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32 measles.

The cases and deaths recorded during the year are distributed according to the sex and
age of the patients in Table 21. It will be seen that the greater part of the increased fatalitv
of last year fell on children in the second year of life, the fatalities at that age, viz., males,
26*2 and females, 19'0, exceeding all others with the exception of those at ages under one
year recorded in 1904. The fatalities recorded in the different Wards ranged from 12"3 in
Westbourne to zero in Lancaster Gate, East. Last year's rates were higher than the
averages in four out of the eight Wards. (See Table 22.) The seasonal prevalence of the
disease greatly influences the fatality. Patients attacked during the more inclement months
of year, especially if proper care and nursing are wanting, are very prone to succumb to
intercurrent attacks of bronchitis or other lung affection. With a view to illustrating this the
following figures are submitted :—
Percentages of Total Cases reported
Non-Epidemic in each Quarter. Fatality
Years. 1. 2. 3. 4. percent.
1908 50-3 36-7 3-9 9*0 4-6
1906 17-5 34-1 33-3 14-9 2-7
1904 84-2 10-9 2-0 2-6 4*3
Epidemic Years.
1907 8-8 24-5 22-3 44-3 3-1
1905 13-3 52-5 17-1 16-9 3-6
1903 5-6 19-9 25-1 49-1 4*1
During the three non-epidemic years, 1904, 1906 and 1908, the highest fatality was
recorded in the last, when 50" 3 per cent, of all cases occurred in the first or winter, and 36*7
per cent, in the spring (last year more like winter) quarter, and the lowest in 1906, when
nearly three-fourths of all the cases occurred in the second and third quarters. Of the
fatalities recorded in the three epidemic years that of 1907 was the lowest, the attacks being
almost entirely in the second, third and fourth quarters of the year. The highest fatality was
recorded in 1903, when the disease prevailed mainly in the third and fourth quarters, nearly
half of all the cases occurring the latter. To demonstrate the point fully the meteorological
elements for each quarter require to be set out, and the deaths distributed according to date
of attack not of death, as has been done in the figures given above. Limitations of time and
space prohibit that work being undertaken for the present.