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82
1.—Nervous System.—Diseases of the nervous system were
the registered causes of 288 deaths, (compared with 288 in 1888,
and 259 in 1884), viz., 228 in the Town sub-district, and 60 in
Brompton: 81 of the deaths were of children under five years
of age. The quarterly numbers were 98, 73, 54, and 03. The fatal
diseases were Inflammation of Brain or Membranes, 13 deaths;
Apoplexy, Softening of Brain, Hemiplegia, Brain Paralysis,
146, (34 in Brompton, and 134 at ages over 45); Insanity,
General Paralysis of the Insane, 4; Epilepsy, 11; Convulsions,
62 (all under five, and 49 under one year); Laryngismus Stridulus
(spasm of glottis), 10, (under five years); Disease of Spinal
Cord, Paraplegia, Paralysis Agitans, 16; Other Diseases of
Nervous System, 26. Convulsions as a cause of death is
frequently associated, in medical certificates, with definite diseases,
and with "teething." The convulsions being a symptom only,
such deaths are classified to the primary disease named, or to
dentition, as the case may be. laryngismus Stridulus (spasm
of the glottis), included in the new classification with diseases of
the nervous system, is not infrequently the assigned cause of
death of children "found dead in bed." The name of the
disease has much the same meaning as "want of breath," which,
indeed, is the cause of death from spasm of the glottis. In the
absence of other apparent cause of death, the pre-existence of
spasm of the glottis may have been inferred; but it is quite
possible, to say the least of it, that in some of the cases the
children had been "overlaid," i.e., suffocated—a remark equally
applicable to some of the deaths attributed to convulsions, when
the children had been found "dead in bed." The cause of death
in such cases—whether spasm of the glottis or convulsions be
returned—can be only guessed at, when the child has not been
seen to die; for examination after death could not prove the
occurrence of spasm during life, and there is no pathological
condition which would enable one to say positively that a child
had suffered, still less that it had died, from convulsions.
2. The second Order comprises the Diseases of the Organs
of Special Sense (e.g., of Ear, Eye, Nose); two deaths were
classified to these causes.