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unfavorably at the present time with the past. When it is
pointed out that only during the last four years have returns
been obtained from outlying institutions, it shows how
impossible this comparison is. For instance, 60 deaths have
been returned from these institutions during this year, which
by omitting or adding to the deaths gives a death rate of
either 16 or 21 per 1000, In other words, in past years the
death-rate would have been returned at 16 per 1000 instead
of 21.
It is obvious that to compare returns in which in the one
case these deaths have been included and in the other excluded
is absurd. Statistical fallacies of this kind are well
known to any one who has taken the trouble to consider the
matter, but as deductions have been made from figures such
as above mentioned, it may be well to quote from Dr. Parkes'
work on Hvgiene and Public Health. "Death-rates
structed from the mortality returns of short periods, are not
reliable as tests of health. They are necesserily subject to
accidental fluctuations, which must prevent any true conclusions
being drawn from them. So too with the death-rate
of small populations, even when they exhibit returns
covering a period of a year. The number on which the
figures are founded are not sufficiently large to exclude those
accidental fluctuations from varying circumstances, which
must be got rid of before any just reasoning can be founded
on death-rates."
After making the necessary corrections it is found that
there were 273 deaths of parishioners of St. Olave's, and