The Sun.
London, England, 1867-10-04 00:00:00

THE PUBLIC HEALTH_•

(From the Registrar-General's Weekly Return.)
In the week that ended on Saturday, Sept. 28,
4,607 births and 2,857 deaths were registered in
London and in twelve other large towns of the
United Kingdom. The annual rate of mortality was
24 per 1,000 persons living.
The annual rate of mortality last week was 20
per 1,000 in London, 23 in Edinburgh, and 22 in
Dublin; 16 in Bristol, 26 in Birmingham, 31 in
Liverpool, 38 in Manchester, 29 in Salford, 26 in
Sheffield, 32 in Leeds, 29 in Hull, 34 in Newcastle-
upon-Tyne, and 25 in Glasgow. The rate in
Vienna was 23 per 1,000 during the week ending
the 21st inst., when the mean temperature was 6.2
deg. Fahrenheit higher than i❑ the same week in
London, where the rate was 19.

The mortality from diarrhoea in the ten large
English towns continues to decrease, but is still con-
siderably greater than is usual so late in the year.
The total deaths referred to this disease in the ten
towns, which in the three previous weeks had been
507, 577, and 436 fell last week to 336, of which
108 occurred in London, 62 in Manchester and Sal-
ford, 58 in Birmingham, 26 in Sheffield, and 25 in
Liverpool. The annual death-rate per 1,000 from
this cause during the week was 2 in London and
Bristol, 3 in Liverpool, 5 in Leeds and Newcastle,
6 in Sheffield, 7 in Manchester and Salford and Hull,
and highest, 9 per 1,000, in Birmingham. Scarla-
tina was fatally prevalent in Manchester, Liverpool,
and Birmingham.
In London the births of 1,122 boys and 1,014
girls, in all 2,136 children, were registered in the
week. In the corresponding weeks of ten years,
1857-66, the average number, corrected for increase
of population, is 2,044.
The deaths registered in London during the week
were 1,194. It was the 39th week of the year ;
and the average number of deaths for that week is,
with a correction for increase of population, 1,273.
The deaths in the present return are less by 79 than
the estimated number.

The deaths from zymotic diseases last week were
324. The deaths of 103 children and 5 adults from
diarrhcea were registered last week ; 10 cases oc-
curred in the west, 25 in the north, 18 in the cen-
tral, 27 in the east, and 28 in the south dis-
tricts. The deaths from diarrhoea during the
last few four weeks have been 198, 203, 114,
and in the present return 108. The deaths of 15
persons from cholera or choleraic diarrhcea were
registered last week ; 1 in Kensington Town,
2 in Chelsea, 1 in St. Margaret, Westminster ; 1 iu
South Hackney, 1 in St. Andrew, Holborn ; 1 in
St. Botoiph, East London ; 1 Holywell, Shoreditch ;
1 in Bethnal-green, 1 in Whitechapel, 1 in Mile-
end Old Town, 1 in Battersea, 1 in Camberwell, 1
in Greenwich, and lin Woolwich. In the corre-
sponding week of last year the deaths from diarrhcea
were 67, and from cholera 177. The deaths regis-
tered last week from smallpox were 17, from measles
14, from scarlatina 32, from diphtheria 7, from
whooping-cough 26, and from typhus 26. Four
deaths frcm typhus occurred in Westminster; from
scarlatina, 5 in St. Pancras, and 6 in Clerkenwell
The deaths from phthisis were 138, from bronchitis
67, from pneumonia 41, and from heart disease 42.
By Dr. Frankland's analysis of the water supplied
by the London companies it appears that the New
River water contained in 100,000 tons 21 tons of
extraneous matter; the East London 25, the West
Middlesex 25, the other companies still more,
and the Kent 40 tons of stuff of various kinds.
The previous sewage contamination of the waters at
the time of the analysis had been converted into
comparatively innocuous inorganic compounds. By
this test the Southwark and Vauxhall waters were
then the best, and the New River and Kent waters
the worst of the eight.