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delivered before the Royal College of Physicians, showed,
by reference to statistics, "that during the last decennium
there had been a substantial increase of diphtheria mortality
in this country, and that a very significant portion
of this increase had taken place in the metropolis. This
increase was the more remarkable because whilst it had been
in progress the zymotic group of diseases, and notably those
causes of death which were amenable to sanitary administration
and public health measures, had undergone steady
diminution—he also showed that the incidence of diphtheria
was undergoing a change, and the preference it had formerly
shown for rural areas was being transferred to dense communities."
The total number of patients removed to the hospitals of
the Asylums Board certified at the time of removal to be
suffering from diphtheria or from " diphtheritic membranous
croup" was 1,481, as against 1,049 in 1890 and 770 in 1889.
1,312 of the 1,481 patients suffered from diphtheria, of whom
397 died, a mortality of 30'6 per cent.
Whooping-Cough (decennial average 24.3).—The 29
deaths of young children were above the 10 years' average.
In London the mortality was 1,000 in excess of that from
measles.
In England and Wales it caused 12,920 deaths,
Diarrhoea (decennial average 29.5).—The 19 deaths were
considerably less than the average, owing to the cold, dull,
sunless and wet weather which prevailed during the
summer and autumn.
In July it was reported that a parishioner who had been
removed from Woburn Place had died at the Home Hospital,
Eitzroy Square, from "Choleranostras." Onmaking enquiries
I found that the deceased (an Anglo-Indian) had first