The Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, Vol. XLIX: April-October 1850Various
Science
The Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, Vol. XLIX: April-October 1850
Various
Science -- Periodicals
THIRD QUARTER.--The temperature of the quarter ending September 30th
is 0°·37 _below_ the average, and the complement of the dew-point, as
compared with the two previous years, is 0°·5 _below_ the mean. The
depth of rain is 0·36 inch under the average quantity, which is 12·42
inches. The deaths in the third quarter of 1849, in the town and
suburb, are 168, or 47 above the corrected average number; and, except
in 1846, a greater number than has occurred in any September quarter
since the register was begun in 1839. In the September quarter of the
last four years, the deaths are as under: 1846, 255; 1847, 148; 1848,
142; and 1849, 168. The births exceed the deaths by six in number.
During this quarter we had a few cases of Asiatic cholera in this
town, chiefly in the month of September; and at the adjacent seaport
of Workington the disease was of a most malignant character, and
exceedingly fatal. The total number of deaths from the commencement of
the epidemic on the 13th of August, till it entirely ceased on the 6th
of November, was 172. In 1841, the population was 6041, which gives a
mortality of 2·8 per cent., or one death in every 35 persons, from
cholera. It is, however, believed that the population of Workington
has decreased since the last census was taken; and at the time the
epidemic was raging, most of the respectable inhabitants had left the
place; so that the ratio of mortality amongst the then residents must
have been considerably greater than is here stated. A singular fact
connected with the disease is its sudden cessation for several days,
at the expiration of which it returns with increased virulence. In the
week between the 25th and 31st of August, the deaths were 65; from the
31st August to the 8th September there were none; on the 8th, 12; 9th
and 10th, none; on the 11th, 13; and on the 12th only one death; 13th,
11; from the 14th to the 19th inclusive, the deaths averaged 2·5
daily, but on the 20th they rose to 13; and between the 21st and the
end of September there were only eight deaths, which occurred on the
21st, 22d, 25th, and 27th.
Between the 1st and 20th of October the deaths were 32, and during
that period there were frequently none for three or four consecutive
days. There was only one death after the 20th October. It occurred on
the 6th of November, when the pestilence ceased. I am informed by a
resident medical gentleman, that at the commencement of the disease
the cases were rapidly fatal, many of them after eight or ten hours'
illness, and it was then almost entirely confined to the lower
classes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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