View report page

93
As will be seen from the foregoing Table the Infant mortality was very
great, shewing the death-rate of children under 1 year of age to be 5.1
per 1,000, whilst those under 5 years of age the death-rate was 8.0 per
1,000.
STATISTICS OF MORTALITY IN THE FOUR QUARTERS.
causes of death.
Quarter
ending
June, 1886.
Quarter
ending
Sept., 1886.
Quarter
ending
Dec., 1886.
Quarter
ending
March, 1887.
Total.
Small Pox
-
-
-
-
-
I.
Zymotic.
Measles
1
8
47
56
112
Scarlet Fever
11
7
17
2
37
Simple Continued Fever
-
-
-
-
-
Enteric Fever
1
5
9
2
17
Puerperal Fever
—
-
1
3
/
4
Diphtheria
—
8
5
2
15
Whooping Cough
23
7
8
11
49
Erysipelas
2
2
1
—
5
Diarrhoea and Dysentery
11
114
13
7
145
Other Zymotic Diseases
—
—
—
-
-
II.
Constitutional.
Gout and Rheumatism
—
2
2
1
5
Cancer, and other humours
18
11
11
10
50
Taberculr.
Phthisis
48
52
52
39
191
Tabes Mesenterica
5
15
21
19
60
Scrofula
-
-
1
-
1
III.
Local.
Nervous
61
71
93
58
283
Circulatory
38
21
22
24
105
Respiratory
111
39
121
160
431
Digestive
11
10
7
22
50
Urinary
5
4
3
1
—
IV.Developmental.
Premature Birth
17
24
22
29
92
Old age
36
31
32
37
132
V.
Undefined & not specified
33
31
32
46
142
VI.
Causes not known, which
died in Public Instittns.
40
60
24
63
187
Grand Total
...
...
...
...
2129
The most important class of disease from a sanitary point of view is
ZYMOTIC DISEASES.
This class of disease as arranged by the Registrar-General's^ Returns
comprises Small-pox, Measles, Scarlet-fever, Diphtheria, Whoopingcough,
Typhus-fever, Enteric-fever, Simple-fever and Diarrhoea. These
diseases have a great interest for Sanitarians inasmuch as they are more
or less of a preventible character, and it is to an extent that we judge of
the sanitary condition of the district, but, of course, there are limitations
to these inferences as some years we get epidemics of these diseases
whilst others we are comparatively free. There can be no doubt that we
can do a great deal to modify their spread by efficient sanitation. The
number of deaths that have taken place from these diseases is 376,
giving a death-rate of 3.3 per 1,000.
SMALL-POX.
This disease has, I am happy to say, been quite foreign to the district
during the past year. Only 14 cases occurred in the whole Metropolis
for the four quarters ending March, 1887.