BY THE REV. K. F. WHEELER, M.A. 427 



In some more "favoured district an official inquiry is insti- 

 tuted, and after a certain time occupied in eliciting evidence and 

 the examination of witnesses, a report is published, which ne- 

 cessarily cannot be very complete, because the most important 

 element for its perfection is wanting, na,mely, reliable data upon 

 which to base the inductions." 



" Season has a great influence upon certain diseases. Of all 

 the seasons, the Registrar General thinks ' that summer is the 

 healthiest, winter the most unhealthy.' This is the reverse of 

 what was the case in former times, when the number of deaths 

 occurring in the summer always greatly exceeded those in the 

 w^inter. At the present time the winter mortality is by far the 

 greatest, unless an epidemic outbreak have occurred to swell 

 the list of summer deaths. Here is an evidence of the good 

 effect of legislative interference in the establishment of sanitary 

 measures in most of the large towns." 



"There exists a national system of registration of the causes 

 of death ; so there might be a corresponding national system of 

 registration of the actual cases of disease, which might justly be 

 called 'vital statistics,' and which would indicate the resistance 

 of one portion of the community against disease as compared 

 with another. Undoubtedly, the statistics of a single town are 

 instructive ; far more instruction, however, will be gained from 

 the compared statistics of various and many towns. In addition, 

 also, it would tend to throw light upon the causes of diseases, 

 on the means of their prevention, and the right understanding 

 of their etiology, the greatest reward of the worker in the wide 

 expanse of ' the great science of medicine.' " 



The following table and diagram has been prepared by Mr. 

 G-. C. Atkinson, and they show at a glance the fluctuations of 

 the barometer, thermometer, &c., at Wylam, for the past year, 

 and also the deviation from the average of the fourteen preced- 

 ing years. These tables, repeated as they are from year to 

 year, form a very ready and valuable means of comparing at a 

 glance the varying atmospheric conditions at the same place. 



