AMONG the writings and in the discussions upon vital statistics, one constantly encounters the expression " Deaths from preventable diseases." The uninitiated may properly inquire what are the " preventable" diseases, and what is the justification for so designating them.
If one examine the mortality returns for any or all of our larger centres of population, one notices that they may be classified, roughly speaking, into two approximately equal groups; the one comprising those from non-preventable causes, the other those from causes more or less controllable. Nor instance, in the annual report of the. Bureau of Health o.f this city for the year 1914 one finds the deaths in the former group bear the relation to those in the latter group, roughly, that io does to 8. In the first group are comprised deaths from those manifold degenerations arising within the living body; due in some instances to disturbances of physiological functions peculiar to the individual; in others to constitutional or tissue defects referable, to. hereditary taints; in others to the destructive influences of vicious habits in eating, drinking, or exercise; in others to the wearing out of the human machinery coincident with old age, and in others to the inability of a new and imperfect organization to meet the strain incidental to the beginning of normal life, as in infancy.
Throughout this group we find that disease and death result from causes operating upon the individual and having but little, if any, influence upon the health of the community at large. While this class is usually denominated the " non-preventable " diseases, theoretically, through attention to breeding, education, and personal habits, the influences of their underlying causes should be lessened and their effects postponed. * Presented at the stated meeting of the Institute held Wednesday, December I5, I915.