Diphtheria and Religion.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume I, Issue 15, 30 October 1879, Page 4

Diphtheria and Religion.

(Montreal Witness.)

It is a romarkabe fact that, according to the statistics of the health department, diphtheria is more prevaileat among the Protestant section of the community than among the Catholics, and the fact is as difficult to account for as it is remarkable. As far as our.reporter can learn, no theory has ever been promulgated by the medical profession to account for it, and yet the question is one well worth consideration of the doctors. It is not a mere coincidence, nor is it of a temporary character. A study of the health statistics of Montreal for several years past reveals the same state of things. It is the more peculiar inasmuch as the general death-rate is much higher with the Catholics, particularly so in contagious diseases, and conspicuously so in the case of small-pox. But these admit of explantion. The only solution of the problem we have seen offered does not come from the medical profession, but from a layman, Aid. Childs, who suggests that the bulk of the Protestant community reside in the upper part of the town, where the drainage is leas perfect than in the lower town. The subject, like the drains, will bear ventilating.