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The numbers in the four quarters respectively, were 143, 141, 104
and 111; 254 in the winter, and 245 in the summer quarters. It is
not uncommon to find "phthisis" returned as the cause of death in
the earliest infancy, an age at which tubercular disease shows itself
in other organs than the lungs. Such deaths, therefore, have been
classified to scrofula and tuberculosis, the deaths from which were
29:20 in the town district, and 9 in Brompton; 18 of them having
occurred under five years of age. Tabes mesenterica popularly known
as " consumption of the bowels," was the cause of 82 deaths, 6 of them
in Brompton, and all but two of children under five years of age.
Hydrocephalus (water on the brain), and Tubercular meningitis were
the causes of 103 deaths (21 in Brompton) 90 of them of children
under five. Phthisis, the form of disease known as " decline" or
" consumption," was the cause of 285 deaths, irrespective of 106
deaths of non-parishioners at the Consumption Hospital. Of the 285
deaths, 234 occurred in the Town sub-district, and 51 in Brompton.
The quarterly numbers of deaths were 90, 80, 53 and 62 respectively.
Six of the deaths occurred between 5 and 15 years of age; 48
between 15 and 25 ; 68 between 25 and 35 ; 84 between 35 and 45 ;
53 between 45 and 55; 24 between 55 and 65 : and 2 between 65
and 75. The deaths from tubercular diseases were disproportionately
numerous in the Town sub-district, less than a fifth of the whole
number having occurred in Brompton, the population of which is
more than a fourth of that of the Parish generally. This fact may be
explained by the relatively smaller number of children and poor in
Brompton. It is probable that many of the deaths of young children
ascribed to such causes as premature birth, atrophy and debility, convulsions,
fyc., are primarily due to the scrofulous taint. Frequently
other diseases, especially of the lungs (bronchitis, pneumonia, &c.),
are associated with phthisis in certificates of death, but all such
associated diseases are disregarded : when phthisis is stated, the death
is invariably classified to that heading.
Class 3.—LOCAL DISEASES.
This great class of diseases is accountable for 1375 deaths (viz.,
1093 in the Town, and 282 in Brompton), or about 46 per cent, of
total deaths : 455 of the deaths were of children under five. The
class comprises 8 orders, according to the system or organs affected.
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