Sir William Harcourt's " trilogy " of speeches comes off
rather slowly. The second has been delivered this week, but the third still hangs fire. Lectured upon his levity, Sir William Harcourt made a great effort to be dull in addressing the Druids on Mon- day, and we may say at once that his effort was crowned with success. He demonstrated to Oxford, that in spite of its damp and its floods, it is a very healthy place. He showed that the general death-rate of Oxford was, in 1872, only 19.3 for every thousand of the population, while the average of fifty considerable towns was 231 for every thousand of the population. But as regards deaths from diseases of the pre- ventable class,—diseases caused by germs of corruption in the air or water,—while the average of the fifty towns was 5 per 1,000, Oxford in 1872 had only 21 for each thousand of the population, less than half the average rate. The year 1873 was not so healthy as 1872, and the death-rate of Oxford increased to 21-9 per 1,000, but of deaths from the zymotic diseases there were only six more in 1873 than in 1872, i.e., they only increased from 21 to 21 per 1,000. The year 1874 stood between 1873 and 1872 in point of general health, though there was again a very slight increase in the deaths from diseases of the zymotio class. So Oxford is free from the reproach of being unhealthy,—the reproach which, next to that of poverty, weighs most upon the British conscience. Indeed, Sir William Harcourt took occasion to assure the Druids that Oxford was also gaining in wealth year by year. With a relatively low rate of mortality and a yearly increasing schedule of "rate- able value," Oxford must feel its corporate conscience unusually light and clear.
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