The morning call., 1893-04-02
HOW WE DIE.

II appears IlaL the ron OF mOTtallly IN
this city for the month which ended on Fri.
day shows a diminutiOn of 10 per cent as
compared with March. 1892, and that for the
fifteen months ending March 81 the deaths
were 500 less than in the previous fifteen
months. The improvement is ascribed to
the vigor with which certain dirty portions
Of the city were cleaned last year.
1t is worthy Of notice that the progress of
sanitary reform is lowering ths death rate
in many European cities. In the last twenty
years the death rate in London has fallen
from 225 to ia, in Liverpool from 25.9 to
zig, in twenty of the largest English towns
from "a to 70, which is probably about the
average death rate in San Francisco. The
reduction in the mortality is chiefly In
zymotic or germ diseases, and may be
ascribed to more thorough drainage, better
water and more vigilant extirpation of
filth. 1t is observed that the decreased
mortality in England chiefly occurs in the
cities. The death rate in the rural COM
munities shows little OF no change.
A contrast between London and San
Francisco presents some curious features.
In the former the mortality from tubercular
and respiratory diseases shows a marked
decline OF late years. Here those diseases
exhibit no diminutiOn of virulence. Our
statistics of consumption are misleading in
con sequence of the number of Eastern con-
sumptiyes who come here to die. But even
allowing for this disturbing factor it must
be admitted that San Francisco is not a
good place for people with weak lungs or a
disposition to throat disease. Nearly half
the deaths in this city are ascribed to tuber-
cular or respiratory diseases.
On the other hand the deaths from
diDhtheria are increasing rapidly in Lon.
don, while they are not on the Increase but
rather on the decrease here. Diphtheria is
miasmatic disease, rendered more virulent
by bad drainage and fostering heaps of gar
bage. 1t seems that in London. with all its
sanitary commissions. parts OF the city are
still very filthy. which is one of the reasons
given why the deaths from diphtheria have
doubled in the last six years. Medical men
treat the disease like an epidemic-by iso-
laton-and that, undoubtedly, is the true
way to deal with it. In many cases it is
practically incurable; the only thing to be
done is TO prevent the spread of the conta-
gion TO others. 1t may fairly he expected
that the alarm which has been caused in
London by its spread will lead to diligent
study of the disease germ; possibly with
the result Of the discovery of the germcde
Another disease which is on the increase
in London, as everywhere else, is cancer
About per cent of the deaths which occur
in hat city are caused by cancer Nc one
knows what the cause of this disease is, nor
can the ablest physician prescribe rem
edy The old treatment by the knife is less
practiced than formerly, because 1t merely
protracts the agony. Every physician ex-
periments with drugs according to his
fancy, but no one seems to have discovered
any drug which he can conscientiously rec
ommend to his confreres. The latest idea
is that cancer Is an ultimate sequel to
nervous depression and that il ought to be
classed among nervous diseases. This no.
ton substitutes one unsolved problem for
another. As even DR.. Weir Mitchell con-
fesses his inability to cure nervous depres-
sion, sufferers from cancer are not much
helped by hearing that their malady be-
longs to that class of diseases. Perhaps it
may be useful TO learn that habnual worry
is now considered as a predisposing cause
of cancer, as it is undoubtedly copious
source of the various forms of heart dis
ease.
a curious contrast between our records Of
mortality and those OF London is presented
by the table Of deaths from accident In
WIS Nt-J hAOJ AA4Clg SAICCA Nv Say per
cent of the total mortality. In London they
mum Der 2475. and one-fOurth of them repre-
sents children under 1 year old who were
oyerlain by their mothers and suffocated to
death. In this city the mortality from that
! cause is believed to be small. In the great
English metropolis the number of women OF
| the poorer class who drown their cares in
| gin is large. and it is often the babies who
suffer.
The general tenor of mortality statistics
leads to the belief that the death rate is
I everywhere declining, and the average ex-
tension of life is frightening; which ought
to lead TO revision of life insurance tables
| and n lowering Of premiums which the CON-
| pauies exact from the insured.