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1907] 64
Here we have the deaths brought to a common basis, and they show that
last year there was a saving of 86 deaths on the average of the five years
1856-60 ; of 149 on the average of the ten years 1861-70; of 52 on the average
of the ten years 1871-80; of 83 on the average of the ten years 1881-90; of
69 on the average of the ten years 1891-1900; and of 3 on the average of
the six years 1901-06.
These returns would have been more correct if their basis had been the
number of children living at those ages at which the disease is most prevalent,
but as the material was not available, the above calculations must suffice. They
are, however, ample for the writer's purpose, as tdey undoubtedly show that,
despite the large number of children who attend our elementary schools, the
disease is less fatal, and probably proportionally less prevalent, than it was in
those early years, when school attendance was not compulsory, as it now is.
At the beginning of the year there were comparatively few cases of measles
known in the borough, and, indeed, only three deaths were chronicled in the
first three months; but as the year advanced the number rapidly increased
so that the known cases, which were nearly all reported by the L.C.C.
school teachers, in the second quarter had leaped from 380, with 4 deaths,
in the first, to 979, with 56 deaths, while in the third quarter the known
cases numbered 249*, but the deaths were 44; and in the fourth quarter
26 deaths were registered and 460 cases were recorded.
During the past twenty-six years Measies has usually been less fatal in
the third quarter than at any period of the year; then the deaths have
increased in the fourth quarter, and continued to do so in the first quarter of
the succeeding year, until the disease reached its maximum in the second
quarter. Thus in these years there have been 1,130 deaths, or 30.7 per cent.
in the first quarter; 1,366, or 37.1 per cent. in the second quarter; 510, or
13.9 per cent. in the third quarter, and 674, or 18.31 per cent. in the fourth
quarter. Of course there have been variations to this apparent rule in several
years, for instance, in 1898 the greatest number of deaths occurred in the
first quarter, in 1895 in the third quarter, and in 1901 in the fourth quarter,
but as a rule the fatal incidence of measles is as stated.
* The decrease was due to the closure of the schools for the summer holidays.