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diarrhœal diseases (703). There was a diminution also in
deaths, among other causes, from phthisis and tubercular
diseases (515), diseases of the nervous system (43), and " all
other causes" (853); the total diminution being 4712, against
3762 in 1890 and 14,720 in 1889. On the other hand there
was an excess under several heads—viz., diphtheria (262),
cancer (412), premature birth (356), diseases of the circulatory
system (1099), diseases of the respiratory system, including
croup (4103), and diseases of the urinary system (232). The
diminution being deducted from the excess, a balance of
excess and diminution shews a net excess of 4147 in 1891,
compared with 1546 in 1890, and contrasted with a nett
diminution of 13,224 in 1889. This saving of life in 1889
was very unequally distributed amongst the several causes ;
and there were four headings under which the mortality
was in excess, viz., diphtheria, cancer, premature birth,
and diseases of the circulatory organs. These headings
had shewn similar excess in each of the six preceding
years, and they shew it again both in 1890 and in
1891. Similarly with regard to the diseases which shew
diminished mortalities : here, also, most of the changes were
not peculiar to the last three years, but were parts of a
change that had been going on for a considerable time ; for
there was also a diminution in each of the five preceding
years, in respect of scarlet fever, the varieties of " fever,"
diseases of the nervous system, diseases of the respiratory
system, and the aggregate of "other causes." "This persistency
of decrease," as the Registrar-General stated, in his
Summary for 1888, "affords good grounds for believing that
the diminution under, at any rate, some of these headings
will be permanently maintained." It will have been observed
that the diminution in respect of all the causes named was
maintained in 1891 (as in 1890 also), with the single exception
of the diseases of the respiratory system, which, in place
of a diminution of 4376, as in 1889, shew an excess of 4103 in
1891 (2143 in 1890), a difference of no fewer than 8479 deaths,