The Sun.
London, England, 1867-01-18 00:00:00

The Public Health.

(From the Registrar-Generals Weekly Return.)
The following is the weekly return of the Regis-
,rar- General of births and deaths in London and in

12 other large towns of the United Kingdom :
" General Register-office, Somerset-house, Jan. 14.
In the week that ended on Saturday, Jan. 12, the
births registered in London and 12 other large
towns of the United Kingdom were 4,519 ; the

deaths registered, 3,843. The annual rate of mor-
tality was 32 per 1,000 persons living.
In London the births of 1,229 boys and 1,153
girls, in all 2,382 children, were registered in the

_ .
week. In the corresponding weeks of ten years

1857-66 the average number, corrected for increase
of population, was 2,086.

The deaths registered in London during the week
were 1,891. It was the second week of the year,
and the average number of deaths for that week is,
with a correction for increase of population, 1,T20.
The deaths exceeded the average by 171. The ex-
cess is due to the cold weather.

South-west winds prevailed during the last two
weeks of the year, with variable intensity, and the

temperature was unusually mild; a calm set in, and
fogs spread over the whole face of the country for
three or four days; then, on New Year's-day, the
north wind sprang up after a calm, and on the fol.

Lowing days mingled with the west, south, and east
. _

winds ; ten inches of snow fell on Wednesday, Jan.
2, and intense cold brought the temperature of the
air down at night within a few degrees of zero at
Greenwich, and lower elsewhere at the end of the
week. The slow moving temperature of the Thames
fell in six days from 43 to 35 deg. in the day, and
from 41 to 31 deg. at night ; so that on Jan. 5 its
waters were balow the freezing point, and there re-

mained until Jan. 7, after which they gradually rose
to 36 deg. on last Saturday.
The effects of the cold are now visible in the re-
turns, for, instead of 1,436 and 1,437 deaths, as in
the two preceding weeks, there appear on the regis-
ters of last week 1,891 deaths. The change of tem-
perature has killed about 455 people Loudon. Few
were directly frozen to death ; the majority having
vital force enough to struggle against the freezing
cold, but not enough to prevent them from succumb-
ing under bronchitis and other affections. The mor-
tality varied with the powers of resistance, -which is
greatest about the age of puberty, and least in old
age, when the lamp of life is flickering. Thus the
deaths above those in the last week of 1866 were 48
at the ages under 20 ; and 46 at the age 20-40, 113
at 40-60, 204 at 60-80, and 44 at the age of 80 and
upwards, making in all 455. •
In such weather to give fire, food, and clothing is
to give life.
The daughter of a tailor, aged 9, died on Jan. 9
at 7, Charlotte-place, Mile-end New-town, of
" cholera (3 days)." The daughter of a lighterman,
aged four mouths, died on Jan. 3 at 8, Ann-street,
Ratcliff, from " suffocation from a cat lying on her
face while sleeping. (Inquest.) The wife of a labourer,
aged 00, Wed uu Jan. 3 at no, outton-street, St.
George-in-the-East, from exhaustion by exposure
to cold." (Inquest.) A pensioner, aged 75, died on
Jan. 4 at 1, Upper Fitzroy-place, Regent's-
park, from " effusion of serum on brain produced
by the cold." Post mort. (Inquest.) A girl, aged
10 years, died on the sth of Jan. at 43, Upper Rath-
bone-place, Oxford-street, from " congestion of
lungs caused by the cold." Post mort. (Inquest.)
The widow of a baker, aged 70 years, died on the
4th of Jan., at 1, William-street, Mile end Old-
town, from " disease of heart, accelerated by the
intense cold." (Inquest.) The widow of a mariner,
aged 90 years, died on. the 2d of January, at 30,
William-street, Mile-end Old-town, from " bron-
chitis, accelerated by the intense cold." (Inquest.)
The widow of a mate in the navy, aged 87 years,
died on the sth of January, at 77, New-street,
Mile-end Old-town, from " exposure to cold." (In-
quest.) An assistant to a cattle dealer, aged 40
years, died on the 6th of Jan. in the casual ward of
the East London Union, from " exposure 'to cold,
accellerated by intoxication." Post mort. (Inquest.)
A female, aged 37 years, died on the 7th of Jan., at
Old-street (St. Luke's) police-station, "from disease
of lungs, accelerated by exposure and want." Post
mort. (Inquest.)
The annual rate of mortality last week was 32 per
1,000 in London and 33 in Edinburgh ; 25 in
Bristol, 25 in Birmingham, 36 in Liverpool, 38 in
Manchester, 39 in Salford, 32 in Sheffield, 31 in
Leeds, 29 in Hull, 42 in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and
73 in Glasgow. 'The rate in Vienna was 30 per
1,000 during the week ending the 29th ult., when
the mean temperature was 174 deg. Fahrenheit
lower than in the same week in London, where the
rate was 24 per 1,000.
At the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, the mean
height of the barometer in the week was 29.144 in.
The barometrical reading decreased from 29.63 in.
at the beginning of the week to 28.54 on Tues-
day. The mean temperature of the air in the week
was 39.3 deg., which is 34 deg. above the average
of the same week in 50 years (as determined by Mr.
Glaisher.) The highest day temperature was 54.4
deg., on Monday. The lowest night temperature
was 22.5 deg. on Saturday. The entire range
of temperature in the week was, therefore, 31.9
deg. The mean of the highest temperature of
the water of the Thames was 36.6 deg. ; that of
the lowest was 33.3 deg. The difference between the
mean dew-point temperature and air temperature
was 4.1 deg. The mean degree of humidity of the
air was 85, complete saturation being represented
by 100. Rain fell to the amount of I.2Ein. Snow
• fell on Saturday. The general direction of the wind
' was S.S.W. and N.W.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.--Mr Goldwin Smith possesses a very con-
siderable knowledge of English history, and a style
which is peculiarly adapted to attract and retain the
attention of a large audience. lle has apparently
come to the conclusion that these good gifts are
wasted on au unsympathising audience of Oxford
undergraduates ; so he has resigned his Professor-
ship, and betaken himself to the instruction of the
masses by means of political lectures. Ile selects a
period of English history which preceded a great
Revolution, and a character which was at one time
the foremost in English Parliamentary annals. Such
an undertaking would seem, at first sight, to be of a
nature calling for notice rather in the part of this
journal devoted to literary than to political discus-
sions. But those who think so undervalue the origi-
nality of Mr. Smith's idea. To use a well-known
Geruahn proverb, "lie strikes the sack, but he means
the ass." The lecture is resorted to and will be
valued, not for the light it throws on the time of
Charles 1., but for its pungent allusions to the reign
of Queen Victoria. It does not pretend to impar-
tiality. It is not written to enlighten us as to the
past, but as to the present and the future. It
assumes an audience bent on democratic change,
and it supplies them with arguments and illustra-
tions, forced often, and one-sided, but often also
telling and ingenious. The chair was taken by Dr.
Temple, the advocate, if we remember rightly, in
our columns of something very closely resembling
Universal Suffrage, and the lecture was quite in
keeping with the opinions of the chairman. Mr.
Smith is uo friend to revolution—that is, as we
understand him, to change effected by violence—
, but he seems willing to vitt...Thin the idea of ony