[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Lewisham].

  • Lewisham (London, England). Board of Works.
Date:
1860
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: [Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Lewisham]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: City of London, London Metropolitan Archives

    13/31 (page 10)
    10 METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. Week ending. Weight of air. Barometer corrected. Mean inches. Temperature of Air. Thermometer. Prevailing winds. Rainy days. Amount of rain in inches. Highest. Lowest. Mean of daily readings. April 2 29.622 56°5 25°3 42°6 S.W. 2 0.53 9 29.831 79.0 43.5 56.3 S.W. 2 0.10 16 29.277 59.8 30.8 42.4 N.W. 5 0.86 23 29.568 56.0 28.5 41.0 N.E. - 0.00 MAY. DISTRICTS. BIRTHS. DEATHS. Males. Females. Total. Males. Females. Total. Blackheath 3 3 6 4 1 5 Lewisham 9 7 16 4 4 8 Union Workhouse - - - 3 1 4 Sydenham 17 8 25 6 5 11 Penge 3 3 6 - 1 1 Total 32 21 53 17 12 29 Gentlemen, The mortality during this month (the same in number as in April) bears an exceed ingly favourable average, the number of deaths recorded being twenty-nine. During the same period last year forty-six deaths were registered. The health of the district in some parts (viz., those suffering from insufficient or offensive drainage) is, however, not quite so good as the above satisfactory returns would lead us to suppose. Four cases of smallpox have been brought under my notice; and as in all the metropolitan districts this disease is more than ordinarily prevalent, it is necessary that the strictest attention should be paid to vaccination, to annihilate this fearful disease. A superior ladies' school in Sydenham has been broken up in consequence of a death from malignant sore throat (diptheria), but the disease does not appear to have originated in that establishment, although the houses drain into an open ditch a few yards from the termination of the Park End sewer. Some cases of malignant scarlet fever have occurred in West Kent Park ; and hooping cough is extensively prevalent in the whole district. I have to lay before you a few remarks as to the drainage of this district, varying in character according to the nature of the soil. Thus (as I pointed out to you in my first Report in January, 1856, would be the case), in Blackheath and Lewisham (gravel and sand) the causes of complaint are principally from leakage and soakage of sewage; whereas, in Sydenham and Penge (clay), the causes of complaint arise from the inability of the soil to receive liquid, and the consequent offensive overflow of sewage upon the surface and into ditches. Blackheath.—The cottages in Phoenix Vale require improved drainage, as well as a supply of water. The pump which supplies all these cottages is out of repair, and requires immediate attention. The offensive open privies in Pound's Mews remain the same as when reported in 1856. At Mr. Matthews's, grocer, and the adjoining house, the contents of the cesspool ooze into the well and contaminate the water, which is unfit for drinking; a sewer is required here. Lewisham (Sandwell Place).—The porous strata are percolated by the contents of cesspools. Mr. Stott, the Union Medical Officer, informs me that his family have been suffering from fever, and that he shall, at great expense, be obliged to remove unless