In Dublin, the influenza of the first months of 1837 seemed to check the prevalence of typhus for a time; but the latter increased greatly when the influenza was over, so that the admissions to the Cork Street Hospital until the end of 1838 nearly equalled those of the worst epidemics since the hospital was opened in 1804[493]. Females in typhus were admitted greatly in excess of males; a large proportion (1847 in two years) were under fifteen years of age; the fever rarely relapsed, so that it was mostly typhus, as in England and Scotland at the same time. In twelve months of the same period (Oct. 1837 to Sept. 1838) there were 1786 admissions for fever at Cork, 1840 at Limerick, and 1706 at Belfast[494].
In Dublin, as in London, Edinburgh and Glasgow, the continued fevers of the “thirties” were distinctively spotted typhus, which was a new constitution. Graves, lecturing at Dublin in November, 1836, said: “We are now at a point of time possessing no common interest for the reflection of medical observers. It is now nearly two years since my attention was first arrested by the appearance of maculated fever, of which the first examples were observed in some hospital cases from the neighbourhood of Kingstown. This form of fever has lasted ever since, prevailing universally, as if it had banished all other forms of fever, and being almost the only type noticed in our wards[495].”
This increase of fever in Ireland, as well as the change in its type, corresponded closely to the great epidemic outburst in Scotland and England. The census of Ireland, taken in June, 1841, for the ten years preceding, gave a somewhat loose return of the causes of death in each year of the decennial period[496].
The worst years for fever were 1837 and 1840, the best year 1841. The deaths from fever in ten years were 112,072, being 1 in 10·59 of the deaths from all causes. The counties with highest fever mortality were Cavan, Mayo, Galway and Clare; the worst towns were Belfast, Kilkenny, Dublin, Limerick and Carrickfergus. Of these deaths from typhus-like fevers, 14,501 occurred in 86 fever-hospitals, which were open, or which kept records, for more or less of the decennial period. The following table shows the proportions of rural, urban and hospital fever-deaths in each of the four provinces:
Deaths from fever in ten years, 1831-41.
| Leinster | Munster | Ulster | Connaught | |||||
| Rural fever-deaths | 16,159 | 23,718 | 21,616 | 19,319 | ||||
| Urban | 4,626 | 4,878 | 3,183 | 1,262 | ||||
| Hospital | 9,030 | 5,465 | 2,439 | 386 | ||||
| 29,815 | 34,061 | 27,238 | 20,958 | |||||
| Rural population in 1841 | 1,531,106 | 2,009,220 | 2,160,698 | 1,338,635 | ||||
| Ratio of do. per sq. mile | 247 | 332 | 406 | 386 | ||||
The following detailed table for the province of Leinster shows the enormous preponderance of fever-deaths in the cottages or cabins[497]. Only Dublin and Kilkenny have most of the deaths in their fever hospitals or public institutions; it was not until near the end of this decennial period, the year 1839, that workhouses, with their infirmaries, began to be provided for all the poor-law unions:
Fever Mortality in Leinster, 1831-41.
| Localities | Deaths from Fever in Hospitals and Public Institutions | Deaths from Fever at home | Total | |||
| Carlow County | 202 | 891 | 1093 | |||
| Drogheda Town | 1 | 238 | 239 | |||
| Dublin County | 111 | 1248 | 1359 | |||
| Dublin City | 6393 | 2369 | 8762 | |||
| Kildare County | 276 | 1068 | 1284 | |||
| Kilkenny County | 114 | 2378 | 2492 | |||
| Kilkenny City | 487 | 204 | 691 | |||
| King’s County | 126 | 1754 | 1880 | |||
| Longford County | 3 | 1265 | 1268 | |||
| Louth County | 1 | 1201 | 1202 | |||
| Meath County | 294 | 2151 | 2445 | |||
| Queen’s County | 84 | 1763 | 1847 | |||
| Westmeath County | 54 | 1550 | 1604 | |||
| Wexford County | 637 | 1736 | 2373 | |||
| Wicklow County | 280 | 1002 | 1282 | |||
| 9063 | 20,758 | 29,821 |