Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: State hygiene. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.
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![That the bodies of those who have recently died by any or almost any of the diseases generally known as “ zymotic,” and thus classified by the Begistrar-General in this country, are charged with elements which have the property of communicating the same diseases to the bodies of living persons, if brought into contact with them, whether by inoculation or by food-admixture. The group of diseases defined as “ zymotic ” is generally held to be formed chiefly by the following :—Small-pox, measles, scarlet fever, diphtheria, whooping-cough, typhus, enteric and continued fevers, with some forms of diarrhoea, and cholera. In considering the mortality from these diseases, occurring under ordinary circumstances in this country, it will be desirable, first, to state what is the mortality arising from all causes, and then to ascertain the proportion which the group in question bears to the total. The official reports of the Begistrar-General for the last three years will show this, extracts having been prepared for the purpose. No special outbreak took place, and the average was rather lower than had previously been recorded. The number of deaths from all causes in England and Wales during the last three years is as follows:— Deaths in England and Wales during 1887, 530,758=18‘8 per 1,000. {Estimated population, 28,247,151.] Among these, “ zymotic,” or specific febrile diseases, amounted to 75,205. Of these 530,758 deaths, the causes of death were uncertified in 17,465 cases, or 3*3 per cent. (Fiftieth Annual Beport of Begistrar-General.—London : Eyre and Spottiswoode. 1888, pp. X, XII, XVI.) Deaths in England and Wales during 1888, 510,971 = 17'8 per 1,000. {Estimated popidation, 28,628,804.] Among these, “ zymotic,” or specific febrile diseases, amounted to 60,166 cases. Of these 510,971 deaths, the causes of death were uncertified in 15,747 cases, or 3'1 per cent. (Fifty-first Annual Beport of the Begistrar-General.—London: Eyre and Spottiswoode. 1889, pp. VIII, X, XVII.) Deaths in England and Wales during 1889, 518,353=l7’9 per 1,000. {Estimated population, 29,015,613.] Among these “ zymotic,” or specific febrile disease, amounted to 69,776 cases. Of these 518,353 deaths, the causes of death were uncertified in 15,100 cases, or 2‘9 per cent., a smaller proportion than in any preceding year. In Wales it was larger than in any other locality, being 5’9 per cent. In Middlesex it was smallest, being only 0 • 7 per cent. (Fifty-second Annual Beport of the Begistrar- General.—London: Eyre and Spottiswoode. 1890, pp. viii, XVIII, XIX.) Deaths in Scotland during 1888, 71,174=19’6 per 1,000; from zymotic diseases, 7,974. Of these 71,174 deaths the causes of death were uncertified in 5,029 cases, or 7 • 1 per cent., but in very varying proportions in different localities.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b28045476_0082.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
