Annual death-rates in England from various causes, per million persons living, in groups of years 1858–1890--
KEY A: Phthisis and scrofula B: Other diseases of micro-organisms C: Diseases of dentition, parturition, convulsions, accident and negligence D: Some constitutional diseases
------------------------------------------------------------------------- CAUSE OF DEATH. 1858–60. 1861–65. 1866–70. 1871–75. 1876–80. 1881–85. 1886–90. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- GROUP I. A 3304·0 3311·0 3300·2 2940·6 2816·8 2540·8 2322·2 B[17] 4403·9 4498·6 4677·2 4055·8 3233·6 2708·8 2417·0
GROUP II. C 2257·0 2262·0 2191·0 2077·2 1860·4 1678·6 1538·0
GROUP III. D[18] 6056·3 6311·4 6594·6 7199 7536·4 7531·2 7929·4 -------------------------------------------------------------------------
[17] These include small-pox, measles, scarlet fever, simple and ill defined fever, whooping cough, diphtheria, miasmatic diseases, cholera, diarrhœa, dysentery, erysipelas, puerperal fever and thrush.
[18] Diseases of the nervous, circulatory and respiratory systems, cancer, diabetes and other constitutional diseases.
This table demonstrates, therefore, in a most marked manner, the action of modern civilisation and of preventive medicine, which, by removing the microbe and diminishing the dangers of child-rearing, has diminished the rate of mortality to a very notable extent in the early years of life. The increase in the number of deaths from constitutional diseases, occurring as they do in middle or advanced age, are probably due to the survival of an increased number of individuals into the period of maturity. From this table it is difficult to say whether or no these individuals are below the mean average type. We have to die at one period of life or at another, and if men and women are preserved from the dangers of childhood and youth, there will be more to fall victims to the lung and chest complaints of more advanced life.
But it is possible by other sets of figures, obtainable from the Registrar General’s reports, to arrive at some sort of decision as to the healthiness of the middle-aged and elderly people living to-day, and to compare these results with similar ones drawn from the statistics of twenty or thirty years ago.