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76
CONSTITUTIONAL DISEASES.
The second great Class in the Registrar-General's Tables, viz.,
Constitutional Diseases, comprises the causes of 571 deaths, 44
below the number recorded in 1879: 461 in the Town sub-district,
and 110 in Brompton. One hundred and sixty-seven of the
deaths were of children under five. The Class includes two Orders,
viz., (1) diathetic diseases, 104 deaths, and (2) tubercular or
scrofulous diseases, including phthisis, 467 deaths.
Order 1. Diathetic Diseases.—The deaths from the diseases
comprised in this order, 104 in number, viz., 78 in the Town
sub-district, and 26 in Brompton, were, Gout, 2; Dropsy, 6;
Mortification, 6; and Cancer, 90. Twenty-five of the deaths
from Cancer were registered in the Brompton sub-district. This
disease appears to be on the increase: the deaths registered in the
previous six years respectively having been 67, 74, 69, 88, 79, and
95. It should be explained that the deaths of all persons who
have suffered from cancer, in any form, are classified to that disease,
irrespective of any other disease from which they may have suffered,
and of the question whether death was immediately due to cancer.
The majority of the deaths from cancer occur in advanced life, the
disease being most prevalent in the aged, having regard to the
number of persons living in groups of ages. Eighty-six of the deaths
occurred at ages over 35, 49 of them between 55 and 75 years. The
parts of the body most commonly affected are the viscera or internal
organs; very frequently, in women, the uterus and the breast.
The deaths in the four quarters, were 26, 22, 24 and 18
respectively.
Order 2. Tubercular.—The diseases included in this order
are among the most important with which sanitarians have to deal,
and the degree to which they prevail may be regarded in some
sort as a test of the healthiness or otherwise of a population.
Generally of an hereditary character, these diseases are nevertheless
susceptible of considerable amelioration if not, like some
others, of ultimate extirpation under improved hygienic conditions.
Scrofula is unknown in Hygeiapolis! Sunlight and pure air;