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15
SUMMARY OF MORTAL STATISTICS, &c.
The year 1893, considered from the point of view of the
death-rate, was, like the preceding three years, below the
average of healthiness, the rate, 17.5, having been 0.7 above
the decennial average (16.8). There were considerable fluctuations
in the rate at different periods of the year, for whereas
the rate was considerably below the decennial average in the
five four-weekly periods between January 29th and June 17th,
it was more or less considerably above the average in seven
of the remaining four-weekly periods, as shown in the Table
at page 11. The deaths in the first half of the year were
1,381, the death-rate 16.5 per 1,000; the deaths in the second
half of the year being 1,535 (excess. 154) and the death-rate
184. In like manner there was a considerable excess of
mortality from the principal diseases of the zymotic class in
the second half of the year, viz., 149; so many as 245 persons
having died from these causes, as compared with 96 in the
first half period. The total deaths from these diseases (341)
were 7 in excess of the corrected decennial average. The
most fatal disease was diarrhœa (98 deaths), diphtheria coming
next with 83 deaths, and being followed by whooping-cough,
65 deaths, and scarlet fever, 51 deaths. The relative proportion
of these several diseases to their decennial averages may
be seen in the Table at page 23. The mortality from the
diseases of the respiratory organs was excessive both at the
beginning and at the end of the year, the deaths from these
causes having been in the first four weeks 124, and in the
last four weeks 93: total in eight weeks 217, or nearly onethird
of the recorded deaths from these causes during the
year (671). The deaths from influenza were 93, compared
with 155 in 1892. In neither year was the total mortality from
chest diseases abnormally high as it was in 1890, when influenza
for the first time, in recent years, became a serious
factor in the bills of mortality. The highest monthly deathrate
in 1893 (=27.6 per 1,000) was recorded in the last four