26o TlMEHRI. 



that there was no such thing as phthisis in the colony. 

 My experience in the hospital Georgetown has quite 

 convinced me that it is now one of the prevailing 

 diseases, and this opinion is further confirmed by my 

 work in the New Amsterdam Public Hospital, where I 

 have found no lack of phthisis. 



Here are some of the figures from the Hospital Regis- 

 ters of Georgetown : — 



In 1 886 there were 758 deaths, of these 206 or 25'8 0/0 were due to phthisis 

 „ 1887 „ 972 „ „ 279 or 28-50/0 „ 



„ 1888 „ 1000 „ „ 250 or 25" 0/0 „ „ 



And of the cases treated to a termination in 1886 

 there were 7,594 indoor patients, of these 836 suffered 

 from phthisis or one ninth of the total diseases, and in 

 1887 there were 9,879 patients with 845 cases of the 

 same disease. And in one year out of 418 autopsies, 

 consumption was found in a more or less advanced stage 

 in 120 cases or 28 per cent. 



Dr. Ferguson has written a very full paper on the 

 growth of phthisis in this colony, and going back to 

 1847 he found that in that year there were 8,296 ad- 

 missions into the Public Hospital, Georgetown, with 

 683 deaths and of these only 14 due to phthisis or a per 

 centage of 2*04. What a difference ? Then 2*04 per cent, 

 now 28*5. 



In the same paper he pointed out the influence of city 

 life — that is, over-crowding, that is impure air in its pro- 

 du6lion, and showed that of every 100 cases of phthisis, 

 62 were town inhabitants. 



The mortality of the world from consumption may be 

 taken at 3 per thousand and in one of the Registrar- 

 General's Reports 2 per thousand is given as the rate for 

 this colony, but this is much lower than it truly is, due 



