10 



not nearly twice as great — probably only about half as 

 much again. As regards the ages of the victims, no age 

 was exempt — the child, the adult, the old, all succumbed 

 to this parasite. Thus : — Under 10 years of age there were 

 36 deaths ; from 10 to 20, 57 do. ; from 20 to 30, 89 do. ; 

 from 30 to 40, 100 do. ; from 40 to 50, 109 do. ; from 50 to 60, 

 73 do. ; over 60 years of age, 32 do. ; ages not stated, 4 do. ; 

 total, 500 deaths. These numbers include the deaths in the 

 fourteen years, 1S68 to 1882. 1 have not the data as regards 

 age prior to 1868. From these figures it will be seen that the 

 number of deaths increases steadily with advancing age up to 

 50. Afterwards the numbers diminish. This is not because 

 people are less liable to hydatids after fifty, but because the 

 greater proportion of people die before reaching that age. 

 Now as regards the data supplied by the hospital records of 

 Victoria, I have received returns from the following hospitals : — 

 Alexandra, Alfred, Ballarat, Beechworth, Belfast, Castlemaine, 

 Clunes, Creswick, Daylesford, Dunolly, Geelong, Heathcote, 

 Horsham, Inglewood, Kilmore, Kyneton, Maldon, Mansfield, 

 Maryborough, Melbourne, Pleasant Creek, Portland, St. Arnaud, 

 Sale, Sandhurst, Swan Hill, Wangaratta, Warrnambool, AVoods 

 Point. I need not trouble you with the details of these returns, 

 but I shall pick out those facts only which are of general 

 interest. In some of these institutions no cases of this disease 

 were recorded in the books. This was the case at the Belfast, 

 Maldon, Mansfield, Swan Hill, and Warrnambool Hospitals. 

 In the remaining hospitals, however, no fewer than 1,001 

 cases had been treated. Of these, the result was unknown in 

 373. In 206 instances death was known to have resulted, so 

 that we can reckon the mortality of hydatid disease even under 

 the best available treatment as at least 20 per cent., and per- 

 sonally I am convinced that this is much below the real figure, 

 for many cases are discharged from hospitals, and leave the 

 care of their medical advisers, which are apparently cured, and 

 yet come back in a few months or years worse than ever. Now 

 taking the lowest estimate — i.e., 20 per cent. — as fatal, and 

 remembering that the Registrar- Greneral's report for 20 years 

 gave 584 deaths from this disease, it follows that in Victoria 

 there were about 3,000 cases of hydatids during the 20 years 

 1861 to 1882. I think that this estimate of preventible 

 disease is sufficiently startling, and not only justifies, but 

 urgently invites, inquiry. And yet one case of smallpox 

 would receive more attention than these 3,000 sufferers have 

 done — at any rate, at the hands of the official guardians of the 

 public health. As regards the proportion in which the two 

 sexes were attacked, some information may be given : — Sex 

 not stated, 171 cases ; males, 493 ; females, 337 ; total, 1,001. 



