The Registrar's returns for the past week show that the
influenza epidemic is again seriously prevalent in London and the large towns. The deaths directly attributable to that cause in London, which had stood at 42, 38, 69, and 193 in the preceding four weeks, advanced to 316, with the result that the death-rate rose to 371 per thousand, the usual rate being only 22-5. Not only has the mortality from this cause been five times as great as it should be in the last five weeks, but the deaths registered under diseases of the respiratory organs exhibit an excess of 558. The total deaths during the week were 3,266, or no fewer than 1,109 above the average. Thus in London alone the excess for a single week is equal to the entire number of deaths caused hitherto by the war, while in five weeks the excess deaths from influenza, which exceed the corrected average by 528, reach fully half that total. In some of the provincial towns the death-rate has nearly touched 50 per thousand per week Apply this to Ladysmith camp and its 10,000 soldiers, and we should have death casualties of 500 per week. In truth, disease is a. far greater worker in the field of death than battle.
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