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1910]
88
Tubercular Diseases. Tuberculosis of the Lungs or Phthisis, Tuberculosis
of the Brain or Tubercular Meningitis, Tuberculosis of the Larynx,
Tuberculosis of the Abdomen or Tabes Mesenterica, and General Tuberculosis,
These diseases caused 539 deaths, as compared with 582 in the preceding
year, and with an average of 633 in the ten years 1900-1909. Thus we see
that there has been the substantial decrease of 94 deaths on the average of the
decennium, of which 93 was due to the decrease in the deaths from phthisis
or tuberculosis of the lungs, so that while it has shown a most satisfactory
decrease, the deaths from other forms of the disease have remained
stationary. If we examine Table LVIII., which shows the mortality
from tuberculosis of the lungs and other forms of tuberculosis since 1900,
differentiating males from females and from children under five years of age,
it will be found that the deaths among children still remain very high ; indeed,
as compared with 1900 and 1901 they show a very marked increase, although
last year there was certainly an improvement, for the deaths among them were
fewer than in any year since 1900.
Phthisis or Tuberculosis of the Lungs.—It is very satisfactory to note
that the number of deaths recorded from this disease is lower than any of
the returns since 1891, when 544 deaths were registered, whereas last year there
were only 390, a decrease of 115 on the corrected average. Since that year
the number of deaths registered in each year has varied, although as a rule
the variations have not been great, but they have nevertheless been mostly in
a downward direction. Thus in the quinquennium 1891-1895 there were 2,715
deaths. In the succeeding five years 1895-1900 there were 2,762 deaths; in
the next five years 1901-1905, however, they fell to 2,523, and in the last
quinquennium 1906-1910 to 2,093. Thus the returns for the last five years
show a decrease of 622 when compared with the quinquennium 1891-1895,
669 when compared with the quinquennium 1891-1900, and 430 when compared
with the quinquennium 1901-1905. These are very substantial
decreases which are specially satisfactory in view of the fact that this disease
is the one which is the greatest scourge to adult and more mature life.
The reduction in the mortality has chiefly occurred at the wage-earning periods
of life.