The Sun.
London, England, 1866-08-22 00:00:00

THE PUBLIC HEALTH.

(From the Registrar-General's Return.)
General Register-office, Somerset-house,
Aug. 20.
In the week that ended on Saturday, Aug. 18,
the births registered in London and 12 other large
towns of the United Kingdom were 3,968 ; the
deaths registered 3,510. The annual rate of mor-
tality was 30 per 1,000 persons living.
In London the births of 944 boys and 927 girls,
in all 1,871 children, were registered in the week.
In the corresponding weeks of ten years, 1856-65,
the average number, corrected for increase of popu-
lation, was 1,922.
The deaths registered in London during the week
were 1,799. It was the 33d week of the year, and
the average number of deaths for that week is, with
a correction for increase of population, was 1,332.
The deaths in the present return exceed the esti-
mated number by 467.
The deaths are less by 500 than the numbers re-
corded in the previous week. The deaths by
cholera have fallen from 1,053 and 781 in the two
previous weeks to 455. The decrease of deaths by
the two forms of cholera and diarrhoea is absolutely
greatest in childhood, but relatively greatest in man-
hood. Thus the deaths under the age of 20 have
fallen in the week from 538 to 373, at the age of
20-40 from 175 to 121, at 40 and upwards from M
to 155. Thus this epidemic explosion, which has slain
in a few weeks so many people in the East, and has
threatened the whole population of London, is sub-
siding. It has been felt in every district, but its
great ravages have not yet extended beyond the
original limits.
The annual rate of mortality last week was 31 per
1,000 in London, 24 in Edinburgh, and 22 in Dublin;
20 in Bristol, 19 in Birmingham, 56 in Liverpool,
27 in Manchester, 27 in Salford, 25 in Sheffield, 25
in Leeds, 29 in Hull, 32 in Newcastletupon-Tyne,
and 25 in Glasgow.
In the borough of Liverpool, of the 518 deaths
registered during last week, 157 were referred to
cholera and 63 to diarrhoea. The cases of cholera
showed an increase of 31 upon those returned in the
previous week, while diarrhoea had declined 12. The
deaths from cholera in Liverpool during the past
seven weeks had been respectively 4, 19, 45, 87,
101, 126, and last week 157. The decrease in the
fatality of this disease, which has been in the last
fortnight so rapid in Loudon, has not yet commenced
in Liverpool. Epidemic cholera does not exist in
any of the other larger towns.is
At the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, the mean
height of the barometer in the week was 29.680 in.
The barometrical reading decreased from 29.90
in. at the beginning of the week to 29.51 in.
on Thursday. The mean temperature of the air
in the week was 58 deg., -which is 3.5 deg. below
the average of the same week in 50 years (as de-
termined by Mr. Glaisher). The highest day tem-
perature was 72.2 deg., on Saturday. The lowest
night temperature was 46.9 deg., also on Saturday.
The entire range of temperature in the week was,
therefore, 25.3 deg. The mean of the highest tem-
perature of the water of the Thames was 61.4 deg. ;
that of the lowest was 60.4 deg. The difference be-
tween the mean dew-point temperature and air tem-
perature was 7.3 deg. The mean degree of humidity
of the air was 77, complete saturation being repre-
sented by 100. Rain fell to the amount of 0.62 in.
The direction of the wind was variable. The blue
mist was observed daily, but it was less dense than
in the preceding week.
MORTALITY OF TIIE SEVERAL LONDON DISTRICTS
FROM CHOLERA.

We may now venture to look back and draw some
deductions from the facts as they are recorded in
the tables for the five weeks ending Aug. 11, during
which 4,454 men, women, and children died of cho-
lera and diarrhoea.

