72 ON THE PREVALENX'E OF CANCER IN AUSTRALASIA. 



from the accompauying tables the curve of the cancer rate 

 amongst females is much higher than in males. The average 

 for Victoria within the last thirty-one years has been 36 per 

 100,000 males and 40 per 100,000 females. However, it is 

 important to note the fact that the relative increase in cancer 

 has been considerably smaller amongst females than males, so 

 that they are nearly equal in the latter years of observation. 



Correspondingly we find that, compared with 1000 deaths 

 from all causes, cancer furnishes a higher percentage in women 

 than in men. Here the increase in the last twenty-one years has 

 been about equal for both sexes ; but the increase itself is very 

 noticeable. On the other hand, in New South Wales the 

 increase of the cancer mortality is far more conspicuous amongst 

 females than males. Within our period of observation — from 

 1875 till 1888 — the percentage per 1000 deaths was 16 and 33 

 women and 17 and 24 men. The increased liability of the 

 female sex to malignant tumours is also evidenced by the statis- 

 tics of European countries ; bcotland, for instance, shews the 

 following figures : — 



Per 1000 Deaths. Pek 100,000 Living. 

 Males. Females. Both. Males. Females. Both. 



1868 . . . . 13.2 26.7 19.9 . . 30 55 43 



1889 . . . . 27.5 45.2 36.4 . . 51 81 67 



I purposely abstain from quoting too many figures. All these 



facts are far better illustrated by looking over the diagrams and 



tables than by a long and wearying description of their details. 



The third very interesting fact is the distribution of cancer 

 in the different Australian provinces. Taking the average for 

 the last nine years we have the very satisfactory result that 

 Queensland is at the bottom of the list ; only 26 out of 100,000 

 living die from cancer annually in this colony. The second best 

 is New South Wales with 32, then comes South Australia with 

 35, and New Zealand with 38, Western Australia shows 39, but 

 I do not attach much weight to the statistics of that colony, the 

 population being too small to allow any binding conclusions to 

 be drawn from it. Tasmania and Victoria head the list with a 

 mean average of 50 per 100,000 lining. These facts show that 

 climate has certainly a more important influence on the pre- 

 valence of cancer than was hitherto attributed to it. Victoria, 



