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V. Violent Deaths.
1. Accidental or from Negligence 114
2. Homicidal 12
3. Suicidal 31
VI. Causes not specified 39
The Miasmatic Diseases, which include Small Pox, Measles, Scarlatina,
Typhus and Typhoid Fevers, Hooping Cough, Diarrhoea, Diphtheria, and
Erysipelas, gave 984 deaths; this is a few more than the average number in
four preceding years, which was 974. Small Pox was fatal in 19 cases, 12
more than in 1861; Measles in 118, about the same number as in 1861;
Scarlatina in 257, 56 more than in the preceding year; Diphtheria in 68 cases,
more than in any previous year; Croup in 38; Hooping Cough gave 160
deaths, Low Fevers 156, Diarrhoea 94, and Cholera 6 deaths. Of the Small
Pox deaths, only one is positively stated to have been after vaccination; and in
11 cases no mention of vaccination was made. In my Report last year I made
the following remark: "From Small Pox the number of deaths was only 7, a
lower mortality than has prevailed since my appointment ill 1856. It is to
be hoped that the absence of deaths from this disease will not encourage a
neglect of vaccination, because so certainly as this is the case will another
epidemic of Small Pox break out within a few years, and cut off a large
number of those who arc unprotected." Out of 6865 registered births in the
year ending September, 1861, only 3082 were vaccinated by the Parochial
Vaccinators, whilst of 6692 births in the year ending Michaelmas, 1862, only
2854 were vaccinated; in 1859-60 there had been 3689 public vaccinations.
We see from these numbers that there had been an increasing neglect of
vaccination from 1860 to 1862. My fears then expressed have since been
realised. The deaths from Small Pox, which numbered only 7 in 1861,
amounted to 8 in the first three quarters of 1862, to 11 in the fourth quarter
of that year, to 11 in the first quarter of 1863, and to 31 in the 2nd quarter of
1863. The great majority of these Zymotic diseases might be prevented, by
strictly following sanitary laws.
Tubercle and Rickets gave rise to no fewer than 792 deaths, of which
more than one-half depend on impure air and improper food. Diseases of
the breathing apparatus were not so fatal as they have been in some previous
years; they caused, however, 753 deaths. Child-birth was fatal to 24 women,
7 of whom were victims to what is called Puerperal Fever. Erysipelas was
fatal in 21 cases, and there were a considerable number of cases of Pyoetnia
following accidents and surgical operations. Delirium Tremens and Intemperance
are recorded as the causes of 18 deaths. Syphilis was immediately
fatal in 24 instances.
The Violent Deaths numbered 157, of which 114 were from accident or
negligence, 31 suicidal, and 12 homicidal. Five of the accidental deaths were
due to accidents on the railways; 16 from accidents by vehicles drawn by
horses; one scaffold accident; two from falls from a window; 14 deaths were
from burns; 10 from scalds; 1 from an explosion of Paraffin oil; 1 from
drinking boiling water; 14 children were suffocated under bed clothes, and 3
choked by food or other substances in the throat. There were 19 deaths by
drowning, of which 10 were probably suicidal. There were 5 deaths from
poison, of which 3 were suicidal. Nine persons committed suicide by hanging,
2 by shooting themselves, and 4 by cutting their throats.