BARBER: DIPHTHERIA IN KANSAS. 25 



Dr. Thorne found that in England and Wales there is a greater 

 prevalence of diphtheria among females, and he ascribes this to 

 tlie more domestic habits of girls and the resulting greater liability 

 to contact with the sick. In the Massachusetts reports, covering 

 the years from 1856 to 1897, the death rate per 10,000 of popula- 

 tion from diphtheria alone was 5.26 for males and 5.29 for females. 

 Diptheria and croup combined gave males 8.70 and females 8.13. 

 In the United States Census Report for the year ending May 31, 

 1890, there is reported 164 fatal cases of diphtheria among males 

 and 221 among females in Kansas. Croup and diphtheria com- 

 bined gave males 245 and females 349. In the entire United 

 States during that year 13,514 males and 14,301 females died of 

 diphtheria alone, and 21,033 males and 20,644 females of croup 

 and diphtheria combined. It is evidently impossible to generalize 

 safely from the above figures in regard to the influence of sex on 

 diphtheria in Kansas or in the country at large. 



As to the incidence of diphtheria on colored people as compared 

 to white there is little information in the state reports. In the 

 Wichita epidemic referred to above it is reported that there were 

 no cases among the colored people. The city physicians of Law- 

 rence, Leavenworth, Ottawa and Topeka informed me that in their 

 opinion diphtheria is less prevalent among colored people, and 

 Dr. J. A. Mitchell, of Kansas City, Kas., wrote me that he does 

 not remember of a case among colored people in twenty years' 

 practice. In brief, all evidence from physicians in this state agreed 

 that colored people are less susceptible to this disease than white. 



When we come to compare data from other sources we find that 

 in Alabama during the census j^ear i8go 65 deaths from diphtheria 

 occurred among the white population, which form 0.63 per cent of 

 the deaths from all causes among the white people; while 15 deaths 

 are reported for the colored race, which is only 0.14 per cent of 

 the total mortality among the colored people. In the entire coun- 

 try the mortality due to diphtheria during the same year was 3.5 

 per cent of the total number of deaths among the white population, 

 while in the colored it was only 0.79 per cent. In a district in- 

 cluding the metropolitan district of New York, with its cities, the 

 state of New Jersey, the District of Columbia, and the cities of 

 Baltimore, Boston and Philadelphia a record of the deaths during 

 the six years ending May 31, 1890, shows that during this period 

 the mortality from diphtheria and croup combined among the white 

 people was 5 5 per cent of the deaths from all causes, while among 

 the colored people it was only 1.5 per cent. In the records of the 



