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18
The notifications do not give a correct index of the
distribution of the disease; the information is more promptly
obtained from some schools than it is from the others.
DIARRHCEAL DISEASES.
The number of deaths from Diarrhoea was 40, which is
equal to a rate of .8 per 1,000 living. Thirty-two of these deaths
were of children under one year, which number is equal to a rate
of 21 per 1,000 births.
Seventeen deaths were registered as due to Enteritis or
Gastro-enteritis. The average number of deaths from Diarrhcea
alone, for the ten years 1895-1904, was over 51. This figure
alone emphasises the drain of the diseases upon our resources,
but it probably does not show to the full extent the amount of
mischief wrought. In spite of the power of rapid recuperation
which children possess, a large number of those who recover
from the immediate effects of Diarrhoea are so debilitated
that they succumb later to other diseases, such as Marasmus,
Bronchitis.
There was, in 1905, a considerable decrease in the number
of deaths from diseases of the digestive organs ; and although
it is too early to state definitely what effect the attention
paid to the rearing of infants, one is justified in assuming
that the instructions given by the Health Visitor have borne
some fruit. The disease is essentially a symptom dependent on
various causes, and the most severe forms occur during the
summer heat. It is rarely seen out of large towns, and most
observers regard it as a contagious Zymotic disease, though the
specific germ has not with certainty been discovered. As
far back as 1887, Dr. Ballard included it among the principal
Zymotic diseases, and, recently, some observers have claimed the
Bacillus of Shiga as the organism that gives rise to the specific
symptom. Milk is probably the chief medium by which the
germs are carried into the body, and the ignorance of mothers