local government department
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inebriates. Among those who took part in the discussionwere Messrs. Jabez Hogg, H. W. Williams, G. K. Poole,Hazell, Paramore, and Parsons (West Worthing).
EXTENSION OF MARISCHAL COLLEGE.
WITH a view to extending the University Buildings inNew Aberdeen, the university authorities some time agoacquired several of the old houses adjoining the College,and, to make way for the present extensions, seven housesare to be cleared away. The new buildings are to be erected
parallel to, and between, the south wing of Marischal
College and Longacre, and will measure 168 fit. in length,27 ft. in width, and 57 ft. in height, and will consist of fourstoreys. Amongst other conveniences, there will be twolarge animal observation rooms, a hygienic museum, a
bacteriological laboratory, a materia medica practical class-room, a physiological practical class-room, a medical juris-prudence practical class-room, and numerous other depart-ments connected with medical study, all designed on themost modern and approved principles. The new buildings,which have been designed by the Government architect forScotland, Mr. W. W. Robertson, are to be ready for
occupancy by March, 1891, and the total cost of the presentextensions will be between JE5000 and .S6000.
Public Health and Poor Law.LOCAL GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENT.
REPORTS OF MEDICAL OFFICERS OF HEALTH.
Birmingham, OitÝ.-Last year, according to Dr. AlfredHill, Birmingham attained the lowest death-rate it has eveibeen able to record-namely, one of 17’5 per 1000,-andconsiderable improvement existed as regards the more
preventable diseases, such as fever and diphtheria. The
authority are, however, very properly warned that some atleast of this satisfactory state of affairs was due to excep-tionally favourable climatic conditions; and we may nowadd that scarlet fever, which last year was just rising fromits lowest ebb, has since then given evidence of how suchdiseases run in cycles ; indeed, in 1888 that disease was stilllying all but dormant. The infantile death-rate was alsolow in Birmingham last year in comparison with previousyears. As usually, it was to an important extent made upof infantile diarrhoea, and to this disease Dr. Hill devotessome attention, quoting, among other things, the whole ofDr. Ballard’s general report to the Local GovernmentBoard on the subject. The abolition of the filthy form ofmidden privy, heretofore almost general, is steadily pro-ceeding ; the need for a proper abattoir is becoming moreand more pressing; the dairies, milkshops, and cowhousesare looked after, and are especially reported on ; as are
also the canal boats and the bakehouses. The infectioushospital received 528 cases of scarlet fever and 18 of small-pox, and resort to the hospital for the purposes of isolationis stated to be becoming more and more popular. Anexcellent disease chart, which, however, includes neitherdiarrhoea nor small-pox, appears in the report, in additionto other matter both tabulated and in the form of diagrams.
Bollington Urban District.-With a population estimatedat 3900, Bollington had last year a death-rate of 18 -2 per 1000.Mr. Allen’s report is a brief one in so far as the sanitarycircumstances of the district are concerned, but it is statedthat back yards and streets are still in a very defectivestate as regards paving, that some improvement has takenplace as to dwelling accommodation, that drainage andother nuisances have been attended to, and that the dairies,cow sheds, and milk shops have been inspected as heretofore.
Kingston-upon-Thames.—This district had in 1888 thelowest general and zymotic death-rates on record-namely,14-2 and 0-68 per 1000 living, the population being 23,490.Diphtheria, formerly somewhat prevalent, almost dis-appeared last year, and Dr. Shirtliff desires to point outthat this result has occurred concurrently with a system ofdisconnexion of house drains, although he declines to tie
himself to the view that the two events are necessarilyrelated to each other as cause and effect. A constantwater-supply remains to be provided. The question of thedisposal of the sewage is reported to have been most satis-factorily dealt with, and the dual system of notification isreferred to as working in a harmonious way.EaZing Urban District.-Assuming the population of this
West-end suburb to be 22,800, Dr. Patten finds the death-rate to have been 10’9 per 1000 for last year. The zymoticmortality was also small; but Ealing is well prepared tomeet any emergency by having an excellent isolation hos-pital, which continues to be resorted to by all classes, andespecially by so-called private patients, who have a smallisolation room to themselves. Private roads have beenimproved during the year, and there has been a con-tinuation of good current sanitary work.
VITAL STATISTICS.
HEALTH OF ENGLISH TOWNS.
IN twenty-eight of the largest English towns 5501 birthsand 3285 deaths were registered during the week endingSept. 28th. The annual rate of mortality in thesetowns, which had been 16’2, 16’9, and 17’0 per 1000 inthe preceding three weeks, further rose last week to 17’9.During the thirteen weeks ending on Saturday last thedeath-rate in these towns averaged 18’6 per 1000, andwas 1’6 below the mean rate in the correspondingperiods of the ten years 1879-88. The lowest rates inthese towns last week were 7’9 in Huddersfield, 12’5 inNottingham, 14’7 in Oldham, and 14-9 in Norwich. Therates in the other towns ranged upwards to 27’6 in Sunder-land, 28’0 in Blackburn, 31’0 in Preston, and 32-7 in Ply-mouth. The deaths referred to the principal zymoticdiseases, which had been 529 and 537 in the preceding twoweeks, declined again last week to 529; they included 258from diarrhoea, 67 trom scarlet fever, 60 from diphtheria, 60from whooping-cough, 56 from " fever
" (principally enteric),28 from measles, and not one from small-pox. These zymoticdiseases caused no death last week in Derby, and thehighest death-rates in Blackburn, Preston, and Plymouth.The greatest mortality from diarrhoea occurred in Sunder-land, Newcastle - upon - Tyne, Bolton, Wolverhampton,Blackburn, and Preston; from scarlet fever in Blackburnand Plymouth; from whooping-cough in Plymouth andWolverhampton ; from "fever" in Salford, Portsmouth,and Halifax ; and from measles in Newcastle-upon-Tyneand Norwich. The deaths from diphtheria included 44in London, 4 in Portsmouth, 3 in Manchester, 3 inSalford, and 2 in Plymouth. Small-pox caused no deathin any of the tweny-eight great towns; and no small-pox patient was under treatment at the end of theweek either in the Metropolitan Asylum Hospitals or
in the Highgate Small-pox Hospital. The number ofscarlet-fever patients in the Metropolitan Asylum and theLondon Fever Hospitals at the end of the week was1247, against numbers increasing in the precedingthirteen weeks from 559 to 1171 ; 166 cases were ad-mitted to these hospitals during the week, against 196 and128 in the two previous weeks. The deaths referred todiseases of the respiratory organs in London, which hadbeen 152 and 142 in the preceding two weeks, rose last weekto 189, but were 34 below the corrected average. Thecauses of 69, or 2’1 per cent., of the deaths in the twenty-eight towns last week were not certified either by a regis-tered medical practitioner or by a coroner. All the causesof death were duly certified in Salford, Oldham, Ports-mouth, and in six other smaller towns ; the largest propor-tions of uncertified deaths were registered in Liverpool,Cardiff, and Hull.
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HEALTH OF SCOTCH TOWNS.
The annual rate of mortality in the eight Scotch towns,which had been 19’1 and 16’4 per 1000 in the preceding twoweeks, rose again to 18’8 in the week ending Sept. 28th; thisrate exceeded by 0 ’9 the mean rate that prevailed during thesame week in the twenty-eight large English towns. Therates in the Scotch towns ranged from 9-5 in Perth, and16’6 in Edinburgh and in Dundee, to 20’7 in Glasgow, and25’2 in Leith. The 481 deaths in the eight towns showedan increase of 62 upon the number in the previous week,and included 30 which were referred to diarrhoea, 14 to