1800, 1802, 1807, 1818, 1819, 1826, and 1846. Notwith-
standing this high temperature of the air those of evapo-
ration and dew points were below their average value,
and consequently there has been less than the average
weight of water mixed with the air; the additional weight
of water required to saturate a cubic foot of air was P 8
grains; the average quantity is 1 grain; this implies
great droness; the degree of humidity in the air was
0 727 only, its average value being 0.110 more. No
A4,ust in this series of years has been so dry; the sky
has been ;more clouded than usual; rain has fallen on
three days only, and the amount collected is less than I
an inch; so small a quantity of rain has not fallen
August since the year 1819. The number of days on
which rain fell in August, 1848, was 29, and the amount
collected was 44 inches. The amount of electricity in
the atmosphere was small throughout the month.

PRESERVATION Or LEECHES.—Many of the readers
of your journal may be unaware of an extremely simple
method of preserving leeches clean and healthy, which I
have found to answer exceedingly well. It is as fol-
lows:—At the bottom of the jar containing the leeches
place a layer, about half au inch thick, of common sand
(such as is used for domestic purposes), after washing
it in several waters to remove any soluble or extraneous
matter.—Corrasposcleab of the Pharmaceutical Journal.

MORTALITY in the METROPOLIS.
NUMBER OF DEATHS FROM- ALL CAUSES REGISTERED IN
THE WEEK ENDING 'SATURDAY, SEPT. I, 1849,
Epidemic, Endemic, and Contagious Diseases ...*2069
Diseases of Uncertain Seat „,, -52
Tubercular Diseases ... ... 165
Diseases of the Brain, Nerves, and Senses... ... 135
Diseases of the Heart and Blood-vessels .„ 33
Diseases of the Lungs, and other Organs of
Respiration 94
Diseases of the Stomach, Liver, and other Ortans
of Digestion... ... 72
Diseases of the Kidneys, &c.
Childbirth, Diseases of the Uterus, & '3. 9
Diseases of the Joints, Bunes, and Muscles
IDl,iriaselemfaoasretmus
raoetfi
oßtnhisre.tiS k i n ,
:&: c
225_16
Atrophy
Old Age
Sudden ... ••• ••• ••• ••• ... 15
Violence, Privation, Cold, or Intemperance ... 27
Causes not specified ... ••• ••• ••• ... 2

DEATHS FROM ALL CAUSES 2,796

Population Average weekly Deaths
Enumerated, Deaths, 1844-8 in the
1841 Five Summers. Week.
West Districts... 300,711 . . 147 ... 353
North Districts.. 375,971 .. 191 ... 309
Central Districts 373,653 ... 183 ... 386
East Districts ... 392,444 ... 227 ... 712
South Districts.. 501,190 ... 260 ... 1,036

T0ta15........ 1,948,369 ... 1,008 ... 2,796
Males s ,„ ~„ ... ... 1,321

... ... 1,475