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170
notified—twice the number of the previous year—and 6
died
Fever. Thirty-six cases of fever were notified; they
consisted of Enteric 27, Continued 4, and Puerperal 5. Of
Enteric-fever 10 were removed to Hospital and recovered ;
1 Continued and 2 Puerperal cases remained at home and
ended fatally.
Whooping cough. From this disease 28 deaths resulted, or one
only more than the average. Not being a notifiable
disease its number of cases cannot be ascertained, but its
prevalence was extensive during the first seven months
of the year to which its fatality was confined. Of the
28 deaths 22 occurred in the winter quarter. Like
measles (with which disease it seems somewhat allied)
no death from it resulted in the autumn quarter.
Diarrhoea. To this disease, which is usually the most fatal
of the zymotic class, 41 deaths were referred ; the number
is 16 more than in the year preceding, and 7 above the
decennial average. With three exceptions all these deaths
occurred to infants under 5 years of age, and 35 of whom
did not attain one year. This great loss of infant life is
usually attributed to improper and irregular feeding in
hot weather, and the circumstances that infantile
diarrhoea prevails in the summer months and chiefly
amongst hand-fed children lends much probability to that
view.
influenza. The epidemic of this disease, which in 1891
had greatly exceeded that of its predecessor, prevailed last
year to a much greater extent, and was attended with
much higher fatality. The deaths directly due to it
amounted to 44, the highest number resulting from any
single disease of the epidemic class, while a still greater
fatality as represented by the excess in the deaths from
diseases of the respiratory organs was most probably
attributable to its agency.