EDITORS.

J. LANGDON DOWN, M.D., F.R.C.P. | HENRY POWER, M.B., F.R.C.S.

J. MORTIMER-GRANVILLE, M.D. | JOHN TWEEDY, F.R.C.S.

PREMATURE DEATH:

ITS

PROMOTION OR PREVENTION.

CONTRIBUTORS TO THE

SERIES:

G. W. BALFOUR, M.D., St. And., | C. W. HEATON, F.C.S., F.I.C.
F.R.C.P. Edin.

. CRICHTON-BROWNE, M.D. Edin.,

F.R.S. Edin.

SIDNEY COUPLAND, M.D. Lond.,
M.R.C.P.

JOHN CURNOW, M.D.Lond., F.R.C.P.
7. LANGDON DOWN, M.D. Lond.,
F.R.C.P.

TILBURY FOX, M.D. Lond., F.R.C.P.
7. MORTIMER-GRANVILLE, M.D.
St. And., F.G.S., F.S.S.

HARRY LEACH, M.R.C.P.
G. V. POORE, M.D. Lond., F.R.C.P.
HENRY POWER, M.B. Lond., F.R.C.S.
W. L. PURVES, M.D. Edin., M.R.C.S.
7. NETTEN RADCLIFFE, Ex-Pres.
Epidl. Soc., &c.

W. S. GREenfield, M.D. Lond. JOHN WILLIAMS, M.D. Lond.,
M.R.C.P.

M.R.C.P.

LONDON:

PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET

AND CHARING CROSS.

PREMATURE DEATH:

ITS PROMOTION OR PREVENTION.

CHAPTER I.

THE RUDIMENTARY ARITHMETIC OF PREMATURE DEATH.

Or the twenty-five millions (25,000,000) of people who form the population of England and Wales, half a million or thereabout (500,000) die, on the average, every year.

Of these deaths one-tenth only (50,000) are of persons who have reached the full term of life, namely, seventyfive years and upwards; nine-tenths are premature, that is to say, are deaths of persons whose lives have been cut short before the expiration of their natural term.

Somewhat less than one-fourth of the 450,000 persons who every year die prematurely (24 per cent. = 108,000) die in infancy; somewhat over four-tenths (41 per cent. = 184,500), including those who die in infancy, die by the time the fifth year of life is completed; the deaths of