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54
Order 1. Nervous System.— Diseases of the nervous system were
the cause of 297 deaths, including 97 of children under five years.
Two-hundred-and-forty-one of the deaths were in the Town sub-district
and only 56 in Brompton— a disproportion in favour of the latter
sub-district as great as that previously referred to in relation to tubercular
diseases. Cephalitis— inflammation of the substance of the brain, as
meningitis, already referred to, is of the coverings of the brain, was the
cause of 6 deaths. "Brain disease" was returned in 75 instances
(9 of them in Brompton), insanity in two, and epilepsy in nine.
Apoplexy and paralysis, for the most part diseases of the later
periods of life, were the causes of 76 and 41 deaths respectively. Of
these 117 deaths, 26 occurred in Brompton, and 104 were of persons
above 45 years of age. Convulsions— a sympton in many diseases,
rather than a disease, of infancy— was returned as the cause of 88
deaths (only 15 of them in Brompton). All these deaths were of
children under five years, 65 of them in the first year. Convulsions
as a cause of death, is frequently returned in connection with many
diseases, and in connexion with "teething." But regarding the spasm
as a symptom only, the deaths are classified to the primary diseases
named, or to dentition as the case may be. The quarterly numbers of
deaths from all diseases of the nervous system, was 98, 93, 51 and 55
respectively.
Order 2. Organs of Circulation.— Total deaths, 166; 122 in
the Town sub-district, and 44 in Brompton; under five years of age, 5.
The fatal diseases were Pericarditis 5, Aneurism 11, and "Heart
Disease, &c." 150. The quarterly numbers of deaths were 37, 42,
37 and 50 respectively. Of the 150 deaths due to "heart disease,"
there were 3 of children under five, and 17 of persons between 5 and
35. In the decenniad 35-45 there were 21 deaths; between 45
and 55, 26; between 55 and 65 and between 65 and 75 (each) 31;
between 75 and 85, 20; and one at 85.
Order 3. Respiratory Organs.— The deaths from "chest diseases"
in 1879 were excessive; the immediate cause of the increased fatality
being the long continuance of cold and ungenial weather. The deaths
were 700, irrespective of those from phthisis included with tubercular
diseases, viz.:—560 in the Town sub-district, and 140 (one-fifth of the
total) in Brompton. The deaths under five were 321, = 46 per cent.