Overview

From the beginning of the first chapter: Everyone recognises in a more or less general kind of way that phthisis is one of the most important diseases with which we have to contend, and there are probably few families one or more of whose members have not been carried off by this prevalent complaint. But general impressions are not enough, and we want something more definite. Statistics. By reference to statistics we find that in England and Wales alone, in the course of 33 years from 1848 to 1880, no less than 1,702,027 deaths were classified as being due to phthisis. The Registrar - General says that of all the causes of death that have place in the bills of mortality this is the one which carries off the largest number of victims. br> In 1892-we select this year because it is the latest concerning which we have definite information-the deaths from phthisis numbered 43,323 in England and Wales. In addition there were 7,135 deaths from tabes mesenterica, and 43,323 deaths from tubercular and other scrofulous diseases. Moreover, 116,771 persons were registered as having died of diseases of the respiratory system, a certain proportion of these undoubtedly being of tubercular origin, although not definitely classified as such. It may be pretty safely assumed that in the year 1892 between fifty and sixty thousand people died of phthisis in England and Wales. This year it is true was exceptional, but it was exceptional in this respect, that the death-rate from phthisis was the lowest on record. Comparative Statistics. Figures convey little or no meaning .unless they are employed for the purposes of comparison. We start on the supposition that fifty or sixty thousand people more or less die every year from consumption. Let us see how this compares with other causes of death. There has undoubtedly of late years been a great increase in the mortality from cancer, but in 1892 the deaths from this cause numbered only 20,353, and yet this, with the exception of the preceding year, was the highest death-rate from this cause on record. Now let us turn to the class of zymotic diseases -the specific febrile diseases-a class which includes not only influenza and enteric fever, but measles, scarlet fever, diphtheria, and diarrhceal diseases. The deaths included in this class numbered 82,099, and yet this, again, was an exceptional record, showing an increase on the year which immediately preceded it, which itself exceeded the proportion in any year since 1884. The deaths from individual diseases of this class appear almost trivial when compared with the enormous number of deaths from consumption. For example, the mortality for the year from scarlet fever was 5,618, from typhoid fever 4,037, and from diphtheria 6,522. Hydrophobia is generally regarded as a serious and even terrible disease, and yet only seven people died from it in the year.

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