The Sun.
London, England, 1850-11-27 00:00:00

HEALTH OF LONDON DURING THE WEEK.

(From the Report of the Registrar-General.)
The present return exhibits a sudden increase in
the deaths of London, and a greater mortality than in
any week since the beginning of April. The deaths
registered in the two previous weeks were 921 and
908, but rose in that which ended last Saturday to
1,016, and they now exceed the actual ave-
rage for the ten corresponding weeks in
1840-9, which is 977, but fall short of the
average as corrected for probable increase of popu-
lation, by which it is raised to 1,066. The present
increase, as might be expected from the season of the
year, is observed to proceed from diseases of the organs
of respiration, with the exception of phthisis, or con-
sumption. Pneumonia was fatal in the preceding
week in 56 cases, last week in 94, of which 69 were
amongst children ; but it has not yet attained the
average. Bronchitis was fatal in 77 cases, of which
nearly two-thirds were among persons of mature
years, and it continues to exceed the average. On
the other hand, consumption, which numbers 111,
has declined on the previous week, and does not
show the same disposition, with other affections
of the respiratory organs, to be aggravated by
atmospheric changes. This disease does not yet quite
equal the average, and its comparailvely low rate of
mortality during the year may be due, in some degree,
to the middle-aged part of the population, who are
most subject to it, having been thinned by cholera,
which also bore most heavily on the same class. The
deaths of children by convulsions were last week 44,
or nearly twofold 3 the number of the previous week.
Amongst avmotic or epidemic diseases, scarlatina
and typhus are the most rife, and destroyed nearly
the same Luißbet of lives ;,from the former
_there
were 41 deathl; frorn the latter 47. Meisles is not
now so fatal as usual as rggards the metropolitan dis-
tricts generally:;. but Mr. Chatwood, the registrar of
St. Paul, in St. George's -in-the. East, mentions a
family in Mary-street, in which two children have
died last week from measles, and six others are
suffering under it ; and he adds, that mea-
sles of a malignant form is very prevalent
in his district. In a house, 7, Bluegate-
fields, also in St. Paul sub-district, the son of a la-
bourer, aged 6 months, died of " confluent small-pox
(10 days), not vaccinated." It is stated in the medical
certificate that the complaint was brought by families
from Ireland, and that "great numbers are now living
in this house in a most filthy and deplorable condi-
tion." The only case of cholera registered occurred
on the 17th November, at 32, Cambridge-terrace,
Clapham-road ; the son of a merchant, aged five
weeks, died of " English cholera." Fever finds its
victims in damp, ill-drained, unwholesome residences,
and several cases in point are now reported by the
local officers. Amongst these Mr. Wells draws attention
to a locality in John-street, near Tottenham-court-
road, where four deaths of children, some of them from
fever, have recently occurred " within a few yards of
each other." The stench in the houses (he adds) is
almost insufferable, and several persons are now lying
dangerously ill, owing entirely to defective drainage.
Intemperance was fatal in the week to three per-
sons ; in two cases by producing delirium tremens or
other disease, and one, by means of a fall received in
a state of intoxication.

The births of 708 boys and 673 girls, in all 1,381
children, were registered in the week. The average
of five corresponding weeks in 1848-9 was 1,320.

MORTALITY in the METROPOLIS
NUMBER OF DEATHS FROM ALL CAUSES REGISTERED LN
TIIE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, NOT. 16, 1850.
Epidemic, Endemic, and Contagious Diseases ...*203
Diseases of Uncertain Seat ...
Tubercular Diseases ... 133'
Diseases of the Brain, Nerves, and Senses... ... 134
Diseases of the Heart and 8100d-vessels 38
Diseases of the Lungs, and other Organs of

Respiration ... ... ... ... 20
Diseases of the Stomach, Liver, and other Organs
_ _

of Digestion... ••• S.lll. "•• ...
Diseases of the Kidneys, &c.
Childbirth, Diseases of the Uterus, &c. „„
Diseases of the Joints, Bones, and Muscles
Diseases of the Skin, &c. ••• ••• •04
Malformations... ... •••
Premature Birth ... ••• •• •••
Atrophy ••• ••• ••• .64 SOO
Did Age ... ... ..• ..• ...
Sudden ... ... '
••• ...
Violence, Privation Cold, and Intemperance
Causes not specified ... ••• ••• •••

... 56

•.• 8

... 19

... 48

... 33

DEATHS FROM ALL CAUSES ... ..• 1,016
Population Deaths in corre- Deaths
Enumerated, spending week in the
1841. of 1849. Week.
WC.I.St Districts... 301,189 . . 148 ... 163
North Districts.. 376,568 .. 137 ... 176
Central Districts 374,199 ... 130 ... 148
East Districts ... 393,067 ... 229 ... 239
south Districts.. 503,346 ... 248 ... 290