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31
1878 1877 1876
Diarrhoea 71 47 60
Whooping Cough 63 26 53
Scarlatina 19 18 34
Fevers (the various) 12 17 6
Croup 12 10 11
Measles 6 47 20
Small Pox 5 28 7
Diphtheria 4 1 3
Metria 2 8 10
Erysipelas 0 4 2
194 206 206
Zymotic death-rate per
1,000 per annum J 3 .7 4.3 4.3
It is satisfactory to observe that the diminution in
the mortality is principally in those diseases over which
sanitary measures can be the most effectively exercised,
with the exception of diarrhoea, the mortality from which,
71, was the highest yet observed in the sub-district. As
is usual, nearly the whole of the victims were very young
children, 39 being under 1 year and 25 between 1 and 5
years, nearly the whole of the latter being just over 1 year
old. There is but little doubt that food of an
proper character must in many of these 64 cases have
had great influence in determining the fatal result; but
there is this peculiarity universally observed with reference
to diarrhoea, that its prevalence and fatality are directly
augmented by two conditions, a high temperature and an
absence of rain-fall.
When to this is added the fact that the disease is
most fatal in the urban rather than the rural districts, and
in the best sewered towns shows excessive rather than
diminished fatality, more than a reasonable suspicion may
exist that the sewer gases act as media for the predisposing
element in the disease. The remedy of course is
efficient ventilation of the sewers and drains, but not into
and by the medium of house as is now but too frequently