The Sun.
London, England, 1847-05-04 00:00:00

HEALTH AND MORTALITY OF

ENGLAND.

A return has just been published by authority of the
Registrar-General, containing an abstract from the tables
of mortality during the quarter ending March 31. From
the prefatory remarks relative to the comparative state
of the public health during that period, we quote the
following interesting extracts:—
" The returns are obtained from 117 districts. Thirty-
six districts are in the metropolis, and the remaining
81 comprise, with some agricultural districts, the prin-
cipal towns and cities of England. The population was
6,612,800 in 1841.

" Winter appears to be the season in which it is most
natural for man to die. For many years the number
of deaths in England had been highest in the
winter and lowest in the summer quarter. In
the summer quarter of 1846 the reverse was ob-
served; the mortality was greater than it had been
in any quarter of the seven preceding years; and
in the last winter quarter ending March 31, 1847, fifty-
six thousand one hundred and five persons died. in the
districts which make the returns ; a number greater
than has been registered in any corresponding quarter,
and six thousand and thirty-five above the corrected
average. The deaths in the quarter in all England and
Wales may be estimated at 120,000.
"The published tables show that the mortality was
considerably above the average in the winter quarters
(ending March 31st) of 1840, 1841, 1845, 1847, and
much below the average in the winter quarters of 1839,
1842, 1843, 1844, and 1846. The registrars in their notes
ascribe the increased mortality generally to inflammation
of the lungs and air tubes, to typhus, and other diseases,
and the effects of cold on the aged. The high price of
provisions is also mentioned.

" The disastrous effe; .7 the immigration of the Irish
poor on the health of English towns, was dwelt on in
previous quarterly returns. The evil increased during
the winter quarter ; and the deaths of Liverpool, where
the mortality has always been high, were 3,063, or 1,134
more than in the winter quarter of 1846, and nearly
1,000 above the average of ordinary seasons.
" Fifteen thousand two hundred and eighty-nice
deaths were registered in London during the first thir-
teen weeks of the year; a greater number than has been
registered in any previous winter since the weekly table
commenced. The district of Lewisham, and the sub-
district of Hampstead, united now to the London dis•
triets, have only added 171 to the deaths. Upon the
whole, the health of London, like that of the rest of the
country, has been below the average; and although the
causes are to a certain extent accidental, and, as we may
hope, transitory, it is evident that the health of towns
in England is at present stationary, not to say retro-
grading.
" A new Bill for improving the health of towns has
been prepared and brought in by the Viscount Morpeth,
Lord John Russell, and Sir George Grey. As this Bill
is likely to occupy the attention of Parliament in the
present session, it may be useful to introduce here some
extracts from a series of calculations, based on the cen-
sus returns, and the deaths registered during the seven
veers, 1838—to 1844. From these results the duration
of life can be deduced. Corrections have been made for
the increase of populatioa, deaths in hospitals, and other
disturbing causes.
" The mortality in Liverpool, Manchester, and some
other places, has been before adverted to. The subse-
quent tables show the mortality of all the districts now
included in the London tables of mortality. They afford
ample materials for reasoning; but I shall here only
direct attention to a few of the points bearing more im-
mediately on the great question of the health of towns.
London contained 1,950,000 inhabitants in the middle of
the year 1841, and 342,000 deaths were registered within
its limits in the septennial period, of which 1841 was
the middle year. The deaths on an average were 48,857
annually. To 1,000 females living at all ages, 23 died ;
while to 1,000 males living at all ages, 27 died yearly.
The mortality of females in the neighbouring counties,
during the same seven years, was from 18 to 20 ; of
males 19 to 21 in the 1,000 ; the mortality of females in
London was 5, of males 8 in the 1,000 more than in the
healthiest county. Out of an equal number of males
living, there were three deaths in London for every
two in the healthy counties. Out of 1,000 boys under
five years of age in Surrey, and 1,000 in Sussex, 48 and
50 died annually ; out of 1,000 in London, 93 died an-
nually. The mortality of children under five years of
age is twice as great in London as in the adjacent coun-
ties, including several towns.
" The excess of deaths in London is not the result of
climate, for the climate differs little from that of sur-
rounding counties ; and some of the London districts
are not more unhealthy than many country dis-
tricts. Take Lewisham, for instance, comprising Black-
heath, Sydenham, Eltham, and Lewisham itself. The
annual mortality of females was 16, of males 18, in

1.000.
Th© actual deaths registered in London during
the 7 years 1838-44 were
If the mortality during the period had not been
greater than in Lewisham, the deaths in Lon-
don would have been about

Excess of deaths in London
Here are 97,000 deaths in seven years from causes
peculiar to London. Other districts may be taken in
the place of Lewisham, but the result would be the
same.
.. .

" A considerable part of the population of London is
recruited from the country, immigrants entering chiefly
at the ages of 15 to 35, in a state of good health. The
sick and weak probably remain at home ; many of the
newcomers too, unmarried, when attacked in London by
slow consumption—the most fatal disease at the ages of 15
to 35—return to their father's house to die ; so that the
mortality of the great city is made to appear in the re-
turns lower at those ages than it is. If we take child-
ren under 5 years of age, where neither these disturbing
causes nor occupation interfere, the deleterious influence
on health, of London in its present state will appear un-
disguised in all its magnitude.
The deaths registered in London under 5
years of age were 139,593
The deaths, if the mortality had not been
higher than in Lewisham, would have been . 80,632

Excess of deaths in London among children... 58,961
"Here are more than 58,000 children destroyed in
London within 7 of the last ten years.
"In these plain and appalling facts—in the detailed
statements of the mortality at each age of life in the
several districts—or in the circumstances of the several
parts of the population, it is difficult to discover any
valid reasons for excluding London from the operation
of the measure of her Majesty's government for ' Im-
proving the Health of Towns in England.'"