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since 1855. The disease which has varied most is small-pox,
which was very fatal in the year 1863, and less so, this
year. Small-pox is a disease, like scarlet fever, and other
eruptive fevers, which produces a very varying rate of death in
different years. It certainly would not prove so fatal as in the
years 1863-64, if vaccination were efficiently performed, but
we cannot expect that vaccination, however carefully done, will
extirpate the disease, because a certain proportion of persons
suffer from it a second time. Measles was unusually fatal, no
less than 79 deaths having been registered from it, which is
more than double the average number. Scarlatina on the
other hand, was much less fatal than usual, and we may expect
it to be so for the next two years, and then be unusually
prevalent during 1867-68; and measles proportionately to
decline. Diphtheria obeys the same laws as scarlatina, and
many therefore are classed with it. Whooping-cough was
unusually prevalent, and produced a high rate of mortality.
There was however, an excess of mortality from the diseases
grouped together as fever, compared with last year, but the
deaths were not so numerous as in 1862. I should have
excluded a considerable number of cases from this head, but
as I had included all doubtful cases at first, I retained them,
for the sake of comparison. It is much to be regretted that
so many deaths are returned as caused by fever, which ought
evidently be registered under a different class. I may mention
that on enquiry I found many deaths from child-birth had been
registered as fever. The total number of deaths caused by these
seven diseases was no less than 366 in 1864.
The deaths registered in each quarter of the year was more
uniform in number than in the year 1863. There were 604
recorded during the first quarter, 466 in the second, 489 in
the third, and 583 in the last quarter. The proportions in