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200
In examining the figures in the Table it should bo remembered
that the population of the Parish at the census of 1861
was 75,784; at that of 1891, 117,846; and that the estimated
population for last year was 129,124. Such an increase in the
density of the population in the absence of municipal control
would result in a corresponding increase in the mortality.
With the exception of the death-rate from measles, which
was the same in the two periods, and those from diphtheria and
"cancer," which have increased, all the mean rates given in the
Table were lower in the second period than in the first, some of thorn
notably so. In reference to diphtheria it should bo mentioned
that the diagnosis between that disease and scarlet fever was in
the earlier period incomplete, and it will bo safer to combine the
mortalities from the two causes in the two periods. The combined
mortalities will then compare thus:—
COMBINED MORTALITIES: SCARLET FEVER AND
DIPHTHERIA.
1868-72. 1895-99.
Mean 1.00 0.65
Maximum 1.74 0.72
Minimum 0.41 0.28
If the zymotic diseases be divided into two groups of
"controlled" and "uncontrolled," based on present practice, the
mean rate for the first group during the first period will be found
to be 1.55, and during the second 0.65, equal to a reduction of
58 per cent.; while the rates for the second group are 2.01 and
1.39 respectively, equal to a reduction of 30 per cent. only. It
seems impossible to avoid the conclusion that more energetic
measures ought to be adopted with the second group of diseases.
The increase in the mortality from "cancer" is equal to 116
per cent approximately, the increase being noted from the very
beginning of the statistics, viz., in 1868-9.