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66
and 148 in the summer quarters. In a few instances Phthisis
was returned as the cause of death in earliest infancy, a period
of life at which the tubercular diathesis commonly manifests
itself in other parts of the body than the lungs, e.g. brain,
bowels, &c. Such deaths have been classified in Table III.
with those ascribed to " Other forms of Tuberculosis,
Scrofula;" the total being 46 (of which 22 occurred under five
years of age) including 12 registered in the Brompton subdistrict.
Tabes Mesenterica, popularly known as " consumption
of the bowels," was the cause of 20 deaths (including 3 in
Brompton) 19 of them under five years of age, and 16 under
one year. Tubercular Meningitis and Hydrocephalus (water
on the brain) were the causes of 42 deaths (3 of them in
Brompton) 30 under, five years of age Phthisis, popularly
known as " decline " or " consumption," was the cause of 199
deaths : 3 under five years of age, 4 between five and fifteen,
and 185 between fifteen and sixty-five ; viz., 36, 46, 51,
42, and 10, in the five decades consecutively: 7 deaths
were registered at ages over sixty-five. The quarterly numbers
were 55, 36, 53, and 55. Of the total, 150 belong to the
Town sub-district and 49 to Brompton. The deaths from
tubercular diseases were, proportionately, not so numerous
in Brompton as in the Town sub-district. It is probable that
the mortality ascribed to tubercular diseases does not comprise
all the deaths originating in the tubercular diathesis, and that
many deaths of children classified to Premature Birth,
Atrophy, Debility, Convulsions, &c., were primarily due to the
scrofulous taint. In numerous instances some other disease,
e.g., of the lungs, as bronchitis, pneumonia, &c., was associated
with phthisis in the medical certificates of the causes of
death ; but all such associated diseases have been disregarded
in the preparation of Table III. ; for when phthisis is returned,
the death is classified to that heading, it being assumed that
the tubercular diathesis was underlying the other disease,
and was, in fact, the primary cause of death.