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the deaths from all causes: 1348 were registered in the Town
sub-district, and 342 in Brompton : 428 were of children under
five years of age. All of these totals considerably exceed the
numbers recorded in 1890.
1. Nervous System.—Diseases of the nervous system
were the registered causes of 327 deaths (against 310, 318,
and 321 in 1888-89-90 respectively), viz., 249 in the Town subdistrict
and 78 in Brompton: 88 of the deaths were of
children under five years of age. The quarterly numbers
were 112, 77, 66, and 72. The fatal diseases were Inflammation
of Brain or Membranes, 45 deaths; Apoplexy, Softening
of Brain, Hemiplegia, Brain Paralysis, 145 (101 in the Town
sub-district, 44 in Brompton, and 139 at ages over forty-five);
Insanity, General Paralysis of the Insane, VS; Epilepsy, 18; Convulsions,
49, (47 under five, and 38 under one year); Laryngismus
Stridulus (spasm of glottis) 5 ; Disease of the Spinal Cord,
Pat aplegia, Paralysis Agitans, 15 ; Other Diseases of Nervous
System, 37. 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
sometimes assigned as the cause of death of children " found
dead in bed." 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 the children had been suffocated—a remark even more
applicable to deaths attributed to convulsions, in the case of
children 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 cannot prove
the occurrence of spasm during life, and there is no