The mortality in the five weeks has been at the
rate of 37 per 1,000 living annually ; but in both
the south and west districts, covered by 1,400,000
people, the mortality has scarcely exceeded the ave-
rage by 1 per 1,000. The annual rate of mortality
by cholera was 1 in Kensington and Paddington,
0.3 in Chelsea, 0.1 in St. George's, Hanover-square,
1 in Westminster, 0.5 in St. Martin's-in-the-fields,
1.5 in St. James's, Westminster. The mortality from
cholera and diarrhcea was highest in Kensington (6),
and lowest (2) in St. James, Westminster, the scene
formerly of the Broad-street pump mortality. The
west districts are supplied chiefly by the Thames
water companies, the New River supplying portions
of St. James, Westminister, and St. Martin's.
The mortality in the southern districts by cholera
was 3 in 1,000 in St. Saviour, Southwark, 2 in St.
Olave, 2 in Bermondsey, 2 in St. George, South-
wark, 0.3 in Newington, 1 in Lambeth, 2in Wands-
worth, 3 in Camberwell, 3 in Rotherhithe, 3 in
Greenwich, where Mr. Glaisher has observed the fa-
mous "blue mist," and 0.2 in Lewisham. The mor-
tality by cholera and diarrhoea was highest in St.
Saviour, Southwark (8), and lowest in Lewisham
(1). These southern districts are generally poor,
they lie low, and were decimated by cholera in the
epidemics of 1849 and 1854, where the impure water
of the tidal Thames was distributed. Their water is
now drawn above Teddington lock from the Thames.
The five north districts fared nearly as the central
districts ; the mortality by cholera wazo.s in Mary-
lebone, 0.4 in Hampstead, 1.2 in Pancras, 1.9 in
Islington, and 4.9 in Hackney ; the mortality by
cholera and diarrhcea was lowest in Hampstead (3)
and highest in Hackney (8). These districts are
chiefly supplied bythe New River, one of the Thames
companies, and a portion of Hackney, it is believed,
from the Lea-bridge reservoir of the East London
Company.
The dense Central Districts are, some of them,
such as St. Luke's, remarkable for poverty ; others,
such as the City of London within the walls, for
their wealth. The mortality by cholera was at the
rate of 1 per 1,000 in St. Giles's, 2 in the Strand,
0 in Holborn (which appears to return all its cases
as diarrhcea), 1 in Clerkenwell, 1 in St. Luke, 7 in
East London, 7 in West London, and 2 in the City
district ; from cholera and diarrhoea the mortality
was highest in the City without the walls 10 • and
St. Giles,. 9 ; lowest in the City within 'the 'walls
3. The whole of the Central Districts are supplied
by the New River, which draws part of its supply
from the Lea river and part from springs. The
East London Company enters the city sub-district
in pt. Botolph, where a few deaths from cholera
have been registered.

There are seven districts in the east ; the mortality
by cholera in the poor district of Shoreditch was
at the annual rate of 4, by cholera and diarrhozsa 8
in 1,000 ; five of its sub-districts are supplied by
the New River, one partially, and one wholly by
the East London, probably from Lea-bridge. In
the restof the East Districts the mortality by cholera
was at very different rates ; it was at the rate of 39
per 1,000 in Bethnal-green, 50 in Mile-end Old
Towii, 60 in St. George-in-the-East, 70 in White-
chapel, including deaths in the London Hospital
from other eastern districts, 70 in Poplar and Bow,
and 80 in Stepney. Bethnal-green is one of the
P3()rest districts of London, if we may judge ud e by the
• aanundlatt aeorfe
the houses ; but the people of Bow
notconspicuous for poverty. The
whole of these
districts, where the mortality from
cholera was from 30
either in the to 40 fold higher than it was
west
wereor the central, in the north or the
south of London,
Losupplied with water from the
Old Ford reservoir
ndrou is divided into 37 dis-
tricts ; six districts are
sllppebd from Old Ford, and
every one has been ravagedsix
wee?: cholera ; the other
31 districts have for
suffered slightly.
The 37 districts are subdividedtshe intoaa 135 sub-dis-
tricts; 21 are .supplied with the water, and
have all suffered six weeks in
succession sub-
districts have suffered inconsiderably,
Botolph and a few other districts, where thteinSt.
water has crept in, and the mortality is same.
partially
swollen. - - -

By the doctrine of chances it is impossible that
the coincidence between this particular water and the
high mortality should be fortuitous, in 135 cases,
during six weeks in succession.
The induction extends over all the area of obser-
vation in previous epidemics, where sewage water
has so often led to cholera outbreaks.

The persistence of the epidemic in the East Londcn
districts is no proof that the supply of the company
is now worse than that of other companies, as its

effects on the place and on the population only sub-
side slowly.

This great lesson should be takento h art by every
water company and every community in the king-
dom. Unclean water cannot be consumed with
impunity ; its consumption is the sin of which
cholera is the punishment.