The Sun.
London, England, 1858-07-21 00:00:00

_HEALTH OF LONDON DURING THE

WEEK.

(From the Report of the Regtstrar. Oeneral.)

The deaths in London in the week ending July
17 were 1,173. The tendency of the mortality to
increase, caused by the heat, appears to have been
temporarily checked by the fall of the temperature,
together with the timely rains. The mean tempe-
rature of the air was, in the four weeks ending
June 26, 66 deg. ; in the two subsequent weeks it
fell to 57 deg. ; and last week it rose again to 66
deg.
In the 10 years 1848-57 the average number of
deaths in the weeks corresponding with last week
was 976 ; but as the deaths now returned occurred
in a population which has annually increased, they
can only be compared with the average after it has
been rsised in proportion to the increase, a correc-
tion which will make it 1,073. From the compari-
son it appears that 100 deaths were placed on the
registers last week above the number which would
have been registered if the mortality had not ex-
ceeded the average for the second week of July.
According to the "healthy rate" of mortality, as
obtained from those districts in England where
men live under the least unfavourable conditions,
the deaths in London would be 799 ; and the ex-
cess over this standard, which is shown by the
number actually returned, is 374.
The deaths from the zymoVc class of diseases,
which were in the previous week 445, declined last
week to 403. Among these the disease most fatal
at the present time is diarrhoea, the deaths from
which in the two weeks were 129 and 126 ; those
from cholera decreased from 13 to 4 ; and three of
these four occurred to children, and were caused
by summer cholera; the fourth case was that of a
young woman who died at Woolwich after three
days' illness. All of the 126 cases of diarrhoea
occurred among infants, with the exception of
nine. This complaint was prevalent, apparently,
in two of the North Districts, Marylebone and
St. Pancras, especially the former. Measles and
scarlatina were most fatal in the east districts
and in those of the south side of the river. The
deaths from scarlatina were 73, or double the ave-
rage number. Three deaths from diphtheria are
returned by the Registrar of St. George s, Holborn,
who mentions with regard to one case iu Lamb's
Condeit-street, that it is the second death in the
family from diphtheria within a fortnight ; and
with regard to another in Old North-street, that
three members of the family where it occurred are
now suffering from the same complaint.
Few widows died last week at the following ad-
vanced ages :-90, 94, 95, and 96.
Last week the births of 788 boys and 796 girls,
in all 1,584 children, were registered iu LJudou.
tl:c ice e_eee,youCting weeks of the years 1848-
57 the average number was 1,08.

CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF NIETROPOLIPAN WATERS
DURING JUNE.

Total Organic
Impurity. Impurity,
Grs. ,or °. Grs., or •,

Distilled Water
Thames Water Companies :
Southwark
Chelsea
Grand Junction
West Middlesex....
Lambeth
Other Companies :
New River
East London.
Kent

181.0 ... 2.36
19 21 ... 2'16
6.76 ... P2O
1516 •92
17'03 ... •56

15*92 ... •30
15'36 ... I'oo
24.11 2.96

The numerical amounts of impurity denote the
quantity of foreign matter in each gallon of water
in degrees or grains. The Thames waters contain-
ing the greatest amount of impurity were taken at
the beginning of the month after a fall of rain,
while those exhibiting the smaller quantities of
foreign matter in solution 6 were procured towards
the end of the month after a protracted period of
dry weather. The analyses were made by Dr.
Robert Dundas Thompson, F.R.S., of Sr.
Thomas's Hospital.
At the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, the mean
height of the barometer in the week was 29.831
inches. The highest barometrical reading was
29.97 inches on Monday. The mean temperature
of the week was 66.4 deg., which isa4hee:lnidaleleagtio.,
above that of the same week on an average of 43
years (as determined by Mr. Glaisher). The
daily temp rature was above the:average throujl
the week, and on Thursday the excess was
11.3 deg. On that day the highest temperatures
in the sun and the shade were obtained, the former
lelving been 111.1 deg., the latter 88.2 deg. The
lowest temperature in the week was 51.5 deg. on
Monday ; and the whole range of the week was
therefore 36.7 deg. The difference between the
mean dew point temperature and air temperature
was 9.4 deg. The mean degree of humidity of the
air was 72. The mean temperature of the water of
the Thames was 64 deg. The wind was generally
in the south-west. Rain fell on Friday to the
amount of 0.61 in., most of which fell early in the
morning during a thunderstorm of much violence
and long duration.

The Akhbar of Algiers says that the reason why the
Countess Ran(lon left that city, to join the Marshal at
Paris, was that the latter's absence from Algeria is likely
to be longer than was expected.