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10
Senile Mortality.—Of the 210 deaths 63 were of persons
over 65 years of age. The proportion of deaths occurring among
those of over 65 years of age to the total deaths is therefore 30
per cent. There were 49 deaths of persons over 70 years of
age.
The Causes of Death.—These are fully set forth in Table
A, in which it will be noted that the deaths are also apportioned
to different age periods. Table A1 is supplementary to Table
A, and sets forth the causes of death in each of the four Subdistricts
a little more fully. Table A2 shows the deaths during
each of the four quarters of the year.
It will be noted that there were 11 deaths from Influenza, as
against 1 in the preceding year, due to the fact that there was a
slight recrudescence of this disease in the early part of the year;
that the deaths from Phthisis numbered only 7, as against 13
in the preceding year, and that the deaths both from Cancer
and Whooping Cough reached precisely the same number as
those of the preceding year (11).
The mortality from Cancer has increased of late years, and
not a few observers assert that a parasite is present in cancerous
tissue; but the bacteriological evidence upon which this
statement rests is conflicting and unsatisfactory. It is a question,
however, as to whether this dreadful disease may not
ultimately prove to be preventable in a much wider sense than it
is thought to be at the present day.
That Cancer shows some disposition to run in families
is probably due to the fact that the tendency or susceptibility
for Cancer is transmitted; and the evidence that has been
collected with reference to so-called "Cancer-houses," (i.e.,
houses in which successive occupants, not related to each
each other, have died from Cancer), together with the excessive
prevalence of Cancer over certain areas, seem to point to the
probability of some slight endemic infection being concerned in
its origin.