Xo, XXXVI.c] APPE>rDIX. 417 



would have any idea of. One million gallons represented a height of 1,340 

 feet on an acre, or np-wards of 4,000 feet for three millions, and dividing 

 that over 400 acres it represented 120 inches per annnm, which was so 

 excessive that it must convert the land into a swamp. None of the Local 

 Boards conld see it in that light, but the birds soon found it out, as was 

 proved by the quantity of snipe which visited it in the winter. If further 

 proof were needed, he might mention that on the previous Saturday some 

 thirty or more boys and girls were skating and sliding on the piece of 

 ground where it was said the water was drained away in the most satis- 

 factory manner. Again, it was said there was no puti-id sewage at Croydon ; 

 but every medical man knew that the poison of typhoid fever was far 

 more effective in its fresh state, and he stated that the sewage passed 

 over the land within ten hours, so that in less than a day the fsecal matter 

 was in full bloom on the watercresses, tons and tons of which were grown 

 and sent to London. On the table were two vessels filled, one with water- 

 cresses, and the other with grass, over which filthy sewage had been 

 poured, and it would be seen that the water which flowed through was 

 tolerably clear, showing that the feculent matter was arrested by the 

 leaves and stalks of the vegetation, which was eaten, in one case by human 

 beings, and in the other by animals. Then it was said that no one had 

 suffered from the sewage farm, but eib'acts from the register would 

 show the cause of death in the instances referred to. (See p. 385.) He 

 had also obtained from Dr. Farr, at Somerset House, the following 

 figures as to the deaths at Carshalton, and it was there you must look for 

 the effects, not in Croydon itself : — 



Deaths at Carshalton. 



l)B«lhi Scirlet p \Vlioopmg 



September quarter, 1875 71 11 4 



Deoember „ , 60 S 1 1 



Croydon Sub-disirM. 



Zymotic 



June. 1S75 369 60 



September, 1875 359 69 



Mr. had reproduced statistics which he had shown to be 



fallacious on more than one occasion already, and in order that the matter 



might be properly understood he had obtained from an eminent actuary 



the following tables, the meaning of which would be explained by the 



correspondence : — 



" 7, Finsbury Circus, London, B.C.. 



January 3rd, 1876. 

 •' My deae Sir,— It is a matter of public interest to know the rate of 

 mortality which may be expected per thousand in the town of Croydon, 

 where during the past year a great epidemic by typhoid fever has raged. 



" If adequate materials exist for the calculation of an authoritative 

 statement of the numbers at each age and of both sexes, I should be 

 oreatiy obliged if you would calculate the expected number for me. It 

 appears to me that they should be calculated on the results of the 



2 E 



