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3. Includes Phthisis, Scrofula, Rickets, Tabes Mesenterica, and deaths registered as
being caused by Tubercular Meningitis in persons more than 1 year old.
4. Includes Atrophy and Debility, want of Breast Milk, and Premature Birth, in
children under 1 year.
5. Includes Infantile Hydrocephalus, Meningitis, Convulsions and Teething, under
1 year.
This table shows that there were 530 deaths, including
diarrhœa, from zymotic diseases, which gives 145 deaths in
each 1,000 deaths from all causes. In 1887 there were 528
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deaths from these diseases. There were 778 deaths from
affections of the lungs, excluding consumption, against 774 in
1887, so that the mortality from these, the two most fatal
groups of diseases, varied but little in the two years. The
mortality from pulmonary affections depends to a great extent
on the weather, as cold, damp, and especially foggy weather
usually induces an excessive number of deaths from inflammatory
diseases of the air passages, especially amongst the
young, aged, and feeble. The deaths from tubercular affections,
including consumption, were fewer than usual, 395 only
having been registered this year, against 428 in 1887; and the
mortality from wasting and convulsive diseases of children was
smaller than for last year, having been 449, against 476
in 1887. The number of deaths per 1,000 population, which
afford more definite information than the crude numbers, show
that the lowest death rate from zymotic diseases during the last
decade occurred in 1888, when it was only 2.26 per 1,000
inhabitants. The mortality per 1,000 population from
pulmonary affections was 3.32; from tubercular affections 1.64;
and from wasting and convulsive diseases of children 1.91.
The table shows the variations that have occurred in each of
this group of diseases since 1883, so that I need not dwell
upon them in greater detail.