Barber: Dif>HTHERiA in Kansas. i^ 



having approximately the same population may show a very differ- 

 ent average death rate. The evidence in the reports in regard to 

 croup was so uncertain that it was not taken into account, and all 

 figures refer to diphtheria alone. 



The broken lines running across the map pass through points 

 having approximately the average annual rainfall in inches indi- 

 cated by the numbers at the ends of the lines. The rainfall of the 

 area between any two lines varies between the numbers indicated 

 on these lines. These lines are taken from a map prepared bj' 

 Prof. E. C. Murphy of Kansas Universit}'. 



The evidence furnished is so incomplete that it is impossible to 

 arrive at any but very broad generalizations. According to the re- 

 ports scarcely more than six counties have given a report of the 

 deaths from infectious diseases, specifying the number from each 

 disease, in all of the twelve years; and an average taken of eighty- 

 four counties already organized in 1886 shows that these counties 

 have made such reports on an average of 7.8 times instead of 

 twelve. Besides, the reports when made are incomplete in many, 

 if not in a majority of cases, and the difficulty of determining the 

 number of times a county has made a specific report on infectious 

 diseases adds somewhat to the uncertainty of the results. It was 

 sometimes hard to distinguish a report of no deaths from a failure 

 to report on the subject. 



But if the results are unreliable for a given county, it is still pos- 

 sible to arrive at conclusions when we compare certain large por- 

 tions of the state with others. It is observed at once that the 

 western part of the state shows a much smaller mortality, on the 

 whole, than the eastern; and this is especially noticeable in the 

 southwestern counties. A few of the western counties show a very 

 high death rate. In the very small average population of these 

 counties one or two deaths add much to the rate per thousand, 

 and, since some of these deaths may be among transients or recent 

 arrivals, it does not necessarially follow that conditions favorable 

 for diphtheria prevail in these localities because the death rate is 

 high. It will be observed that the southern tier of counties shows, 

 as a whole, a smaller mortality than the northern. This is true if 

 we take all the counties in the tiers, or if we average only the seven 

 eastern counties of each. 



The evidence of the reports that the western counties have com- 

 paratively little diphtheria is to some extent confirmed by the let- 

 ters of correspondents. Writers from Greeley, Seward, Stanton, 

 Sherman" and Wichita counties report that to their knowledge no 



