In the following pages there are presented statements in detail which exhibit the operations of the Health Department during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1889.

These operations cover a somewhat broad field, comprising the general sanitary inspection service; the inspection of food; the inspection of marine products; the inspection of plumbing and drainage work; the collection and removal of garbage, night-soil, and dead animals; the cleaning of streets, avenues, and alleys; the prevention of the running at large of domestic animals; the care of the sick and poor; the preven tion of the introduction and spread of infectious and contagious diseases, and the securement of a full and correct record of vital statistics in the District of Columbia.

A generous providence permits me to again congratulate the people of this city upon its continued healthfulness. No scourge has visited us during the year and the common afflictions of mankind have been dispensed so sparingly as to allow us to point to a death rate much below that of last year, and lower still than the average for the past thirteen years.

The figures relating to vital statistics, which follow, show Washington and the District of Columbia, with its quarter of a million of population, to compare favorably in point of healthfulness with any city in the world and to rank very far above the average of an overwhelming majority of the cities of the Union.

In my report for 1888, I took occasion in the introductory pages to call attention to the low death rate from diseases of the zymotic or preventable class, to which those interested in sanitation are called upon to give most consideration, and it affords gratification now to be able to record for the past year a reduction as compared with the rate then given. This gratification increases when we come to contemplate the fact that not alone in the zymotic class, but following in the constitutional, the local, the developmental, and the violence classes, reduction is also shown.

The annual death rate for the year is lower than that of any one of the twelve preceding years, and lower by 2.97 per 1,000 per annum than the average death rate for the past fourteen years.

The total mortality for the year was 5,152; of this number 1,458 were white males, 1,255 white females, 1,180 colored males, and 1,259 colored females; showing an annual death rate for the year of 20.60 per 1,000 per annum. The death rate of the white population reached only 15.96 per 1,000 per annum, the lowest ever known in the history of vital statistics in the District, while that of the colored population was 30.49 per 1,000 per annum.

REPORT

OF THE

EALTH OFFICER OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

In the following pages there are presented statements in detail which exhibit the operations of the Health Department during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1889.

These operations cover a somewhat broad field, comprising the general sanitary inspection service; the inspection of food; the inspection of marine products; the inspection of plumbing and drainage work; the collection and removal of garbage, night-soil, and dead animals; the cleaning of streets, avenues, and alleys; the prevention of the running at large of domestic animals; the care of the sick and poor; the prevention of the introduction and spread of infectious and contagious diseases, and the securement of a full and correct record of vital statistics in the District of Columbia.

A generous providence permits me to again congratulate the people of this city upon its continued healthfulness. No scourge has visited us during the year and the common afflictions of mankind have been dispensed so sparingly as to allow us to point to a death rate much below that of last year, and lower still than the average for the past thirteen years.

The figures relating to vital statistics, which follow, show Washington and the District of Columbia, with its quarter of a million of population, to compare favorably in point of healthfulness with any city in the world and to rank very far above the average of an overwhelming majority of the cities of the Union.

In my report for 1888, I took occasion in the introductory pages to call attention to the low death rate from diseases of the zymotic or preventable class, to which those interested in sanitation are called upon to give most consideration, and it affords gratification now to be able to record for the past year a reduction as compared with the rate then given. This gratification increases when we come to contemplate the fact that not alone in the zymotic class, but following in the constitutional, the local, the developmental, and the violence classes, reduction is also shown.

The annual death rate for the year is lower than that of any one of the twelve preceding years, and lower by 2.97 per 1,000 per annum than the average death rate for the past fourteen years.

The total mortality for the year was 5,152; of this number 1,458 were white males, 1,255 white females, 1,180 colored males, and 1,259 colored females; showing an annual death rate for the year of 20.60 per 1,000 per annum. The death rate of the white population reached only 15.96 per 1,000 per annum, the lowest ever known in the history of vital statistics in the District, while that of the colored population was 30.49 per 1,000 per annum.

When we consider the fact that 17 per 1,000 per annum is set down by statisticians as the minimum death-rate for cities, the figures given as regards our white population are exceedingly gratifying, as is also the fact that the death rate for the total population rises but little above the minimum figures.

The death rate of the colored population is still on the decrease, being 3.62 per 1,000 per annum lower than the mean average for the past thirteen years.

The death rate in the zymotic class of diseases was 4.95 per 1,000 per annum as against 4.99 for last year.

The facts in regard to deaths and death rates are explicitly given in the following condensed summaries (statements A, B, and C), and the whole subject of vital statistics is treated at length further on in these pages.

STATEMENT A.-Showing deaths by classes, arranged according to sex and color, with percentages and annual death-rates, for the year ending June 30, 1889.

Total

1, 458 1, 2551, 180 1, 259 2, 713 2, 439 5, 152 130.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 15. 96 30.49 20.65

STATEMENT B.-Showing deaths by classes, arranged according to sex and color, with percentages and annual death-rates, for the year ending June 30, 1888.