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of 65 years is of course depressed by the number of untimely
deaths that occur, the accidents, the infections such as T.B.,
the malignant growths, these tragedies that cheat so many of
their proper entitlement.
If preventive medicine were entirely successful, senility would
become the only cause of death. Perhaps that is why we lament
the infrequency of occurrence of senility in the mortality table,
an unjustifiable infrequency we sometimes feel, when we see
deaths of old people of 90 years and more attributed to disease.
We feel tempted to protest " may nobody be allowed to die of
old age !"
Table IV on page 17 shows causes of death in 36 groupsThe
table this year follows the usual pattern. The four principal
diseases responsible for the bulk of the deaths are Heart Disease,
Cancer, Intra-cranial Vascular Lesions, and all forms of Tuberculosis,
in that order. The number of deaths from Heart
Disease was 196 (170); Cancer 152 (110) Intra-cranial Vascular
Lesions 70 (66); Tuberculosis 30 (35). Last year's figures are
shown in parenthesis.
In comparing this year's figures with those for previous
years it should be borne in mind that this year's total number
of deaths has increased by 106 and therefore it is to be expected
that the figures for the diseases contributing most to the total
will themselves show an appreciable rise. Nevertheless, as
reference to page 16 will confirm, the number of deaths from
Cancer is raised sufficient to be reflected in the Cancer rate, and
at 2 per thousand population it is the highest rate ever to be
recorded for the area. The deaths from Tuberculosis show a
welcome drop from 35 to 30, and this question is dealt with in
greater detail later in the report.
Table IV is a statistical analysis of the deaths in the area
prepared according to the rules of classification to achieve
statistical uniformity. Two additional tables have been prepared
this year showing the deaths in age groups and giving the
secondary causes of death as mentioned on the certificate, so as
to enable us to form some idea as, to the frequency of occurrence
of some of the commoner and some of the rarer diseases which
are not included in the groups in Table IV because they have
not been recorded as the cause of death.
These tables on pages 18 and 19 reveal some very interesting
facts.
It will be seen that up to the age of 56 the number of male
deaths is double that of the female deaths and that the male
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