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7
Causes of Death.—The following list shows certain causes of death which are important in
themselves or from the fact that they contributed a considerable share to the total mortality for
the year:—
Cause of death. Number of deaths.
Principal zymotic (or epidemic) diseases. 88
Epidemic influenza 31
Phthisis 78
Other tuberculous diseases 11
Cancer 317
Bronchitis 48
Pneumonia 122
Heart disease 612
Acute and chronic nephritis 62
Puerperal fever 4
Premature birth 26
Violence (including suicide 26) 109
Old age 29
All other causes 617
2,154
It will be seen that over one-third of the deaths, or 860, were due to diseases of the heart or
the organs of respiration. Phthisis, an infectious and preventable disease, caused 78 deaths.
The diseases described in the above list as the "principal zymotic diseases" are smallpox,
measles, scarlet fever, diphtheria, whooping cough, enteric fever (including fever not otherwise
defined) and diarrhoea.
The following table shows the zymotic death rate for Kensington and London in each of the
last five years:—
Deaths from principal zymotic diseases per 1,000
persons living.
Period. Kensington. London.
1931 0.34 0.33
1932 0.99 0.61
1933 0.49 032
1934 0.88 040
1935 049 027
Cancer.—Cancer caused 317 deaths, and of this number 302 occurred in persons over the age
of 45 years. Carcinoma was the form of cancer to which 281 deaths were attributed; sarcoma
and epithelioma were the assigned causes of 15 deaths; 21 deaths were certified as due to cancer
or malignant disease without further definition.
The parts of the bodv which were affected m each case are shown m the following table:—

The number of deaths from this disease was 23 less than in the previous year.