View report page

56
Respiratory Diseases. Under this heading are included
Bronchitis, Pneumonia, and Pleurisy; 453 deaths were referred
to these diseases, as against 402 and 487 in the two previous
years.
Phthisis, or Pulmonary Consumption, caused 177 deaths,
as against 168 and 179 for the two previous years.
Influenza was again epidemic during the early part of the
year. 59 deaths were recorded, of these 55 alone were registered
during the first three months. A memorandum on epidemic
Influenza was issued March 6th, 1895, by Dr. R. Thorne Thome,
Medical Officer, Local Government Board, which contains so
much useful information that I give it in extenso.
MEMORANDUM ON EPIDEMIC INFLUENZA.
"Influenza became epidemic in England in the winter of
1889-90; it recurred in epidemic form in the spring of 1891, and
was maintained up to June of that year; a third epidemic took
place in the winter of 1891-92, and after a minor recrudescence
in the spring of 1893, a fifth prevalence on a wide scale took
place in the winter of 1893-94. England is now passing through
a sixth epidemic period. Two detailed reports have been issued
by the Board on the subject. The first was by Dr. Parsons, 'On
the Influenza Epidemic of 1889-90,' with an Introduction by Sir
George Buchanan, M.D., F.R.S., the Board's Medical Officer at
that date.* The second was a 'Further Report on Epidemic
Influenza, 1889-92, by Dr. Parsons, with papers on the Clinical
* Report on the Influenza Epidemic of 1889-90, by Dr. Parsons, with an introduction by
the Medical Officer of the Local Government Board. [C.—6387], pp. 324.— Eyre and
Spottiswoode, East Harding Street, E.C.