Statistics have now come to the support of that iconoclastic
school of thought which holds that August is the best month to be in London. The weather may not have been all we could desire in holiday seasons, but we can seek consolation in the facts of a greatly lowered death-rate. A year ago it was 11.5. Last week it was 8.1. The heavy rains coming just at the hatching time for insect eggs, the number of germ carriers was greatly reduced and the result is readily seen in the infant mortality rate. For the same week last year in London infant deaths were 142, and those due to diarrhoea (under two years) were 154. This year the corresponding figures are 43 and 13 respectively. The other great towns of the country seem not to have fared so well. They show an average decrease in the death-rate from 10.9 of last year to 9.1 this year.
Previous page
