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62
the Board decided that the proposal involved so considerable an
extension of the duties and responsibilities of the Board, and so
large an increase in their expenditure, as to call for some authoritative
expression of opinion by the Local Government Board before
any definite action could be taken.
In May 1905, in response to a communication from the Metropolitan
Asylums Board, the Borough Council again affirmed their
former resolution approving the principle of the establishment of
sanatoria for the treatment of consumptives at the cost of the
Metropolis generally.
Deaths from Phthisis.—The total deaths due to consumption
in 1905 were 215, as compared with 251 in 1904. The
death rate for the year is therefore 2'2 per 1,000 (the London rate
being 1'43), which is about the average rate for the last five years:—
Under
1
1 and
under 5
5 and
under 15
15 and
under 2;
25 and
under 651
65 and
over
Total
Males 3 6 3 10 115 5 142
Females 3 5 3 13 47 2 73
Total 6 11 6 23 162 7 215
In the first quarter of the year there were 53 deaths; in the
second, 54 ; in the third 37; and in the fourth, 71.
The number of males is, as usual, much in excess of the females.
This fact is probably accounted for by the greater degree of
exposure of men, not only to infection but to all the disadvantages
of occupation, inclement weather, exhaustion, fatigue, etc. Men
run the risks of infection in workshops, public-houses, and public
places much more than do women; and their work also frequently
brings them within the influence of predisposing conditions (dust,
constrained positions, ill-ventilated premises, etc.), as well as being
generally of a more sedentary character. It is probable also that
alcoholism, which is an important predisposing condition of
phthisis, plays its part in increasing the incidence upon men.