New Britain herald., 1916-01-19
S9S,059 DEATHS IN
 COUNTRY IN 1914
Heart Disease Claimed Most Of Victims With Total Of 99,634

! According to preliminary announce
 ment with reference to mortality in l 1914, issued by Director Sam. l.. l Rogers, of the bureau of the census, i department of commerce, and com 1 piled by Richard c. Lappin, chief
 statistician for vital statistics, more 1 than thirty per cent. of the S9S059 | deaths reported for that year in the
 "registration area" which contained
 about two thirds of the popular of the
 entire United States were due to three | causeS-heart diseases, tuberculosis, ! and pneumOnia--and more than sixty i per cent to eleven cause&-the three
 just named, together with Brights 1 disease and nephritis. cancer, diarrhea
 and enteritis, apoplexy, arterial dis | cases diphtheria, diabetes, and l typhoid fever.
 The deaths from heart diseases l (organic diseases of the heart and
 endocarditis) in the registration area
 in 1914 numbered 99,534. or 150.S
 per 100000 population. The death
 or mortality rate from this cause ! shows a marked increase as compared with 1900, when 1t was only 1231 per ! 100000.
 96,9O3 Tuberculosis Victims.
 Tuberculosis in it's variou forms
 claimed 96.9OS victims in 1914. of
 which number 84, 1866 died from tuber-
 culosis of the lungs (including acute l military tuberculosis). As a result 1 of a more general understanding of
 the laws of health, the importance of fresh air, etc, due in part no doubt l to the efforts of the various societies 1 for the prevention of tuberculosis there has been a most marked and gratifying decrease during recent years in the mortality from this scourge of civilization. In only a de- cade-from 1904 to 1914-the death rate from tuberculosis in all it's forms fell from 200.7 to 146.S per 100000, the decline being continuous from year to year. This is drop of more than twenty-five per cent Prior to 1904 the rate bad fluctuated, starting at 201.O9 in 1900. Even yet how ever, tuberculosis has the gruesome distinction of causing more deaths an nually than any other form of bodily illness except heart diseases, and over forty per cent. more than all external causeS-ac ccidents, homicides and sui cides combined.
 Pneumonia Gncluding broncho- pneumonia was responsible for S3,- S04 deaths in the registration area in 1914, or 127 per 00,OO0-the lowest rate on record. The mortality rate from this disease, like that from tuberculosis, has shown a marked de- cline since 1900, when it was 1895 per 100000. It's fluctuations from year to year however, have been pro- nounced, whereas the decline in the rate for tuberculosis has been nearly continuous.
 Rripht'S DiSeaSe
 The only remaining death rate higher than 100 per 100000 in 1914 WIS that for Bright's disease and acute nephritis, 1924. The total number of deaths due to these maladies in 1914 was 67.545, more than nine tenths of which were caused by Bright's disease and the remainder by acute nepbritis The mortality from these two causes increased from S9 per 100000 in 1900 to 103.4 in 1905, since which year it has f1uctuatcd somewhat.
 Next in order of deadliness come cancer and other malignant tumors, which filled 52,42 graves in 1914. Of these deaths, 19,SS9, or almost 38 per cent, resulted from cancers of the stomach and liver The death rate from cancer has risen from 63 per
 lUU,UUU Ill 1JDU to I9.4 l9l 4. The increase has been almost continuous, there having been but two years 1906 and 1911-which showed a de-
 cline as compared with the years i'm mediately preceding. It is possible that at least a part of this indicated increase is due to more accurate diar noses and greater care on the part Of l physicians in making reports to reg | istratiOn officials.
 Diarrhea and Entcrtis. Diarrhea and enteritis caused 5o 4O7 deaths in 1914, or 79.4 Der 100 900. This rate shows a marked fall ing off as compared with the rate fo,. the preceding year, 90.2, and a very pronounced decline as compared with that for 1900 which was 13a ', Nearly five-siXths of the total nun- | Der of deaths charged to these causes in 1914 were of infants under. +.7,
 years of age.
 Apoplexy was the cause of 51272 deaths, or TIT per 100000 The rate from this malady has increased grad ually' with occasional slight declines since 1900, when it stood at 67.5. Arteral diseases of various Kinds atheroma, aneurism, etc.-caused 15 o44 deaths, or 22.s per 100000, in the | registration area. +tf- No epidemic disease produced a death rate as high as IS per 100000 in 1914. The fatal cases of diphtheria and croup-which are classed to- gether in the statistics, but practically all of which are of diphtheria-num- bered 11,786, or 17.9 per 100000, in that year, the rate having fallen from 43.3 in 1900. This decline of nearly
 fifty-nine per cent. is relatively greater than that shown by any other
 important cause of death. The rate
 has not fallen continuously, but has
 fiuctuated somewhat from year to year.