On certain changes in the English rates of mortality / by Thomas A. Welton.

  • Welton, Thomas A. (Thomas Abercrombie), 1835-1918
Date:
1880
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On certain changes in the English rates of mortality / by Thomas A. Welton. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    33/36 page 93
    1880.] on Mr. Welton's Paper. effect of easier circumstances had been to lessen the amount of labour they had to perform, and to put them in more comfortable homes surrounded by more comfortable circumstances ; therefore it might be expected that female life would be prolonged, and the death-rate improved with regard to them to a greater extent than males. So far the inference to be drawn from that would bear out the conclusions demonstrated by Mr. Welton's figures. He (Mr. Bourne) believed in the fitness of our organisation and the exercise of our powers in obedience to natural laws ; therefore that the true happiness and welfare of any community very much depended upon the fulfilling of the divine command: Increase and multiply and replenish the earth. Dc. C. B. Saunders said he concurred entirely with the remarks of Mr. Bourne. He pointed out that it was acknowledged in our lunatic asylums that many cases of general paralysis of the insane, and of degenerative diseases of the nervous centres, were due to sexual excesses. The Chairman then laid before the meeting, in connection with the remarks of the last speaker, a statement as to the rate of increase in the diiferent kinds of diseases, for the purpose of guiding any farther discussion that might take place on the paper. He stated that, according to the table at the commencement of the third section of Mr. Welton's paper, the increase in the annual death-rates among males between the ages of 35 and 65 in the year 1875, as compared with the average of 1851-60 (the value of the comparison being diminished by the contrast of a single year with an average of five years) was as follows: from diseases of the kidneys, 86 per cent.; cancer, 69 per cent.; lung diseases, 37 ; heart disease and dropsy, 36-5 ; brain diseases, 31 ; diseases of the stomach and liver, 8 ; phthisis, only 3*5 per cent.; while from scrofulous diseases there was a decrease of 41 per cent., and from zymotic diseases a decrease of 23 per cent. The average increase from all causes was 22 per cent. Mr. Lawson thought that the remarks as to the increase of diseases ought to be received with a certain amount of caution, because in tbe periods to which the paper referred there had been a considerable alteration in the nomenclature of diseases, and also a great improvement in the means of distinguishing them. Several speakers had remarked that the diseases amongst men had increased as compared with women, but the reports of the registrar-general show that among male children under 1 year of age, there was a decidedly greater mortality from all the ordinary children's diseases, except whooping cough, than amongst females. In the service to which he belongs there was a benefit society. In connection with it an inquiry was made some years ago, and it was found that the mortality amongst the single men was about twice as great as it was amongst those who were married. This fact was borne out by an examination made by the registrar-general for Scotland about twelve years ago. As to the causes of the higher mortality among
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3