The Sun.
London, England, 1866-12-12 00:00:00

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THE PUBLIC HEALTH.

The following is the weekly return of the
Registrar-General of Births and deaths in London
and in 12 other large towns of the United King-
dom :

General Register-office, Smerset-house,
Dec. 10.

In the week that ended on Saturday, Dec. 8, the.
births registered in London and 12 other large
towns of the United Kingdom were 4,018 ; the
deaths registered, 3,330. The anuual rate of mor-
tality was 28 per 1,000 persons living.

In London the births of 983 boys and 987 girls,
in all 1,970 children, were registered in the week.
In the corresponding week of ten years 1856-65 the
average number, corrected for increase of popula-
tion, was 2,001.

The deaths registered in London during the week

were 1,584. It was the 49th week of the year, and
the average number of deaths for that, week is, with
a correction for increase of population, 1,525. The
deaths in the present return exceed the estimated
number by 59. The excess is amply accounted for
by bronchitis, a disease of cold weather.
Only one death from cholera was registered in the
seven days ; it Ni as the death of a labourer's child,
aged 2} years, at 37, Church-street, Poplar. Th©
deaths from cholera in the last five weeks have been
67, 32, 8,3, and 1.

The supplement gives definitively the deaths by
cholera in each district to every 10,000 inhabitants,
and the results may be thus briefly summed up ; in
St. George, Hanover-square, 12 in 0,000 died of
cholera ; Chelsea, 4 ; Westminster, 6 ; Marylebone,
3 ; Kensington, 4, all on the north side of the
Thames, and supplied with water by the Grand
Junction, the Chelsea, and the West Middlesex
Companies.

The following districts on the south side of the
river were supplied by the Southwark and by the
Lambeth Companies, and the deaths by cholera to
10,000 inhabitants were in Newington, 3 ;
George, Southwark, 7 ; Wandsworth, 5; Camber-
well, 6, Rotherhithe, 9 ; Lambeth 7 ; St. Olave,
9 ; Bermondsey, 8 ; St. Saviour, 7.
12 ;
Strand, 7 ; Islington, 4 ;
The New River, taking about 82 per cent. of its
water from the river Lea, supplies St. Martin-in-
the-Fields, where the death
4t
the walls,ycholera in.
10,000 inhabitants ; in the City of London, 5 ; West
London, a part of the city without
Holborn 6 • St. Luke,
without
16 ; St. Giles, 10 ; Clerkenwell, 11. lu Pancras,
chiefly supplied by the New River, the deaths were
6 ; St. James's (Westminster), 4 ; Hampstead, 1.
The East London COmpany draws all its water
from the river Lea, but it has pumps at two dif-
ferent stations, the one at Lea-bridge, and the other
two miles below at Old Ford, where it has a small
covered reservoir and two open reservoirs in " dan-
gerous proximity" to the Lea, at a point where that
tidal river is full of foul sewage ; the deaths here
were at a very different rate—namely, 63 in Beth-
nal-green, 65 in Mile-end Old-town, 93 in St.
George's-in-tha-East, 85 in Poplar, 78 in White-
chapel, 111 in Stepney. There are two sub-districts
on the east side of the Lea, also supplied by the East
London Company, and the deaths were at the same
rate as on the west side.

In three districts supplied partly.by the New
River, and partly by the East London Company,
the deaths were in intermediate proportions—
namely, 13 in Shoreditch, 12 in Hackney, 16 in East
London districts, which is a part of the city of Lon-
don without the walls. * _ .

The reasons for believing that the choleraic water
was only distributed by the East London Company
up to a certain date were stated at the time ; and
probably that company will now be willing to relate
all the circumstances of that deplorable and fatal
accident.
In Lewisham, including Plumstead atd Charlton,
the deaths by cholera were 6 in 10,000 inhabitants,
in in Greenwich, Deptford, and Woolwich, 20 ; both
these districts are supplied by the Kent Company
in conjunction with the Lambeth and the
South-
wark Companies,

.•
The annual rate of mortality last week was 27 per
1,000 in London, 29 in Edinburgh, and 29 in Dub-
lin; 26 in Bristol, 25 in Birmingham, 31 in Liver-
pool, 29 in Manchester, 27 in Salford, 29 in Shef-
field, 36 in Leeds, 30 inHull, 35in Newcastle-upon-
Tyne, and 32 iu Glasgow. The rate in Vienna
was 27 per 1,000 during the week ending the 24th
ult., when the temperature was 5.2 deg. Fahrenheit
lower than in the same week in London, where the
rate was 24 per 1,000.

ILLUMINATED TEXTS, &C.—A series of splendidly-
illuminated texts, adapted from missals in the British
Museum, and chrome-lithographed at the Royal Albert
Press, has just been published by Messrs. Fuller and Co.,
which will be particularly acceptable for Christmas deco-
rations. Several beautifully-executed subjects of largo
dimensions have also been issued, which for brilliancy of
colour and richness of design have never been exceeded.
The Royal Albert Press was established for the employ-
ment of women, and the production of such work as that
submitted to our notice is a credit and au honour to the
sex.