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36
of the mortality from all causes, and are equal to a
death rate of 3.01 per thousand on the estimated
population.
The tubercular diseases of children caused 98 deaths,
a mortality upon the estimated population of young
children of 5.5 per thousand.
PHTHISIS.
Deaths (280).
The death rate from phthisis alone is equal to 2.1
per thousand in Bethnal Green, whilst that for the
whole of London is 1.6.
The public mind is much exercised at the moment
over the care of phthisical patients; in the early stages
of the disease this may well be left in the hands of the
officers of public institutions supported by private
charity, as the risk of infection is small; indeed,
the thought sometimes passes through my mind to
question the wisdom of prolonging the lives of these
phthisical weaklings so as to enable them to beget
more weaklings. The isolation of advanced cases of
consumption is quite another matter; each sufferer
is a centre for the spread of the disease, and should his
circumstances not permit of the occupation of a separate
sleeping room he should, for the protection of his
family and neighbours, be placed in some institution
where he can do the least harm. I have frequently
referred in previous reports to the want of proper
sanatoria for cases of this kind. As such institutions
are not so much for the benefit of the patient as for
the protection of others I think their provision and