The Registrar-General's weekly bulletin of vital statistics makes it only
too clear that influenza is on the increase. The deaths directly attributed to this cause stood at 20, 21, and 22 for the preceding three weeks, but rose last week to 50; while the annual death-rate per 1,000 from all causes, which had been 17 2, 15.8, and 19.4 for the weeks ending January 21st, January 28th, and February 4th, rose last week to 22.8. Where influenza is concerned, one is always tempted to establish some connection between its ravages and the state of the weather. Last week the mean reading of the thermo- meter was 8.3° above the week's average in the fifty years 1841-1890; while the reading on yesterday week (Friday, February 10th) eclipsed all records during that period. Is one, therefore, to attribute the recrudescence of influenza to the abnormal warmth, or to the after effects of the cold snap of the week before, or simply to the sudden changes of the temperature P
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