The Colored Race 



143 



I have been assured by physicians who practiced among 

 them before the war, and when their physical condition was 

 so much better than it now is, that consumption was ahnost 

 unknown. The finding of any tubucular lesion in the lungs 

 at an autopsy was always a surprise. I shall, however, speak 

 of this later. 



I have mentioned in my first paper the great susceptibilit}- 

 of monkeys to tuberculosis when brought to this countr}-. 

 The change of habitat and surroundings induce this predispo- 

 sition. Perhaps we had l)etter say that greater exposure to 

 the germ coupled with impaired health from unnatural living 

 brings about this mortality. 



Pneumonia stands third in the list of causes of death. It 

 is rare that I save a case of pheumonia either in adult or 

 child among the colored, and an inspection of the mortuar}- 

 records brings out a great disparity between the two races. 

 Here is a table of the deaths from pneumonia since 1884. 



Year. 



Pneumonia 



1884 



W;l 17 

 'C|)33 



1885 



9 



37 



1886/887 1888 /889U890 /8qi 1892 



16 j 15 

 74 ! 41 



48 46 



7 I 23 j 20 



47 I 52 j 52 



Total. 



147 

 430 



Here in nine years we have had 147 cases of pneumonia 

 among the whites and 430 among the colored, in other words 

 one white dies to three colored. The Census states, "The 

 comparative excess of mortality from pneumonia in the col- 

 ored race in the South has been known for a long time." 

 The disease with them rapidly assumes a general infection ; 

 there is a high temperature, typhoid symptoms, singultus, un- 

 consciousness, and death. Cases which recover are apt to 

 succumb later to tuberculosis. 



Here are the figures put down to bronchitis and capillary 

 bronchitis : 



