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292
St. John's. The actual numbers recorded show very
irregular changes, which will be more readily apprehended
by a consideration of the figures in Table 22a.
In this Table, it has been assumed that 1,000 births
were registered in each area and sex mentioned, by
which means the irregularities in the numbers depending
on the inequalities of the births registered are got
rid of.
As regards the causes of death among these children
(see Table 23), it will be noticed that last year
the deaths due to Measles were much under the
average, owing to the absence of any epidemic. If
the annual average of 11 deaths be taken as the basis
for distinguishing between epidemic and non-epidemic
years, this disease was epidemic six times during
1889-98, and non-epidemic, four, viz. :—

Scarlet Fever is a rare cause of death at this age,
only 5 cases being recorded in the ten years; Whooping
Cough is a most regular cause of death, and shows
but slight variation from year to year; and Diphtheria
has recently been a fairly steady cause of death, but
shows at length some indication of being either less