Study of Diseases.

Manawatu Herald, 8 December 1892, Page 2

Study of Diseases.

In the report on the mortality experience of the A.M. P. Society we find the medical experts give the following information ;— ln tables supplied it is shown that a very striking feature is the large proportion of deaths from violence being* 15*14 per cent, due to accident, neg^ ligence, or suicide. Typhoid fever is responsible for 5-08 per cent. Pneumonia, frequently the result of exposure or negligence 7-08 per cent. After violence, pythisis is the most fatal cause of death, being 12*78 per cent. Heart affections are, after pythisis, the most fatal cause of death, and it seems to. be-.emphati-cally the disease of advanced age 1 . Diseases of the liver represent- &'BG» per cent d the deaths. Diseases of the brain are more fatal at advanced ages and are 5.18 per cent. The kidney diseases are responsible for 5.75 per cent, the greatest risk of death seems to exist nfter the age of 50. Apoplexy is credited with 4.72 per cent of deaths. Cancer,^jifcer pythisis is the most fatal of tb(T constitutional diseases, the deaths being: 463 per cent. Ifc is .unpleasant to read that " there has beeu a very marked increase during the 10 years 1879-1888. Cnncer is, as a rule, a disease of middle and old age, consequently the increase in the rate of mortality from this 1 cause would bo partly accounted for by the increased age of the office: Tin's does not, however, explain such a great increase as is here shown " . „..-. .... In conclusion the medical experts' assert : •' During the 40 years, 5,546 deaths were recorded, but of these 840 were due to violence and 282 to typhoid fever. More than one-fifth of the total death 3 were due = to causes against which no medical examination could guard. It is - possible of course that the mortality from these causes might be reduced by refusing to accept parsons whose occupations render them liable to accident, or persons residing in localities where the strictest attention is not paid to sanitation, but the day .. for refinements of this description .in life assurance business is : Jong since past. A high death rat?. from violent causes is perhaps inseparable from the conditions of a new country, but when in spite of it our mortality from all causes is at any rate not less favourable than th-it of tiny office*.^ with which a comparison can be made, we think we may fairly claim that not only ha**e the principles which have guided the Society in the s&lee'ion of risks bmi sound, but thai; \\}& oui'e with which the medical examinations ftll over the colonies;' have b.-»?n conducted has been a large' fact.- r in bringing about such ■ satisfactory results." .......