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19
The almost entire absence of small-pox from this district
during the two years 1886-87 is remarkable as only one death
was recorded; 31 in 1886, and this death did not really belong
to the district, as it occurred to a tramp who was taken ill the
day he was admitted to the vagrant ward. The same number
of deaths was recorded in 1857-58, but the population then was
decidedly less than half what it is now, so that the comparison is in
favour of the present time. The mortality from measles was
much above the average of the last 10 years the deaths in
1887 having been 115 against 84 which was the mean of the
preceding ten years. The deaths from scarlet fever as already
mentioned were 55 against a mean of 83 for the years 1877-86,
the highest number during these years having been 144 in 1882.
The mortality from whooping cough was unusually large as
136 deaths were recorded this year against an average of 111 ;
but it was not the largest mortality during the preceeding ten
years, as there were as many as 182 deaths registered in 1882, and
157 in 1881. Enteric fever caused fewer deaths than usual as only
46 were registered from it against an average of 53 for 1877-86
84 in 1884,63 and 64 in 1882 and 1881; these figures, however,
included a small number of deaths from other continued fevers.
Diarrhoea also caused a mortality of about an average, viz.: 137
against 133 for each of the ten former years. The weather
was unusually hot at times so that the very low annual
mortality could scarcely have been expected, especially as 190
deaths from diarrhoea were registered in 1884, and 200 in 1886.
The ratio of deaths from these diseases to the total number of
deaths from all causes was 168 in the ten years 1877-86 against
only 140 in 1887. This low proportion arose partly from the
absolute number being below the average and partly from an
unusually large mortality from inflammatory diseases of lungs.
The ratios of deaths from these diseases in 1000 deaths from all
causes were, during this year, as follows : from small-pox, none ;
from measles, 30.6 ; from scarlet fever, 15.2 ; from diphtheria,
93; from whooping cough, 36 3; from enteric fever, 12.5 ;