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12
That this mortality is excessive there can be no
doubt, and it is equally certain that it is due to
preventable causes, but how to reduce it is a most
difficult problem; for it involves not only the question
of the sanitary condition of the houses of the
poor, but also the larger questions of their social
habits and means of existence. I shall have occasion
briefly to discuss these matters in a subsequent
page of the report.
The diseases which have chiefly contributed to
the mortality for the year are the following: of
the 2,544 deaths, 341 were from phthisis, 141 from
tabes, scrofula, or atrophy, 42 from hydrocephalus,
146 from teething or infantile convulsions, 124
from continued fever, 65 from scarlet-fever, 29
from small-pox, 82 from measles, 118 from whooping-cough,
croup, or diphtheria, 17 from erysipelas,
177 from alvine disorders, of which 68 were
among children of less than five years of age, 373
from bronchitis, pneumonia, or asthma, and 128
from violence, privation, or poison. Altogether
there were 128 deaths from violence and want,
524 from tubercular diseases, 146 from convulsions,
612 from diseases of a zymotic character,
and 373 from inflammatory affections of the lungs.
During the last ten years the average numbers
have been 158, 599, 161, 584, and 476, respectively.
In all cases, therefore, excepting the group of