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15
his annual summary for 1881 remarked that "only once since
civil registration began had a lower death-rate than this been
recorded in the Metropolis—namely, in 1850, when the rate
was 21.0."
THE ZYMOTIC DISEASES.
Before entering into details with respect to population, births,
deaths, &c., I propose to consider specially the sickness and
mortality from the principal diseases of the Zymotic class, and
subjects naturally arising out of this topic.
The "Class" of diseases called Zymotic, comprises in the
Registrar-General's recently re-arranged classification of the
"causes of death" six "orders." The first and second orders
("Miasmatic" and "Diarrhœal") include the diseases which the
Registrar-General calls "the seven principal diseases of the
zymotic class," still grouping under the generic term "Fever"
the three distinct fevers, "Typhus," "Enteric," and "Simple
continued." These diseases have a high interest for sanitarians,
arising out of their more or less preventible character: it being
customary, moreover, to regard the absence or the prevalence of
them, as the case may be, as a test of the sanitary condition of
a district. But, without under-rating the importance of this
test, there are limitations to its applicability which must be
borne in mind if we would draw sound conclusions. What I
mean may be best explained by an illustration or two founded
on our own local experiences within the last few years. Thus
Measles was very fatal in 1874 and 1876; the deaths were far
above the average: it was, so to speak, the zymotic disease that
gave a special character to these years. In 1875 and 1877, on
the other hand, the deaths from Measles were below the average;
but the reduced mortality—evidence of the diminished prevalence
of the disease -was, as it were, the corollary of the
excessive prevalence and fatality of the malady in the preceding
Years. In saying this, I do not, of course, ignore the fact that
one epidemic of a zymotic disease may be more severe than