View report page

84
Order 1. Diseases of Children.—The deaths classified
under this heading were 76, and all but one were of children
under five years of age; 13 of the deaths took place in the
Brompton sub-district. The diseases, so-called, were Premature
birth, 43 ; Cyanosis (malformation of the heart,) 8 ; Spina bifida,
7 ; "Other malformations," 1; and Teething, 17.
Order 2. Diseases of Adults.—The only cause of death
under this heading is Childbirth, already referred to under the
heading Puerperal Fever, as the cause of 6 deaths.
Order 3. Diseases of Old People.—Under this heading we
have "Old Age" as the cause of 86 deaths, 2 of them between
55 and 65; 21, 45 and 47 in the next three decades, and one of a
female at 103 years of age.
Order 4. Diseases of Nutrition.—Atrophy and Debility
(to which might be added Inanition, Marasmus, and other more
indefinite "diseases,") were the causes of 108 deaths, all under
five years of age—99 in the first year of life: only 11 of the
deaths were registered in Brompton. I have already under the
heading "Tubercular diseases" expressed my opinion that many
of the deaths classified to atrophy and debility might more
properly be classified to tuberculosis in some form or other.
Others of the deaths might not less justly be referred to privation
or starvation, being primarily due to want of proper food, the
children having been "brought up by hand" on farinaceous,
or other unsuitable diet. It will be well when physiology shall
have been added to the curriculum, especially in elementary
schools, for nothing can well exceed the ignorance which now
prevails among the people in respect of the laws of life, and of
the conditions necessary for the rearing of a healthy offspring.
Class 5. Violent Deaths.
Sixty-seven deaths, including 16 under five years of age, are
distributed over the four orders comprised in this class, 7 of them
belonging to the Brompton sub-district.
Order 1. Accident or Negligence.—Total deaths 51,
including 4 in Brompton, and 15 under five years of age, viz. from