The report of the Registrar-General proves that the present Influenza
epidemic is exceptionally severe. The returns for the week ending Saturday last, published on Wednesday, show that in London the deaths from influenza were 271, as against 95 and 37 in the two previous weeks. These, however, are only the deaths primarily due to influenza, and many more must be added if the total account of mortality is to be cast np. The total deaths in London were 3,271, or 1,193 above the average ; and the death-rate was 40 per thousand, the figure in the previous week having only been 32-8. The annual death-rate of London is only 19-2. Perhaps the most curious fact about the epidemic is its partiality. Wolverhampton has the terribly high rate of 481, yet Birmingham, close by, has only 201 ; while Huddersfield is down to 14-6, and Bradford to 15.5. Brighton, strangely enough, shows the highest rate of all, 51.5, except Portsmouth, which is 57. This, however, is no doubt to some extent due to the fact that Brighton is the sanatorium of the Metropolis. Many of its deaths are really due to London. If we take an average for the thirty-three great towns of England and Wales together, the rate corresponds to an annual death-rate of 33 per 1,000. In Greater London, 3,577 births and 4,192 deaths took place in the week. Grimly minded arithmeticians may therefore amuse themselves by calculating how long it would take, supposing the present rate were maintained, and that no influx of population took place, to reduce the great city to a wilderness. The "classes" still bear the brunt of the epidemic. Tuesday's Times con- tained a column, and three-quarters of deaths,-159 in all, or three times the average.
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