Week
ending
Convulsions Griping in
the guts
All
causes
July10 84 28 353
17 94 35 388
24 90 80 491
31 108 86 510
Aug.7 122 119 557
14 141 136 630
21 130 113 518
28 120 90 483
Sept.4 109 98 532
11 112 119 547
18 90 102 474
25 102 76 476
Oct.2 71 65 380
9 67 43 362

Summer and Autumn of 1689

Week
ending
Convulsions Griping in
the guts
All
causes
July16 108 60 486
23 109 65 463
30 121 69 504
Aug.6 147 102 576
13 121 130 631
20 140 150 662
27 150 190 726
Sept.3 150 170 733
10 108 156 693
17 110 117 630
24 95 90 558
Oct.1 104 89 540
9 76 78 486

The following table from the annual bills will serve to show the summers most fatal to infants in London, and at the same time the gradual usurpation of the place of “griping in the guts” by “convulsions.”

Annual deaths from Infantile Diarrhoea, etc., in London.

Griping in
the guts
Convulsions
1667 2108 1210
1668 2415 1417
1669 4385 1730
1670 3690 1695
1671 2537 1650
1672 2645 1965
1673 2624 1761
1674 1777 2256
1675 3231 1961
1676 2083 2363
1677 2602 2357
1678 3150 2525
1679 2996 2837
1680 3271 3055
1681 2827 3270
1682 2631 3404
1683 2438 3235
1684 2981 3772
1685 2203 3420
1686 2605 3731
1687 2542 3967
1688 2393 4438
1689 2804 4452
1690 2269 3830
1691 2511 4132
1692 1756 3942
1693 1871 4218
1694 1443 5024
1695 1115 4496
1696 1187 4480
1697 1136 4944
1698 1165 4480
1699 1225 4513
1700 1004 4631
1701 1136 5532
1702 1189 5639
1703 985 5493
1704 1134 5987
1705 1021 6248
1706 948 5961
1707 883 5948
1708 768 5902
1709 812 5892
1710 707 6046
1711 614 5516
1712 575 6156
1713 581 5779
1714 670 7161
1715 589 6818
1716 709 7114
1717 653 7147
1718 801 8055
1719 826 7690
1720 731 6787

Summer Diarrhoea of Infants, 18th century.

The first series of unhealthy summers in the 18th century is from 1717 to 1729 (the summer of 1715 having had also high “convulsions”). In the week ending 17th September, 1717, the article of “convulsions” rises to 187, while that of griping in the guts is only 13, the deaths from all causes being 522. For the next two years, the highest mortalities of the autumn were these:

London Weekly Mortalities.