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37
maintenance might justly be made a charge upon
the rates. In these circumstances the Metropolitan
Asylums' Board is certainly the proper authority to
undertake the building and management of the sanatoria.
As palliative treatment only would be attempted,
elaborate buildings and expensive medical and nursing
staffs would be unnecessary, so that the initial cost and
future upkeep need not be very great.
RESPIRATORY DISEASES.
The deaths from diseases of the respiratory organs,
exclusive of phthisis, numbered 513, and formed 20.6
per cent. of the total mortality from all causes. This
is equal to a rate of 3.9 per thousand population at all
ages. Nearly half the respiratory deaths (216) were
amongst young children, a mortality of 12.1 per thousand
on the estimated population under five.
MALIGNANT DISEASE.
Cancerous diseases caused 112 deaths, all except
three amongst persons aged over twenty-five years.
The estimated number of inhabitants of Bethnal
Green aged over twenty-five years is 56,820; on this
number we shew a cancer mortality of 1.9 per thousand
living.
The parts of the body chiefly affected by malignant
disease were:—Intestines (26), Uterus (14), Stomach
(20), Liver and Pancreas (16), Tongue (5), Larynx (6),
Breast, Neck and Skin (10).