the remaining six-tenths nearly (59 per cent. = 266,000) are distributed pretty equally over the period of life between childhood and old age. Premature death, as here considered, comprehends all deaths except deaths from old age. The distinction is not a mere verbal redundancy. It marks a point of view from which the contemplation of death is best approached for the purposes of health preservation whether in its public or its private aspects. A just sense of the gravity and scope of the questions involved in the advancement of the health, whether of a community, or of a household, or of an individual, is in the main dependent upon the accuracy of our conceptions as to the prematureness of the vastly greater number of the deaths which occur among a population. The foundation of preventive medicine-or, as it is termed in its more familiarly known aspect, sanitary science-rests on our knowledge of the causes of this excessive amount of premature death, of the conditions under which these causes operate, and of the extent to which they are avoidable. CHAPTER II. THE CAUSES OF PREMATURE DEATH. And first of the causes of premature death :— The foremost place among these is held by diseases of the lungs, including phthisis—the consumption of popular language. More than one-fourth (26 per cent. = 130,000) of the whole number of premature deaths are caused by this class of diseases. Next in order of predominance are the infectious diseases the eruptive, contagious, or infectious fevers, small-pox, scarlet fever, measles, typhus, enteric (typhoid) fever, &c. These cause nearly a sixth (15.5 per cent. = 78,700) of the premature deaths. Then, occupying the third place among the causes of death, come the diseases of the brain and nervous system, including hydrocephalus. These give rise to about an eighth of the premature deaths (12 per cent. 54,000). The fourth place is taken by certain diseases classified along with the infectious diseases as general maladies, the whole system being affected by them as a direct result of their development and progress, and not as a secondary consequence of the local disturbance of particular organs. The diseases referred to, here for convenience considered apart, include rheumatism, gout, syphilis, cancer, scrofula in certain forms, purples, scurvy, privation, alcoholic poisoning (alcoholism), &c., and cause a tenth of the premature deaths (10 per cent. = 45,000). Fifth in order of magnitude are the developmental diseases, so called (exclusive of old age), namely premature birth, teething, childbed, atrophy and debility, &c. These cause an eleventh of the premature deaths (9 per cent. = 40,500). Sixth are the diseases of the heart and blood-vessels, including dropsy (6 per cent. = 30,000): Seventh, the diseases of the stomach, intestines, and associated organs (4 per cent. = 20,000): Eighth, the results of violence, including suicide (3 per cent. = 15,000): Ninth, the diseases of the kidney and urinary organs (1.5 per cent. = 6750): Finally follow in succession (each forming 1 per cent. or under of the whole mortality) diseases of the joints and diseases of the skin. Such is a general statement of the causes of premature death given in the order of their relative importance. If now the particular diseases which are most fatal in the several classes are set forth in the order of their mortality, taking for this purpose certain calculations of the Regis |