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52
" totaller in the intervals."* In this District a large number of
deaths occur from such premature old age. Further, the recent
dictum of the French Commission on Tuberculosis should not be
forgotten in this respect :-"The most alcoholic nations are those
which make "the greatest contribution to Tuberculosis."
Cirrhosis of the Liver and alcoholic neuritis are both conditions
due to alcoholism. Together they caused 25 deaths in Clerkenwell
during 1900. The above figures may be tabulated for convenience
and compared with 1899. It should of course be understood
that the deaths of infants by suffocation in bed, owing to having
been " laid upon," are not necessarily always due to alcoholism.
Cirrhosis of
Liver.
Alcoholism
and Delirium
tremens.
Neuritis.
Infants " laid
upon."
Total.
1899. 10 8 3 23 44
1900. 19 16 6 19 60
It will be observed that in 1900 the deaths from each of these
causes, with the exception of the suffocated infants, is just about
double those of 1899.
In the Annual Report of Registrar-General for 1899 (just issued)
it is stated that of the 3,280 deaths, recorded in England and Wales
as due to dietetic diseases, 2,871 were directly ascribed to alcoholism.
The Registrar-General adds: "Probably many other deaths were
"actually caused by intemperance although they appear in the
"certificate as from cirrhosis of the liver, neuritis, etc. The
"mortality from this cause (alcoholism) alone was equal to a rate
"of 112 per million living among males and to a rate of 70 per
"million among females; both these rates being the highest on
"record." In London in 1899 there were 788 deaths directly due
to alcoholism as compared with the corrected annual average for
last ten years of 574. In 1900 such deaths numbered 696.
The question naturally arises as to whether the increase of 1900
over 1899 was due to Arsenic. In many parts of the country,
particularly in the Manchester District, there was during the year
* Annual Report on the Health of Borough of Brighton 1900 (p. 64).