412 THE CLIMATE OF IRELAND, AND 



age, in the buildings of the Association, is said to be only 5 per 

 1000, the corresponding death-rate for the whole Metropolis 

 being 46 ! 



The annual death-rate in Dublin, as deduced from the returns 

 of the Census of 1851, was 29 per 1000. The Act for the registra- 

 tion of births and deaths in Ireland came into operation only at 

 the beginning of last year ; and the death-rate in Dublin, deduced 

 from the returns made under that Act, was 27 per 1000. Thus 

 there has been some amelioration in our sanitary state, although 

 much still remains to be done. We have every reason to hope 

 that the sanitary measures now in progress in this city, under the 

 direction of a gentleman so competent to the task as the present 

 Medical Officer of Health, will before long effect the desired im- 

 provements. 



I have ventured to touch upon these painful topics, on account 

 of their urgent importance at the present time. A fearful epidemic 

 has, in its stern undeviating march, revisited Great Britain, and, 

 if the arm of the Almighty be not stretched forth to arrest its 

 progress, will shortly reach our homes. Whatever be the original 

 source of this formidable disease, it seems to be now generally 

 believed that its proximate cause is the poisoning of the blood ; and 

 we cannot doubt that this poison is communicated to others, whose 

 vital powers are unable to resist it, through the air for we can in 

 no other way explain the fact, that the disease in its progress fol- 

 lows the great highways of human intercourse, while at the same 

 time it is little, if at all, contagious. It is thus refemBle to the 

 general cause already adverted to namely, the power of disorgan- 

 ized matter to generate decay although the effect bears in this, 

 as in other familiar cases, the impress of the original type. It is 

 true, we have not yet succeeded in tracing the organic element in 

 the air, to which it owes its destructive power. But there are 

 many facts which prove that the air does contain elements which 

 evade all the resources of chemistry, while, nevertheless, their 

 presence is proved by their physiological effects. No chemist has 

 detected the substance which imparts the perfume of the rose to 

 the air ; and yet there are individuals so sensitive to the odour of 

 flowers, as to be rendered ill by inhabiting the room in which they 

 lie. It is even stated I quote from a high French authority 



the first year of their age, is 9 per cent, of the total number in the rural districts, while 

 it is 16 per cent, in towns. 



