144 



Etigene Rollm Coi^son 



Bronchitis is not common with us, and the doubt in the di- 

 agnosis is to be considered. The Tenth Census states it 

 causes a greater proportion of deaths in the white (17.3) than 

 in the colored (12.8). It is, however, a small factor in the 

 general mortality here in the South. 



I give here a strange pathological table which shows the 

 difficulty we sometimes labor under from improper diagnosis, 

 or rather no diagnosis at all. There is an immense return, for 

 example, under "anasarca " which is simply a symptom, and 

 may result from heart, liver, or kidney trouble, and even 

 other troubles. Again, " ascites " is usually a symptom of 

 hepatic cirrhosis, but may occtir from other abdominal condi- 

 tions as well as heart and kidney troubles. ' ' Cardiac dropsy ' ' 

 gives us no idea of the real condition present. To offset this 

 I have added the cases of Bright's disease, hepatic cirrhosis, 

 and heart disease, including under the latter term all speci- 

 fied diagnoses of heart trouble. Although the figures here 

 reduce somewhat the' great disparity from " anasarca," 

 "ascites," and "cardiac dropsy," it is very evident that the 

 colored are still largely in excess of the whites in cardiac 

 and renal diseases. 



According to this table hepatic cirrhosis is more frequent 

 among the whites, yet if we combine the figures with those of 

 ascites, the colored are in excess. Again it is the heart 

 troubles which add mostly to the mortality, and while even 

 here the negro mortality exceeds that of the whites, still it is in 

 Bright's disease that we find the greatest disparity, and 

 greater still if we include a certain proportion of the cases 



