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22
increasing population,—a population be it remembered,
that is composed almost entirely of that class in which
the incidence of infectious disease is the heaviest, and
the necessity for isolation the most urgent.
PHTHISIS AND OTHER TUBERCULAR
DISEASES.
The total deaths from phthisis during the year
numbered 58, giving a death-rate from this cause of
1.11 per 1,000 living. Of these deaths 13 occurred
among residents of Edmonton in the Edmonton Workhouse.
The total deaths from phithisis in the public
institutions in the district numbered 40.
Other tubercular diseases were answerable for 56
deaths, giving a death-rate of 1.07 per 1,000 living.
Of these 56 deaths, 3 occurred among Edmonton
residents in the Workhouse, and 6 were returned from
various hospitals outside the district.
It will be seen, therefore, that tuberculosis accounted
for 2.18 deaths per 1,000 living, or nearly 16 per cent.
of the total deaths of the district.
In the case of phthisis the large bulk of the deaths
occurred in persons between the ages of 25 and 45, the
age period at which life is most valuable and possesses
the greatest number of duties and responsibilities.
For this reason, and also on account of the lengthened
course it runs, this disease must be regarded as involving
a problem of the highest economic importance.
The friendly societies of Germany have, indeed, shown
their appreciation of this fact, and their belief in the
efficacy of early sanatorium treatment as a remedy, by