52 4 died. 46 6 died. Under 10 yrs..... 104, 8 of whom died. Males.. 98 10 died. 112, 10 of whom died. Females 118 8 died. Above that age, All the cases of pneumonia occurred in children under 10 years of age. The cases of chronic bronchitis, on the contrary, were all observed in adults. One of the cases of measles was a young unmarried woman, 25 years of age, who, according to her mother's statement, had, when a child, a previous attack of the disease. In two of these cases, small-pox occurred rather more than twenty years after vaccination; in one case, twenty-two; and in the other twenty-four years. In the two children, the interval between vaccination and the attack of small-pox was, in one case, two years, and in the other nearly five. The disease was not severe in any of the four cases; but in all, the cicatrices, from the vaccination, were visible. The almost complete exemption that Birmingham enjoyed, during the last year, from spasmodic cholera, (only 31 cases of that disease having altogether occurred here,) may make it a subject of some interest to contrast the number of cases of bowel complaint, common diarrhoea and bilious cholera, which I attended as infirmary patients, in the two years, 1831 and 1832. The greater frequency of disorders of the digestive organs in females than in males will also be seen by adding together the principal diseases of those organs, thus: 1st Qr. 2nd Qr. 3rd Qr. 4th Qr. Cholera biliosa, in 1831, 0 0 died. 0 0 died. 70 4 died. 61 died. Ditto in 1832, 0 0 died. 1 1 died. 7 0 died. 8 0 died. Total. 76 5 died. 16 1 died. From this comparison it will be seen that, during the last year, 1832, both diarrhoea and bilious cholera were diseases of much less severity than they were in the preceding year, 1831. A similar difference, in this respect, between the two years, was likewise noticed by my colleagues at the infirmary. REPORT OF THE STATE OF DISEASE IN THE CITY OF WORCESTER DURING THE YEAR 1832, WITH A SUMMARY OF THE ATMOSPHERICAL PHENOMENA DURING THE SAME PERIOD BY ROBERT I. N. STREETEN, M.D. In the excellent address delivered by Dr. Hastings at the formation of the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association, the attention of the profession is forcibly called to the importance of statistical researches connected with the science of medicine, and the benefit to be derived from such researches, when conducted upon sound principles, ably pointed out. I have, therefore, thought it not altogether an unprofitable enquiry to endeavour to ascertain, as far as the opportunities afforded me would admit, the actual state of disease in this city during the past year:-a period which presents features of peculiar interest in this respect, from the prevalence of that epidemic visitation which, although stayed in its ravages, and deprived of a portion of its terrors by the hand of a merciful Providence, yet lingers on our shores, and, by its occasional recurrence, still utters the voice of warning in the country. In the fulfilment of this object, I have thought it desirable to examine the meteorological registers preserved in the neighbourhood, with the view of ascertaining what effects may have been produced upon the state of the public health by the variations of the atmospheric conditions of heat, moisture, pressure, and electricity. For the opportunity of making this enquiry, I am indebted to the kindness and liberality of John Williams, Esq. of Pitmaston, near this city, whose long and unwearied attention to meteorology is well known amongst the cultivators of that branch of natural science. From the very full and complete record of observations regularly kept by this gentleman, the following account of the states of the atmosphere during the past year has been condensed, and the accompanying tables calculated. The year 1832 commenced with slight frosts, some snow having fallen on the 1st of the month, and the sky being generally clouded over, the wind from the south-east and east, but veering round towards the north about the end of the first week. On the 9th of January the wind was from the south, the temperature rising, and between this point and the west it continued nearly the whole month, the sky being almost constantly overcast, though little rain or snow fell. From the 13th to the 15th the wind was from the north-east, and again on the 27th and 28th, and the air rather keen. Snow fell on two days, and sleet once, early in the month, and there was a good deal of fog from the 18th to the 21st inclusive, but the general character of the season was mild. |