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children the verdict of " murder " was found. In one case there
had been " exposure," in a second the child was found dead, and
in the other cases the verdict was simply " wilful murder." Of
the four drowning cases one was suicidal. By hanging, cut-throat,
and pistol-shot all the deaths recorded (two from each cause),
were suicidal, making a total of seven suicidal deaths during the
year. The remaining deaths by violence were accidentally
caused.
Having carefully analysed the facts relating to these deaths
as they appear in the weekly returns of mortality, I submit
the results, which are, I think, worthy of attention. Of course
the primary cause of an inquest being held is the absence
of a medical certificate showing the cause of death. The reasons
why certificates are not forthcoming, and therefore why inquests
become necessary, may be inferred from certain particulars which
appear in the returns, and may be summed up as follows: —
Sudden Death 99
Found dead in bed (22) or otherwise (26) 48
Accident 3
Violence 15
Doubtful (none of the above reasons stated) 7
Total 172
It is to the deaths from disease that I would draw particular
attention, the bare facts appearing to point to a large
amount of neglect of the sick, which, without explanation, would
seem to border on the criminal. Fatal visceral diseases, it need
hardly be said, present symptoms which the most ignorant cannot
altogether overlook—fever, pain, exhaustion, &c.; and each
disease has a more or less prolonged course, varying with the importance
of the organ affected, and with the amount of care
bestowed on the sufferer. It is not credible that any medical man
would be unable to diagnose the existence of such a disease, e.g.
as pneumonia, or would refuse to certify the cause of death of a
patient who had died under his care. We are driven to the conclusion,
therefore, that, in a great number of cases of disease,
many of the victims being infants, no effort is made to obtain
medical advice for the sufferers, and hence, when death ensues, an
inquest becomes necessary, as there is no medical certificate to
show the cause of death. A post-mortem examination is made,
and then it becomes known that death was caused by a disease
that might have been cured, and that certainly must have had a
well-defined and often a lengthened course. Passing over such
maladies as apoplexy and heart disease, it is only necessary to
mention, in support of this view, such diseases as pneumonia, &c.
(30 deaths); brain diseases (15); convulsions—a symptom rather
than a disease (8); scrofula (5); syphilis (2); diarrhoea, diphtheria,
&c. The question then arises, in connection with such cases as these,
whether it is sufficient to record the cause of death ? whether, in