View report page

4
Of the 1,676 deaths, 340, or about 1/5th, were those of
children under 1 year of age, 55 of whom died from diarrhoea
and 1 from "choleraic diarrhœa;" while of these 55
deaths, no less than 47 occurred during the months of July,
August, and September.
To consider the epidemic diseases separately. The first
quarter was distinguished by the presence of measles and
whooping cough, in an epidemic form; they caused
27 and 29 deaths respectively during this quarter, and of
these 56 deaths 53 were those of children under 5 years of
age. In the second quarter we had diarrhoea epidemic, with
60 deaths; and whooping cough declining, with 12 deaths;
while in the last two quarters we had no disease in an
epidemic form at all.
During the year there were, from small-pox, 3 deaths;
measles, 40; scarlet fever, 13; diphtheria, 5 (all in the first
quarter); whooping cough, 49; continued fever, 30 (of
which 23 were registered as enteric and 7 as simple continued
fever); diarrhœa, 73; and simple cholera, 1.
Comparing these numbers with those of the previous year,
we find that some are smaller; small-pox, 3 against 31;
scarlet fever, 13 against 30 (and against 137 in the year
ending March 1871); diphtheria, 5 against 12; while
measles, 40 against 20, has increased; and whooping cough,
49 and 47; continued fever, 30 and 34; and diarrhœa,
including choleraic diarrhoea, 74 and 77, have remained
tolerably stationary.
In fact, we have had during the year the end of the
small-pox, scarlet fever, and diphtheria epidemics, the culmination
and end of those of measles and whooping cough,
and the usual amount of seasonal diarrhœa.