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Table V. (a) gives for each group of population the diphtheria rates for several age periods, so far
as they can be shown between 1855-60 and 1861-70, between 1861-70 and 1871-80, and between 1871-80
and 1881-90. The rates of 1855-60 are no doubt less reliable than those of the later periods, for the
reason that they relate to a time where the diagnosis of diphtheria was less certain; the rates moreover
have been calculated on the assumption that the age distribution of the several populations in the period
1855-60 was the same as that given in the census of 1861, the census of 1851 not giving the
proportions of the population at the several ages under 5 years. Table V. (b) gives the decrease or
increase per cent, of the diphtheria death rates for the same age periods in the several groups of
population.
Table V. (a).