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in 1897, 328 in 1896, and 270 in 1895. The
deaths from zymotic diseases were 14.4 per
cent. of the total deaths from all causes, and
equalled a death-rate of 3.4 per thousand inhabitants.
Inclusive of hospital cases there were
68 deaths from measles, 10 from scarlet fever,
88 from diphtheria, 29 from whooping cough,
1 from typhus, 18 from enteric fever, and 82 from
diarrhæa. One death of a child was certified as
"cholera." It was probably a rapidly fatal case
of zymotic diarrhœa. The total number of deaths
from diarrhœa exceeds that here given, as many of
them are certified as due to enteritis, mucoenteritis,
gastro-enteritis, &c. The death-rates
from zymotic diseases were :—measles, 0.79 ; scarlet
fever, 0.12; diphtheria, 1.03; whooping cough,
0 34; fever, 0.01 ; and diarrhœa, 0.96. Cases of
diphtheria have not been traced to any defective
sanitary condition of houses. I am inclined to
think that the use of the same cup at drinking
fountains may be a means of spreading the disease
among children.
Diseases of the septic class caused 28 deaths.
Four were referred to congenital syphilis, 4 to erysipelas,
2 to carbuncle, 2 to gangrene, and 16 to