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77
SPECIAL CAUSES OF DEATH.
Class I.—Zymotic Diseases.
Having already (at page 11) treated of the deaths from the
principal diseases of the zymotic class, I now proceed to offer
some remarks on the mortality from the remaining diseases in
this "Class," which comprises four "Orders," the first being
designated "Miasmatic."
Croup was the registered cause of 18 deaths, all but one in the
Town sub-district, and 16 of them of children under five years of
age.
Erysipelas was the cause of 10 deaths, all but one in the
Town sub-district, and one only under 5 years of age.
Puerperal Fever (Metria) was the registered cause of 8
deaths, a smaller number than usual, and all in the Town subdistrict.
Two of the deaths were of women between 15 and 25
years of age, 5 between 25 and 35, and one over 35. The
deaths of six women between 15 and 35 years of age, including
one in Brompton, were registered as having occurred in Childbirth.
The distinction between the deaths in these two classes of
cases is, that whilst Metria is a specific and contagious disease,
death in Childbirth may be usually regarded as accidental, the
common cause being hemorrhage ("flooding.") The total deaths
registered as having been occasioned by the diseases and
accidents associated with parturition (14) were equal to 0.3 per
cent. on the registered live births.
Rheumatism was the cause of 23 deaths—one only under five
years of age: 19 in the Town sub-district, and 4 in Brompton.
In the majority of fatal cases of rheumatism the immediate cause
of death is disease of the heart arising in the course of the
malady, and many of the deaths from heart disease that occur in the
later periods of life, might justly be ascribed to rheumatism as
primary cause, though the connexion may have been overlooked,
and is not recognised in the medical certificate of the cause of
death.