View report page

35
throat disease. That some of the illnesses were, to say the
least of it, extremely mild, is evidenced by the fact that
when the infectcd houses were visited immediately on report,
the patients were found up and about, and in more than one
instance were not at home ! It is impossible to resist the
conclusion that innocent throat troubles have been sometimes
mistaken for diphtheria, and considerable experience, reaching
down to the present time, has but strengthened this view.
The deaths from diphtheria in London numbered 1361
(262 above the corrected decennial average), 56 fewer than in
1890, and 356 fewer than in 1889, a year characterised by
the highest death-rate on record from this disease. Part of
the excess in 1891, the Registrar-General observes, may be
attributed, with much probability, to the decrease of deaths
under the heading Croup, for the deaths under the two headings
taken together amounted to 1765, while the decennial
average, after due correction for growth of population, had
been 1772 or practically the same. Fortunately, the hospitals
of the Asylums Board are available for the reception of
patients whether suffering from diphtheria or memoranous
croup.
WHOOPING-COUGH.
The deaths from Whooping-cough were 84, or about the
same as the coriected decennial average : nine of them were
registered in the Brompton sub-district : all but two were of
children under five years of age, including 33 under one year.
The mortality was pretty evenly spread over the twelve
months (vide Table, page 27). Reference has been made to
the common indifference of parents among the poorer classes
in regard to the spread of measles in their families. The
observation is, perhaps, even more generally applicable in
regard to whooping-cough, the danger of this always distressing
malady being unappreciated by the poor, who, in the