The Sun.
London, England, 1866-11-05 00:00:00

The Registrar-General's Quarterly Return.

During the three months ending on Sept. 30 there were
registered throughout the United Kingdom 239,748 births
and 151,054 deaths. The resident population of England,
Scotland, and Ireland in the middle of 1866 is estimated at
29,935,404. The corrected death rate of the quarter is
2.085 per cent. The marriage rate of the spring quarter
was higher than it ever was before in that season since
registration began. The birth rate of the summer quarter
was near the average. The mortality was raised much
above the average by the cholera in some districts, while
the rest of the country was unusually healthy.
In England during the quarter ending the 30th Septem-
ber 178,982 children were born. The number was about
2,000 less than in either of the two previous summer
quarters. The annual rate was 3.344 per cent ; that of
the corresponding quarters in ten years immediately pre-
ceding was 3.343 por cent. 116,826 deaths were registered.
Tho annual rate of mortality was 2.182 por cent. This
exceeded the average mortality of the last ten summer quar-
ters by .180, or one-twelfth part, and the excess on the popu-
lation is equivalent to 10,720 deaths. The deaths returned
from cholera amounted to 10,365; those from diarrhoea, also
due in great part to the same cause, to 9,570. The mortality
was at the rate of 25 per 1,000 in the great town districts,
and 18 in the village and small town districts. July,
August, and September are usually the healthiest months
of the year in England. This year their average rate of
mortality was 2 per cent. above the average. The mor-
tality was at the rate of 19 in Birmingham, 21 in Bristol,
22 in Hull, 24 in Sheffield, 26 in Salford, 31 in Manchester,
32 in Iste..wcastle-upon-Tyne, 50 in Liverpool. In Edinburgh
the rate of mortality was 23, in Glasgow 25, in Dublin 24.
The excessively high rates of mortality are generally duo
to the invasion of cholera. The total number of emigrants

in the September quarter Was 47,153. Taking round num-
berg, 36,000 (of whom half were natives of Ireland) out of
the 47,000 wont to the United States; nearly 7,000 to the
Australasian, and nearly 4,090 to the North-American
colonies.
The mean temperature of the air in the quarter at Green-
wich was 58.9 deg., which is 1.1 deg. below the average of
the season in 25 years. Each of the three months, but
particularly August, was cold. The rainfall measure 7.9 in.,
half of which was in September, when the amount was
an inch and a half ix excess of the average. Mr.
Glaisher writes that ;the weather, which had been warm
and fine at the close of the :previous quarter, changed to
cold at the beginning of July, and in every part of the
country rain fell almost daily. In September the attno-
sphericipressuro was always low, and in Guernsey and the
west of England eight or nine inches of rain fell; near the
east coast three inches ; about London four inches. In
tho midland counties there were floods ; thousands of
acres were under water, and much damage was done.
In the three visitations of cholera in past years there was
great atmospheric pressure, high temperature, narrow
diurnal range, owing chiefly to high night temperature,
defect of rain, wind, and electricity ; and in the last of
those (1854) a remarkable blue mist was observed, which
prevailed night and day. In nearly all these particulars •
the meteorological character 61 the present epidemic
season is different from that of previous periods when
cholera prevailed ; but the blue mist has been again
visible; it was first seen by Mr. Glaisher on 30th July, and
by other observers in the preceding week. Since that time
it has been generally present ; on some days no trace of it
visible, and on other days seen for parts of a day only. It has
extended from Aberdeen to the Isle of Wight, and was of
the same tint of blue everywhere. This mist increased in
intensity when viewed through a telescope ; usually no