TETANUS 277 



tetanus reported, as a complication of gunshot wounds, 

 was 505. This is about one case in every five hundred 

 cases of gunshot injury. The proportion has been 

 much greater in wars conducted by other armies in 

 tropical countries. The total number of deaths from 

 tetanus in the United States during the census year 

 1900 was 2259, of whom 1516 were males and 743 

 females. This includes the deaths from " trismus 

 neonatorum" tetanus of the new-born. Among the 

 poorer classes in southern localities, and especially 

 among the coloured population, tetanus not infre- 

 quently results in the new-born from infection 

 through the navel. In the registration area the high- 

 est mortality from tetanus occurred in the States of 

 Vermont and New Jersey. That the mortality re- 

 ported is chiefly among new-born infants is shown by 

 the fact that of the total number of deaths, 1 1 7. 7 

 per 100,000 were among children under one year 

 of age, while the mortality between the ages of five 

 to fourteen was only 3.7, and between fifteen and 

 forty-four only 1.7 per 100,000 of these ages. The 

 victims of the toy pistol are, for the most part, 

 included in the group between the ages of five 

 and fourteen. The deaths below the age of one 

 year, constituting a large share of the total num- 

 ber, may justly be classed as victims of dirt. The 

 number of deaths among the new-born was still 



