which it suffers; and it is grievous to experience, and melancholy to contemplate; but still there are facts of promise; we must hope and labour on; and some of the most beneficial labours of those who are fortunate in being placed above and out of the reach of such influences, would be in the production of complete statistical returns. demonstrating, as they must do when complete, the enormous expense in money as well as in pain, sickness, and waste of life, which would make it worth while to buy off, on the most liberal terms, every existing opposing interest to the most certain measures of human improvement.

If there could be intercommunication and simultaneous labours of statists in different places, based on local investigations, each might afford light to advance the labours of the other, and give to vital statistics a public estimation and use beyond any which they have at present obtained!

The subjoined tables are submitted only as imperfect approximations to more improved returns. In them will be found combined the mean ages and deaths prevailing amongst the several classes of society, so far as the present imperfect state of the registries (which the present Registrar-General has shown every disposition to improve) will allow them to be ascertained; together with the mean ages of the living population, and the proportions of births and deaths to the population, and the numbers of deaths from epidemics in each class. The deaths of children were taken up to the period of ten years, not as the best stage, but as the stage necessary for the special purposes for which the returns were obtained, namely, to ascertain the proportions of burials of adults in the Metropolis, all being classed technically as adults who are above that age.

The districts are placed in the order of the average age of death of the whole population during the year 1839, commencing with the highest average.

* Mr. W. B. Robinson, the Registrar for West Hackney District, describes the condition of the houses where the greatest mortality prevails as bad, with murky superficial gutters within a yard of the front doors. Supply of water bad, quite insufficient for health, and that only three times a week; cleanliness not prevailing. All these require three things only to render them not less healthy than the other parts of the neighbourhood:-1. Proper and effectual drainage, and removal of superficial drains and gutters, 2. A constant supply of water, so as to wash away impurities in the drains, and enable the inhabitants to preserve a greater degree of cleanliness, &c. 3. That the houses should be kept in better repair, and frequently lime-washed; and the privies should be more frequently emptied, and not allowed to run over; and that any stagnant ditch, within a certain distance from houses, should be covered over.

Mr. E. Jay, Registrar of Hanover-square District.-Name any particular streets, courts, or houses which, from the number of deaths occurring therein, and the nature of the diseases, appear to you to be unhealthy. -"I should therefore say that the most unhealthy streets, &c., in my district are Oxford-buildings, Brownstreet, Toms-court, Thomas-street, Grosvenor market, Grosvenor-mews, George-street, and Hart street; and to these, perhaps, may be added North-row, and Dolphin-court, and Providence-court, also the north end of Davies-street, adjoining Oxford-street. I have observed small-pox always to exist, when prevalent anywhere, in No. 24, George-street (Grosvenor-market); and much sickness and mortality have occurred in No. 18, Oxford-buildings. Oxford-buildings consist of 18 inhabited houses, containing many wretched families, principally Irish labourers; it was improved lately, in consequence of the exertions of humane individuals, but is still the seat of great poverty and vice. The ventilation here is so bad, that even visiting the houses is a disagreeable duty, from the foul air breathed even for a short space of time. The supply of water is good, and the drainage is reported by those who attend to the subject to be perfect, as it is throughout the parish; but the bad effluvia show that there must be some defect in this point. Three families frequently live in one room, some of the houses containing upwards of 56 persons; many of them live almost entirely on potatoes and herrings, and beer when they can get it. Want of fuel in many cases in winter. Brownstreet.-Occupied by the poor and working class; the rooms very small, badly ventilated, and cleansed; the damp kitchens, with frequently stone-floors, are lived and slept in. Living is bad, from the poverty which prevails here. Hart street. Many poor families reside here, often in great want. Tolerably well drained. Toms court.-Contains eight houses; inhabitants in a wretched state in many cases, partly from want of employ, partly from intemperance. Small pox and epidemics have raged here. George-street.-Some of the houses here are inhabited by working men of a better class, but it also contains others in a wretched condition, in point of cleanliness and ventilation, and much privation is suffered by the inhabitants. Grosvenor-market. This spot is particularly close, being built almost in cul de sac; the houses are dark, badly ventilated, and most unhealthy; the food of some of the poorest principally potatoes; a large slaughter house situated here adds to its unhealthiness; great want of fuel in winter. Grosvenor-mews.Here the inhabitants are very thickly erowded, and among the children there is always much mortality; in one house, at the time of taking the census, there were 80 persons. The inhabitants consist of coachmen and their families, as do many of the mews in this district. This class is frequently intemperate; they live over stables, are ignorant of the necessity of free ventilation, and many appear to suffer in consequence. New comers from the country complain of the want of free air, to which they ascribe their deteriorated health. Thomas-street. Some of the houses in bad condition, and inhabited by the poorest families. No attention to ventilation. Supply of butchers' meat casual and infrequent. Pneumonia and bronchitis are frequently fatal in these poorer districts; and he who enters the damp, dark, underground kitchen,-in which all the occupants live and sleep, in which the room is made more close by a fire required for their cooking, the atmosphere is loaded with moisture from wet clothes hung across the narrow space to dry, and probably some child ill of disease,-sees that such a state of surrounding circumstances shuts out all chance of recovery in at least the majority of cases.'

VOL. VII.-PART I.

D

• Mr. Worrell, the Registrar of the Gray's Inn-lane District:-"To ascertain and compare the healthy with the unhealthy parts of my district, I have placed against each street the whole number of deaths from all canses during the last five years. I have taken the number of deaths from a population of 5000, resident in

what I consider healthy streets; and I have also taken the number of deaths from a population of 5000, resident in streets which I consider unhealthy. The 5000 occupying the best houses are composed of merchants, professional gentlemen, and the richer class of tradesmen; they occupy 723 houses, containing about 7800 good rooms; the streets are wide, well drained, and have a plentiful supply of water. The 5000 occupying the unhealthy streets are composed of the lower class of tradesmen, journeymen mechanics, labourers, and costermongers; they occupy 434 houses, containing about 2800 rooms, the best of which are little better than the worst of the 7800 before mentioned; the streets are mostly confined, the drains in a bad state, and in many places the accumulation of filth renders the atmosphere foul, whilst the supply of water is not very good. The number of deaths which I find in the healthy streets during five years, amongst a population of 5000, amounts to 325; and, during the same period, amongst 5000 occupying the unhealthy streets I find 613. No doubt many of the residents in the best houses go into the country, with the view of benefitting their health, and there die; but certain it is that many more of the poorer classes die in the workhouses and hospitals-so that, no doubt, amongst a certain number of poor, at least two deaths occur to one amongst the same number of rich. Having been a collector of rates upwards of 25 years, and, as a house agent, having had much to do with the letting of houses, I am thoroughly acquainted with the neighbourhood; and, having taken an active part in collecting and distributing voluntary contributions in times of distress and severe weather, I have been enabled to judge of the condition of the poor