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71
giving a case-mortality of 10.3 per cent. amongst the patients
treated in Hospital; whilst 75 (i.e., 23.7 per cent.) were treated
at home, and 8 died, giving a case-mortality of 10.7 per
cent. amongst the patients treated at home.
The case-mortality rate for the whole of the Borough of
Lambeth during 1904 is low, pointing to (1) the mildness of the
majority of cases notified, and (2) the great value of antitoxin*
in the treatment of Diphtheria in the very early stages of the
disease.
The sudden decrease in the number of Diphtheria cases
throughout the new Borough of Lambeth during 1904 is again
remarkable, as it was during 1903, 1902 and 1901, and will be
seen, on comparison with the yearly mortality average of the 10
years (1891-1900) for the old Parish of Lambeth. This yearly
average is 128, so that during 1904 there has been a decrease in
the mortality-rate, in comparison, of 74.2 percent. So, too, if the
number of notifications received during 1904 in the Borough of
Lambeth be compared with the yearly average of the 10 years
(1891-1900) for the old Parish of Lambeth, i.e., since the Notification
Clauses of the Public Health (London) Act, 1891, came
into force, the same remarkable decrease will be noticed, viz., a
decrease of 55'7 per cent. The yearly average of notifications
for the old Parish is 715, and the number received for the
Borough for 1904 is 317. Fortunately the comparison can be
extended further, and made for many years past, as the statistics
for Diphtheria have been worked out in connection with the old
Parish, and are shown on the following page (72), as far as
mortality is concerned.
Even allowing for the slight fallacy that may arise from comparing
statistics of the old Parish with those of the new Borough
of Lambeth, the extraordinary sudden decrease in the mortality
* 69 Bottles of antitoxin have been gratuitously distributed in Lambeth
Borough during 1904 as compared with 45 during 1903.