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96
1906]
The deaths among men during the year numbered 154, and were equal to
9.39 Per 10,000 of that sex living in the borough, while those among women
numbered 209, or 11.55 in every 10,000 females.
In the last report of the Registrar-General for England and Wales he
points out that the mortality from malignant disease is not alarming until after
the 35th year of life, and that with advancing age it rapidly becomes more
fatal. This, too, is the Islington experience, as has already been pointed
out. Inasmuch as the question is of great moment and, therefore, of interest,
the comparison between Islington and England and Wales is shown in the
following table, which gives the death-rate per ten thousand of the population.
MALES.
FEMALES.
Ages.
Islington.
England and
Wales.
Islington.
England and
Wales.
35—45 5.61 4-39 9.76 8.90
45-55 22.74 17.24 32.70 24.10
55—65 53.27 42.65 52.52 44.02
65—75 89.25 70.93 57.00 66.41
75 and upwards 103.82 76.44 88.18 75.58
These rates are of course not identical, but they tell the same significant
tale that the older people grow, males and females alike, the more are they
liable to death from malignant disease, the cause of which is unknown,
although many facts point to micro.organisms, particularly because those
glands which are in direct communication with the air or the intestinal gases
are most subject to cancer, such as the breasts (in women), stomach, rectum,
and other organs mentioned in Table LXV, which gives a full record of the
seat of the disease in those persons who died in 1906 in Islington. It is a sad
list, and indicates that many poor souls have had a rough passage to eternity.
What is occurring in Islington is taking place throughout our land and,
therefore, it is no wonder that at the present day there is so much investigation
and so much anxiety to discover the cause of the malady in the hope that
something may then be found to neutralize or destroy it.