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disease, arising in the progress of the malady. Not a few of the
deaths registered from "heart-disease" simply, might be properly
classified to "rheumatism" as "primary cause," the foundation
of the more important affection having been laid years before, it
may be, in an attack of rheumatic fever.
Pyaemia, a fatal condition of blood-poisoning, was the cause of
4 deaths, 3 of them in the Town sub-district.
Order 2. Enthetic Diseases.—Syphilis was the cause of 13
deaths, 11 in the Town sub-district, and 2 in Brompton; 12 in
the first year of life, and 1 in the second. The deaths due directly
or indirectly to this disease, were probably more numerous : some
deaths due to it, we may reasonably believe, get registered under
other headings year by year. It is a truly Protean disease, and
lies at the root of many secondary diseases. There was one death
from Stricture of the Urethra.
Order 3. Dietic Diseases.—Thirteen deaths were due to the
diseases included in this order, viz., Privation, 2; Want of breastmilk,
4; Purpura and Scurvy, 1, and Alcoholism, 6. All the
deaths ascribed to the abuse of alcohol occurred in the Town subdistrict,
the registered cause in one case being delirium tremens, and
in five intemperance. If all the diseases and all the deaths due,
directly or indirectly, to the misuse of alcoholic stimulants could
be traced to their source, the sum total would be very great. Many
deaths really due to the abuse of alcohol get registered as having
been caused by secondary diseases set up, doubtless, or aggravated
by "drink." Man's ingenuity in the discovery of alcohol
is accountable for a large part of the misery of his race. Alcohol
is a fruitful source of vice and crime, as well as being the cause of
much bodily sickness, and of many premature deaths. Drink fills
our hospitals and asylums, our prisons, our workhouses, and our
national exchequer.
Order 4. Parasitic Diseases.—Eleven deaths, 10 of them in
the first year of life, and 10 in the Town sub-district were due
to Aphtha (Thrush).