[Report 1893] / Medical Officer of Health, Isles of Scilly.

  • Scilly, Isles of (England). Council.
Date:
1893
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1893] / Medical Officer of Health, Isles of Scilly. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    PUBLIC HEALTH REPORT FOR Ml % I have the honour to submit my First Annual Report for the year 1893. The Report does not deal with the whole of the year—except as regards vital statistics—for my appointment as Medical Officer of Health did not take place till March. With the Report are presented five different Tables, which will, to a great extent, explain themselves. As this is the first occasion in which any report has been presented dealing with the Health and Sanitary condition of the islands, I am unable to make any comparison with former years. TABLE I. The population at the census of 1881 was 2041, and in 1891 was 1870, showing a decrease of 171 for the decade. It is to be presumed that the decrease was due to emigration and not to the death-rate exceeding the birth-rate. The statistics submitted are calculated upon the basis of the population as ascertained at the last census. BIRTHS. The Births registered during the year numbered 47, of which 28 were males and 19 females, giving a rate of 25.10 per 1000, which is nearly 5 below the rate for England and Wales as a whole in 1892. Ao-ricultural communities as a rule show the lowest rates. O The tendency is for the birth-rate to fall throughout the county generally, and in this respect Scilly is not likely to differ from other places. There was no case of illegitimacy. DEATHS. The Deaths registered during the year numbered 32, of which 15 were males and 17 females. This is a reversal of the usual order of things, for taking the country as a whole there is generally an excess of males. The rate for- the year is 17.11 per 1000, and this is a little below the rate for-ccuntry districts generally. The rate is not, at first sight, so low as might be expected when we consider our natural and climatic advantages. Analysis of the causes of death will show at least one very remarkable reason for the rate not being lower than it is, and that is the very high proportion of deaths from old age and of elderly people. QUARTERS OF THE YEAR. In studying the death-rate according to the different quarters of the year somewhat