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72
1900]

Tabes Mesenterica caused 36 deaths, which represent a death-rate of 0.10
per 1,000, 25 of which were under a year old, 9 between that age and five years,
and 2 over five but under fifteen. Consequently it is seen that it is a disease of
early life. The deaths among males numbered 20, and among females 16.
Tubercular Meningitis or Hydrocephalus was registered as the
cause of 69 deaths, of which 35 were males and 34 females, the resulting death-rate
0*96 per 1,000. With the exception of 16 all were under five years of age.

The question of notifying Tubercular Diseases, especially Phthisis or "Consumption,"
whether voluntarily or Compulsorily, is one that is at present engaging
the serious attention of sanitarians. In several places, some in London, some in
the Provinces, voluntary notification has been established, and is said to have met
with success. The subject is one that has long since engaged the attention of your
Medical Officer of Health, for so long ago as 1892 he read a paper before the
Sanitary Institute Congress strongly advocating its notification, but his views were
not accepted. The feeling on this subject has much changed since then, for not
only do the medical profession but also the intelligent public recognise that it is
a preventable disease, and to use His Majesty's phrase, are asking, " if preventable,
why not prevented ?"