66 ox THE PREVALENCE OF CAN'OER IN AUSTRALASIA. 



tliey generally bear to other diseases, and are decidedly on the 

 increase. Under these circumstances a more minute inquiry into 

 the prevalence of cancer in x\ustralasia seems to be all the more 

 interesting since the Vital Statistics of the different Australian 

 colonies furnish a material sufficiently ample to base our investi- 

 gations upon. More particularly at, the present time, where the 

 theory of the parasitic origin of cancer leads us to suspect a 

 miasmatic influence, the study of the distribution of malignant 

 tumours may to some extent contribute towards the elucidation 

 of this obscure subject.'' 



Of course I am aware of the objections which may be 

 raised against the use of vital statistics for the purpose of 

 determining the prevalence of any disease. The compulsory 

 notification of births and deaths in all the Australian provinces, 

 the quinquennial census, and the certification of the cause of 

 death, furnish the basis for the \'ital statistics. You will notice 

 from an inspection of the plates, that I tried to avoid the 

 fallacies and errors of the indiscriminate use of mortality tables 

 by classifying the deaths in different age groups, by comparing 

 them with the mortality of people above five years of age, thus 

 avoiding the disturbing influence of a fluctuating birth rate and 

 mortality of infants, by separating the returns as to sex, etc. 

 There is also another point I wish to allude to. Since all cases 

 of cancer which are not operated upon terminate fatally, the 

 number of deaths recorded indicate more fully than in most 

 other diseases, from which recoveries take place in varying 

 numbers, in typhoid fever for instance, the real prevalence of 

 the disease. 



The number of cases that form the subject of these inves- 

 tigations is very considerable. They comprise more than 

 20,000 deaths caused by cancer in the different Australian 

 colonies during various periods extending from 1861 till 1891, 

 namely :— Victoria, !J, 900 ; South Australia, 1,807; New South 

 "Wales, 4,501' ; New Zealand, 1,943; Queensland, 1416; Tas- 



- * It is unquestionable that caicinomata also approximate to the category of miasmatic 

 affections. Although less pronounced than malaria or goitre, the endemic character of 

 cancer is still a fact that has often struck observers. The frequency of these malignant 

 tunjours is far from being equal in all countries. By the side of regions of the globe 

 which are exempt, or very nearly so, from this disease (iTaroe Islands, etc.), there are 

 others whi-re carcinomata are very common. — Remarks on Carcinomata and Corridia, 

 by Elias Jletsclmikoff, M.D.. British Medical Journal, Dec. ICth, 1892. 



+ The statistics of New South Wales comprise 445 deaths returned under the heading 

 of Tumours. 



