54 8 
THOMPSON YATES LABORATORIES REPORT 
the forest, and come to the city to die. Out of the total of 2,364 deaths in the first 
six months of 1900 (Joe. «V.), 1,042 are ascribed to infective diseases, including 
malaria, yellow fever, smallpox, etc., which are not separated. 
In judging these figures some comparison is desirable with other places. It is 
not fair to make a contrast between figures obtained in tropical places and those in 
temperate climes. Perhaps the fairest comparison may be gained by taking the 
statistics of British Guiana 1 as a place where the climatic conditions are not very 
dissimilar, and their geographical position not remote from one another. The tem- 
perature (British Guiana) is given as varying between the limits 88-3 and jo w 5 ; the 
humidity 77 to 83 in 1900. The death-rate given for 1899 is 29 per thousand, 
and in 1900 it fell to 26 ; the population estimated at 294,943. It may be remarked 
that yellow fever does not appear on the list, and has been effectually stamped out for 
some years ; also smallpox only accounts for one death ; tuberculosis forms the largest 
item with 294 deaths, and of acute diseases dysentery comes next with 85. For 
incidence malaria is highest, but the deaths accounted to it are not so large. 
It will be seen then that the mortality rate of Para does not compare favour- 
ably with that of British Guiana ; moreover, not only is there room for improvement 
but improvement should be an actual possibility. 
Turning to the child mortality in Para, of which there are some figures forth- 
coming, 2 between the ages of 0-5 years for the two years 1898-9, we find 824 and 
1,527 deaths respectively; more than half the deaths occurred during the dry season 
in each case. Out of the grand total of 2,997, infective diseases account for 749, 
i.ei, ' malaria' 545 and other diseases 204. In the light of the recent observations 
on the meningeal form of the fever in yellow fever in children 3 the figures under the 
heading ' Molestias do apparelho encephalo-rachidiano e orgaos dos sentidos,' which 
amount to 229 may be of interest ; Dr. Campos says that only three children 
died of yellow fever during the biennial period. Measles accounted for 123, the 
remainder being due to smallpox, tuberculosis, whooping cough, diphtheria, and 
dysentery. 
The percentage mortality of the total deaths of all ages is given at thirty-nine 
per cent, in 1898, and thirty-five per cent, in 1899. 4 
Merely as giving a suggestion of the relative numbers of deaths due to ascertained 
recognized specific causes, the following figures are quoted from Dr. Campos' summary 
of the deaths in January, 1901, 5 when for the first time some classification, under 
different causes, was introduced in the tables. 
1. British Guiana Medical Report for 1900 ; printed for Colonial Office. 
2. Para Medico, pp. 59 and 60. 
3. Azevedo Sodr£ and Couto : Nothnagel. Sp. Path. u. Therap. Bd. V Theil IV, Abth II, p. 160. 
4. Ibid, p. 34. 
5. Para Medico, February, 1901, p. 101. 
