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28
Order VIII.— Integumentary System. Abscesses
and Carbuncles caused six deaths, ono-half of which
were amongst young children.
Class IV.— DEVELOPMENTAL DISEASE.
407 deaths were thus classed; 234 of which were
amongst young children; 48 wer prematurely born;
4 had Deformed Hearts; 3, Deformed Spines; and 6,
some other malformation.
To Teething I have credited only twelve deaths,
though the certificates, in many instances, gave this
cause (with some other) as having contributed to the
death. Now, it must be borne in mind, that dentition
is a perfectly natural process, and, in a healthy child,
should give rise to little or no constitutional disturbance.
If a child should happen to have Convulsions
while dentition is proceeding, they are at once set
down as caused by it; but as often as not the Convulsions,
from which the child dies, are to be accounted
for by the presence of improper food or some other
irritant in the intestinal canal. I have, therefore,
preferred, when the medical certificate states the
death to have been caused by Dentition and Convulsions,
to class it under the latter heading instead of
the former, as the one statement is the expression of
an obvious fact, while the other is, in many cases at
least, merely an opinion.
Twelve deaths were caused by Childbirth, precisely
the same number as last year.