For the City of London, the death rolls—or Bills of Mortality as they were known in England—for 1758 list 17,576 deaths from more than eighty causes. Most deaths, as might be expected, were from smallpox, fever, consumption, or old age, but among the more miscellaneous causes listed (with original spellings) were: choaked with fat 1 Itch 2 froze to death 2 St Anthony’s fire 4 lethargy 4 sore throat 5 worms 6 killed themselves 30 French pox 46 lunatick 72 drowned 109 mortification 154 teeth 644
