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Report of Medical Officer of Health.] 39
Males.—The sex-age rates, almost without exception, compare favourably with the mean
rates for 1895-1899, although many of them are above the rates for 1899. The most notable
departures from the means are the increases in the rates for " 65 and over," all being considerably
above the respective means. The increases recorded above the rates for 1899, mostly confined to
the groups " 0-1," " 1-5," were chiefly due to epidemics of measles and diarrhoea.
Females.—The rates recorded last year do not compare quite so well with the mean rates, but
there were no increases in the rates " 65 and upwards " as noted among males. The increases of
the rates in 1900 compared with those of 1899 were more general, but not so large.
Before leaving this part of the Report attention may again be called to rates for the ages 1 to
5 years. Last year, as has already been stated, was one of the epidemic years for measles, a disease
which, up to 1896, was allowed to take its own course. It is of interest, therefore, to compare the
mortality rates for the last three epidemic years, i.e., for a year when no action was taken except to
close schools (1896), a year when an imperfect scheme of control was in operation (1898), and a
year when as much as is possible under existing legislation was done to limit the spread of the
disease.

Even after allowing for the known variation in the virulence of the disease in successive
epidemics, the figures quoted suggest that the efforts made—incomplete as they admittedly are—
have done something towards reducing the mortality from this disease.
For the sake of completeness, the mortality rates at ages under 1 year, based on the numbers
estimated to be living at those ages, have been included in Tables 19 and 19a, but a better rate is
that based on the births registered, on which standard the infantile mortality last year was at
the rate of 165 per 1,000 births registered. This subject will be dealt with later on under the
special title of " Infantile Mortality."
CAUSES OF DEATH.
The complete analysis according to sex and age of causes of death of residents during the year
will be found in Table III. (Appendix A). In Tables 20 and 20a (pp. 42 and 43) the returns of
deaths and mortality rates for last year are compared with the averages and mean rates respectively,
the former having been corrected for the variations in the populations and adjusted to the nearest
whole numbers. Attention may also be directed to Table 18 on the opposite page, where a comparison
is instituted between the rates from the individual zymotic diseases in Paddington, the
Metropolis, and the country generally. For reasons already given, it would have been desirable
to obtain the mortality rates for age.groups of each sex, but time and space forbid such work,
except in a few special instances.