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be of avail; with them everything may be hoped for. Living under these
conditions, the patient can recuperate his strength, invigorate his lungs,
vitalize his blood, and obtain the very fullest benefit from that rest which
is so essential in the treatment of the sufferer, so that the poor soul who
hitherto gasped for his life and scarce dared to hope for an amelioration of his
state, may pluck up courage and cheerfully look for an improvement in his
health.
Mortality and Statistics.—It is necessary now to consider what is
the probable amount of tuberculosis in the borough, so that we may be in
a position later on to arrive at some conclusions as to the number of cases
that will have to be dealt with—for dealt with by some authority they will
have to be—in the borough.
But first, in order to understand this question thoroughly, we should
consider what is the state of affairs in the country generally, in the County
of London, as well as in your own borough ; and for this purpose I have
taken the year 1910, which is the latest year for which there are full returns
available, and I find that in England and Wales there were 51,317 deaths
registered from tuberculous diseases, and that these represent 10.6 per cent
of the total number of deaths from all causes registered during that year,
which is to say that out of every nine persons who died, one died from a
tuberculous disease. I find that in the County of London 7,459 persons died,
representing 11.9 per cent of the deaths from all causes, which means that one
death in every eight was from one of these diseases. And I find that in
Islington in the same year 539 deaths were registered from tuberculous
diseases, or 11.9 per cent of the deaths from all causes, which is the same
as saying that one person in every eight persons who died in Islington died
from one or other of them.
England and
Wales.
County of
London.
Islington.
Deaths from Tuberculosis. 51,317 7,459 539
Per cent of deaths from all causes. 10.6 11.9 11.9
Persons dying from tuberculous diseases 1 in 9 1 in 8 1 in 8
These are very serious figures, showing with terrible significance
the ravages of the disease ; but bad as they are, far worse remains to be told ;
and in dwelling on them for a short time, I propose to speak of the mortality
only so far as Islington is concerned, although I may state that the Islington
figures are slightly better than those for the country generally.
Now what do we find in Islington? Why, this : that out of 50,275 deaths
from all causes which occurred in the ten years 1901-1910, no less than six
thousand one hundred and fifty four (6,154) or 12.2 per cent, died from tuberculosis.
In other words one in every eight deaths was from a tuberculous disease.