The Sun.
London, England, 1860-03-15 00:00:00

BIRTHS AND DEATHS IN LONDON.

The following report on the births and deaths
and causes of death in London during the year 1859
has been issued from the General Register Office:—

General Register Office, Somerset-house,
Marsh 8, 1860.
YEAR 1859.

The weekly tables have shown the changes of
the population of London during each of the 52
weeks, and now the births, deaths, and fatal dis-
eases of the year can be summed up. Our gains
and our losses can be numbered. _ _

The natural increase of the population was
30,939. That was the excess of the registered births
over the registered deaths. Besides the increase by
natural growth London receives other accessions;
every county of the United Kingdom sends its quota'
to the metropolis, and the aggregate number of the
immigrants, according to the best estimate, ex-
ceeded 23,000. The probable increase of the popu-
lation was 54,000 in the year, or more than 1,000
weekly.
There is a further movement of the population of
the metropolis ; the natives leave in large numbers,
and are replaced by persons born in other parts ;
and again, many immigrants who come to London
return to their homes or wander elsewhere. The
greatest migrations take place at the ages 20 to 30,
when young people, unsettled, still maintain a con-
nexion with the homes of their childhood.

Of 1,394,963 inhabitants of London of the age of
20 and upwards at the last census, 749,853 were
born beyond its bounds. It is a vast stage, upon
which the best of the population of the United
Kingdom play their part, and then retire to country
life, to foreign lands, or to the life beyond the grave.
With the latter class only we have now to do in
reviewing rapidly the diseases, the crimes, the neg-
ligences, and the accidents which have proved fatal.
The population of London in the middle of the
year 1859 was probably 2,774,338, comprising about
1,299,602 males and 1,474,736 females ; for there are
175,134 more females than males. This is the re-
sult of the excess of female over male immigrants,
and of the higher mortality to which men are ex-
posed.
The number of children whose births were re-
gistered in the 52 weeks amounted to 92,556, of
whom 47,189 were boys, 45,367 girls. Thus the
boys born exceeded the girls by 1,822. The births
were at the rate of 1,780 weekly, 254 daily. The
births exceeded by nearly 4,000 the births in the
previous year, and by 26,672 the births registered
in 1845.

The destruction of life proceeds on the same scale
of grandeur ; 64,617 of the inhabitants of London
died ; so if the dead of this single year could be
brought to life they would people a large city.
The deaths were at tke rate of 1,185 weekly, 169

daily.
31,451 males and 30,166 females died. The
deaths do not inerease at the same rate as the births,
yet their numbers have increased since 1845, when
the deaths of 24,496 males, 23,836 females were re-
gistered.
Upon comparing the deaths with the estimated
population, it is found that to 100,000 living 2,229
died in the year, the average deaths of the last 18
years being 2,439. Thns the mortality is nearly at
the rate of 22 in 1,000, in lieu of 24 in 1,000.
The number of births varied weekly ; 1,980
children, the greatest number, were registered in
fjurth week of January; 1,578, the least number,
were registered in the last week of September. The
first number is 200 above, the last number 202
below the average. The deaths fluctuated diffe-
rently ; in a week of June, towards the middle of
the year, they fell to 913, and in a week of October
to 902, or 283 below the average ; in the last week
of December they rose to 1,677, or 492 above the
average. The reproductive force thus acts most
steadily; the destructive forces having a greater
range, and while they allow the mortality to sub-
side to some extent below, raise it at intervals
much above the average.
The mortality was raised above the average by
the extremely cold weather of January and De-
cember ; the mean temperature of the two first
weeks was low (35 deg. and 39 deg.), and the
deaths rose to 1,338 and 1,429 ; again the tempe-
rature fell in the two last weeks but one of De-
cember to 28 deg. and 33 deg., and the deaths rose
to 1,548 and 1,677 in the two weeks following.
" Heat in our temperate climate also affects the
mortality, and whenever the mean daily tempera-
ture rises above 60 deg. diarrhoea and other bowel
affections prove fatal to great numbers in London.
Thus in the second week of July the mean average
temperature rose to 71 deg., with a daily range of
30 deg. ; the registered deaths rose to 1,400 in that
week, and to 1,605 deaths in the week following,
when the mean temperature remained the same
within two degrees. The mortality rose from
June, now the healthy month of London, to July,
and then gradually subsided with the temperature
until October, another healthy month of the year.
The effects of cold on the system appear to be
direct and immediate ; but the morbid processes to
which they give rise, chiefly affecting the breathing
apparatus, only terminate fatally after a certain
number of days.
The effects of a high temperature are sometimes
immediate, as is notably the case in sun-stroke, or
heat apoplexy, as it has been called; and as the
loss of caloric by the system is greatly diminished,
less of the combustible matter is consumed, so
certain diseases are generated within, while others
are produced by the changing organic matter in
the air and wabes _ _

During the latter part of the year the chief
masters and the men in the building trades of Lon-
don were in a state of open war. The masters
closed their establishments on the 6th of August,
and afterwards only employed men who would
sign a document. The men refused, to the number,
it was said, of 20,000. The conference of the
trades societies distributed certain sums among their
members; and in the sixth week as many as 14,000
of them received allo ances. These allowances were
however, inadequate ; the means and credit of
many failed, the small shopkeepers, instead
of £9 or £lO, took no more than £2 or
£3 a-week from the families; of the
workmen. The distress became in some cases
urgent, yet the struggle was protracted through the
rest of the year. The wives evidently thought their
husbands in the right, and suffered with them the
pangs of hunger. A relieving officer thus writes on.
the Ist of September:—" I visited this man's lodg-
ing. He was out, but his wife was in bed, with
scarcely a rag to cover her, evidently sinking from
want. The room contained scarcely an article of
furniture, and presented a most destitute, neglected
and dirty appearance. She said, " We are starving.
sir; we have neither fire nor food." " Why," I re-
plied, " does not your husband go to work ?"
" What !" she exclaimed, with considerable energy,
" to become worse than a slave !"

This distress produced ultimately a sensible effect
on the mortality of the men and their wives. As
long as there was bread, the poor children, however
apparently had it, until, weakened, cold, ill-clad,
they at last died in unusual numbers as the severe
weather came on towards the close of the year.
The tables show the deaths in various branches
of the building trades during three successive
periods of six weeks. If the numbers in the first six
weeks may be taken as the average numbers, the
excess in the two following periods is considerable.
Neither the additional workmen who came to town
nor the weather will account for the whole of the
increase.

In recording the fatal results of this conflict we
must regret its origin, and express a hope that for
the future abetter understanding and amore friendly
relation will subsist between masters and men.
The mortality in 100,000 living was at the rate of