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18
PHTHISIS MORTALITY.
Ten deaths were registered, and their distribution is shewn
in Table IV. The mortality was .7 per thousand. Divided into
areas, the rate in West Barnes was 2.4 per thousand population,
.9 in Bushey Mead, .4 in Merton Park, and .5 in Morden Road.
In 1907 the deaths were 12.
In reading these figures, however, it must be remembered,
that the place with the largest mortality has much the smallest
population, so that the error from the element of chance is
liable to be great.
The disease is due to a germ, and is, therefore, infectious.
From the sputum of the consumptive the germ gets into the
air, and can get into the human body by inhalation or swallowing,
but it depends on the bodily resistance of the individual
whether the seed bears fruit. The prevention lies in a great
way on the provision of plenty of fresh air, both because it
increases the resisting power, and kills the germs. The
doctrine of heredity, held in past years, is not now considered
of importance, except that it has some influence on the soil,
but much can be done, and much has been done by sanitary
means, to reduce this factor of inheritance to a minimum.
An Order of the Local Government Board has just come
into force, making the notification of Poor Law consumptives
compulsory; and an attempt will be made to educate these
patients in the methods of preventing the spread. The Public
Health Committee have made provisions as to the distribution
of pamphlets and sputum flasks in the suitable cases.
Two deaths have been registered from other tubercular
diseases, against 4 in 1907.
OTHER RESPIRATORY DISEASES.
From Bronchitis, Pneumonia, and other respiratory diseases,
16 out of the total 100 deaths have been registered. This
gives a mortality of 1.2 per thousand.