The Sun.
London, England, 1866-08-01 00:00:00

THE PUBLIC HEALTH.

(From the Registrar-General's Weekly Return.)
In the week that ended on Saturday, July 28, the
births registered in London and 12 other large towns
of the United Kingdom were 4,147 ; the deaths
registered 4,356. The annual rate of mortality was
37 per 1,000 persons living.

In London the births of 1,016 boys and 973 girls,
in all 1,989 children, were registered in the week.
In the corresponding weeks of ten years 1856-65 the
average number, corrected for increase of popula-
tion, was 1,966.

The deaths registered in London during the week
were 2,600. It was the 30th week of the year ;
and the average number of deaths for that week is,
with a correction for increase of population, 1,387.
The deaths in the present return exceed by 1,213
the estimated number.

The excess of deaths is caused entirely by cholera
and diarrhoea. 904 deaths by cholera, 349 by
diarrhoea were registered in the week, making in the
aggregate 1,253 deaths. The deaths by cholera in
the last five weeks have been 6, 14, 32, 346, and
901; by its allied disease, diarrhoea, 67, 102, 150,
221, and 349. The epidemic takes the form of
diarrhoea chiefly in young children ; thus 309 of the
349 deaths from diarrhoea last week were children
under five years of age, including 244 infants. Of
cholera 179 children of the same age died ; 160 boys
and girls of five and under 20 years of age ; 455
men and women in the prime of life ; and 110 people
of ages above 60.

It is a peculiarity of the case that the greater part
of this slaughter in seven days of 1,233 people of all
ages took place within a limited portion of the Lon-
don area. 924 of the deaths, 811 by cholera and
113 by diarrhoea, were registered in the six districts
of Bethnal-green, Whitechapel, St. George-in-the-
East, Stepney, Mile-end Old-town, and Poplar, in-
cluding Bow, among about a seventh part of the
pepulation of London and on one-fourteenth of its
area. The attack extends all along the north side of
the Thames, from the river Lea and the Isle of Dogs
to the Tower of London. Limehouse-basin and the
Regent's-canal are the central line of the attack,
which stretches as far north as Victoria Park. This is
essentially the port of London, inhabited by its mari-
time population. The canals and the basin are full
of foul water, and are apparently connected with the
Limehouse-cut, the Hackney-cut, and the River Lea.
The East London Waterworks Canal draws its
supply from the river at Lea-bridge, where there is
a reservoir, and runs for a couple of miles by the
side of the Hackney cut down to its other reservoirs
north of Bow and near the Lea. The present cholera
field derives its waters from these works. It is right
to add that the water has hitherto borne a comparison
with the other London water in Dr. Frankland's
analyses. To-day at Poplar the water looks clear,
and no complaints are made of its quality. - The
company will no doubt take exemplary pains to filter
its waters ; but it is not easy to guarantee the purity
of water drawn from such a river as the Lea, in dan-
gerous proximity to sewers, cuts, and canals.

Whoever will take the trouble to go among the
people now suffering in crowded dwellings will see
the danger of the water-butt ; poor women are
washing the dirty linen of patients with water drawn
from those vessels, which are often found close to
water-closets. It would be a source of additional
safety to London if tanks and butts were abolished,
and the pipes were filled on the system of constant
supply. The time has come for this reform.
The mortality is overwhelming in some of the dis-
tricts. In Poplar alone 145, in Bow 188 people died
last week, including Dr. Ansell, the meritorious
health officer, and Mr. Ceeley, clerk to the Board of
Works, whose name figures on the placards. The
people are falling ill every hour ; you see them of
all ages, children and adults, lying about their beds
like people under the influence of a deadly poison,
some acutely suffering, nearly all conscious of their
fate and of all that is going on around them. Here
the doctor is drawn in by the husband to see the
wife now attacked ; there the husband lies in
spasms ; here is an old woman seated dead, with eyes
wide open ; there lies a fine four-year old child, his
curly head drooping in death, but his mother says
theAn po
older
seer
bi sr so tt rhoenr g , au and
recovered h e a kesw
ihs a
rt shim.un ne gives
bheint
Several wards of the London Hospital are full of
patients, many of them very young children in
all stages of the disease ; some dying, some well
aangn and
daiwith the
eayhineagi Theth
officers
medicalffieersare mnoebnlyhadvoeinngotrheesitr,
duty ; brave men ready to lay down their lives for
their patients. The people themselves are most
patient ; most willing to help each other, the women
always in front, and none shrinking danger. There
is no desertion of children, husbands,wives, fathers,
or mothers from fear.
In the midst of this scene the authorities have
neither
work
r are
has
been, to some extent, paralysed. The nuisance in-
spectors
the
m ed medical
le
enffioete
r s.
rr sufficientlyhe numerous,
administrative
not been organised with sufficient promptitude, and
is not carried out with sufficient energy.

Such a calamity as this may well call forth the
whole resources of London, and what is especially
wanted is executive power well organised in con-
junction with the medical health officers. The people
of East London want help. . .

The annual rate of mortality last week was 44 per
1,000 in London, 24 in Edinburgh, and 20 in Dub-