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Comparing this table with the corresponding table of the
preceding year, the following facts are noteworthy : An increase
in the deaths from Influenza, Diseases of the Lungs, Heart Disease,
and Congenital Debility and Premature Birth ; and a decrease
of those from Diarrhoea and Enteritis, Diphtheria, Nephritis and
Cancer.
CANCER.
The death.rates from Cancer in England and Wales during
recent years have been as follows :

Cancer nowadays contributes one to every 12 deaths registered.
It is now as fatal as that other great scourge, Pulmonary Tuberculosis
or Phthisis. Cancer is most prevalent among those of
40 years of age and upwards. An excess of cancer in the female
sex is accounted for by the prevalence of cancer of the female
breasts and generative organs.
The increase in cancer mortality is world wide ; and better
diagnosis, improved statistics and the increase in the mean duration
of life will explain much of this increase. Taking an equal number
of persons living above the age of 15 years, exactly the same proportion
is destined to die from cancer whether the individuals live
in a rural district, an urban district, or in a county borough.