An inaugural address on some of the relations of meteorological phenomena to man : delivered before the Society of Medical Officers of Health, October, 1882 / by John W. Tripe.

  • Tripe, John William, 1821-1892.
Date:
[1882]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An inaugural address on some of the relations of meteorological phenomena to man : delivered before the Society of Medical Officers of Health, October, 1882 / by John W. Tripe. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    ON SOME OF THE RELATIONS OF METEOROLOGICAL PHENOMENA TO MAN. By John W. Tripe, M.D. Although this subject has received much attention for many centuries, especially from Hippocrates and numerous other eminent physicians since his time, yet it was impossible for these writers to arrive at reliable results until some legislative enactments had been made for the compulsory registration of deaths. Still, it must not be supposed that in this country a fair approximation to the truth could not have been arrived at long before the Registra- tion Act came into force, because the percentage of total deaths entered in the Parochial Registers appeared to have varied but little in different years. The numbers were, however, only ap- proximative ; indeed, as I mentioned in my last inaugural address, Mr. Rickman stated, as the result of careful inquiries, that about one-sixth of the total burials were not returned by the parish clerks. It would, therefore, lead to very erroneous conclusions, if we were to compare the deaths registered under the different orders and classes now, with those published during the last century, not only on account of the imperfection of the returns, but because of the improved means of diagnosis that we now possess. Even now, however, there is plenty of room for improvement, as many deaths are registered on the statements made by unqualified medical Practitioners, nurses, and the nearest relatives of the deceased who Were present at the death. Some stringent action should be taken to reduce the number of deaths thus registered, especially of young children. There are also other reasons for some allowance being niade, if strict accuracy be required, because the assigned causes