AND EAST CUMBERLAND AND WESTMORLAND NEWS. NO. 440 - Eighth Week in Quarter Registered for Transmission ABroad. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1874. PRICE 1D. ============================================= The following report was presented at the meeting of the Rural Sanitary Authority at Appleby on the 14th instant: ................. Kirkby Lonsdale, Feb. 4th, 1874. During the quarter ending December 31st, the births of 99 children, and the deaths of 80 persons, of both sexes, were registered. The natural increase of population was thus 19. On the whole the health of the fourth, or winter quarter, was satisfactory. The birth rate was equivalent to 23 births annually to every 1,000 of the estimated population. The proportion of illegitimate to every 100 births was 14:1. The death rate, last quarter, was equal to a yearly mortality of 18:6 per 1,000. The percentage of deaths of children under one year of age, to total deaths, was 16.2, and measured in relation to the births registered was 21.2. The influence of season upon the death rate was shewn in the increase of deaths from diseases of the respiratory organs, the numbers being 9 as against 1 in the previous quarter. The great duration of life in the district was exemplified by the deaths at advanced ages, 23 being referred to persons from 60 to 80 years, and one at the extreme age of 92. The mortality from zymotic or infectious diseases was equal to an annual ratio of 1.6 per 1,000, nearly identical with the favourable state which prevailed in the preceding quarter. Last quarter I made a special report upon the sanitary difficiencies and requirements of Kirkbythore, to which was attached the result of a chemical examination of the drinking water obtained from several of the wells. It is now instructive to know that lately, during the progress of the sewage works there, animal remains, and evidences of accumulated organic impurities, were discovered within a few feet of the particular well from which those families, in which typhoid fever and diarrhoea broke out, chiefly drew their supply, thus clenching, in a remarkable manner, the results of the analysis, and completing the chain of evidence against the suspected origin of the mischief. DAVID PAGE, M.D., Medical Officer of Health. Deaths for quarter ending Dec. 31, 1873..............................80 (Equivalent to an annual mortality of 18.6 per 1,000 living) Mortality of Preceding quarter.............................................71 Enumerated population in. 1871. Appleby..............................6622. Kirkby Stephen...................7160. Orton..................................3155. ........................................._____ Total 16937. Mortality as to age. Under 1 year...............21 1 to 5 years...................5 2 to 20 years.................9 20 to 40 years...............9 40 to 60 years..............12 60 to 80 years..............21 80 to 90 years................2 90 and upwards.............1 Mortality as to age. Under 1 year................21 1 to 5 years....................5 2 to 20 years..................9 20 to 40 years................9 40 to 60 years...............12 60 to 80 years...............21 80 to 90 years.................2 90 and upwards.............1 Mortality as to disease Brain..............................8 Heart..............................4 Chest............................. Bronchitis.................6 Pneumonia..............1 Pleurisy....................1 Other........................1 Phthisis.............................8 Scrofula............................3 Abdomen........................10 Debility...........................12 Old Age............................9 Injuries.............................. Railway....................1 Drowning Sunstroke Lightning Suffocation Otherwise..................2 Other Causes...........14 Mortality as to Zygmotic Diseases. Typhoid fever, 5; measles, 1; croup, 3; diarrhoea and dysentry 1. Births for the Quarter. Males.....................Legitimate 48............Illegitimate 9 Females.................Legitimate 37............Illegitimate 5 Total.........................................85.............................14