Registration of the causes of death : regulations, and a statistical nosology, comprising the causes of death, classified and alphabetically arranged, with notes and observations, for the use of those who return the causes of death under 6 & 7 Will. IV., c. 86.

  • Great Britain. General Register Office.
Date:
1843
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Registration of the causes of death : regulations, and a statistical nosology, comprising the causes of death, classified and alphabetically arranged, with notes and observations, for the use of those who return the causes of death under 6 & 7 Will. IV., c. 86. 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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    Examples of Certificates which may be left by the Medical Attendant in the hands of the Informant. Name .... James Leighton. Cause of Death . . Small Pox (natural) 11 duys. Name .... Thomas Evans. Cause of Death . . Measles, 10 days. Pneumonia, 6 days. (P■ Mori.) should be added where the cause of death has been verified by a post mortem examination. Name .... William Read. Cause of Death . . Consumption, 2 years. Pueumothora.v, 10 hours. Name Mary Black. Cause of Death . . Apoplexy (second attack), 1 hour. Blood in the ventricles of the brain. (P. Mort.) STATISTICAL NOSOLOGY. (As this list has been drawn up principally for the use of those who return the causes of death—many diseases are omitted; but the generic names of cutaneous diseases, and of others which are not fatal, have been introduced to indicate the place which they should occupy, if the nosology should be employed in classifying cases of sickness.) The names which it is recommended should be used in the registers are in the first column; the names opposite to them are synonymes, which may be used at the discretion of the medical informant, if considered more ap- propriate in the particular case. The utility, however, of adhering as much as possible to uniformity will be obvious, and has already been pointed out. (1.)—EPIDEMIC, ENDEMIC, AND CONTAGIOUS DISEASES. This class compi-ises diseases which have been observed to be epidemic, endemic, or contagious. The blood is probably, in the greater number of them, the primary seat of disease; and they may be considered, by hypothesis, the results of specific poisons, of organic origin, either derived from without, or generated within the body. (.Hippocrates, Sydenham, Sprengel, Ozanam, Fillerme, Williams, Liebig.) 1 a Small-Pox (natural). Variola, Without previous vaccination of any kind, is to be always understood. The petechial, confluent, semiconfluent, distinct, varicelloid varieties of Small- pox may be distinguished. Pneumonia is often a fatal complication of Small- pox and measles; such cases should be registered, “Small-pox; Pneumonia,” &c. (Dr. Gregory, Mr. Ceely.)* b Small-Pox (second attack), c Small-Pox,—+ after Cow-pox. This entry is never to be used unless the vaccination shall have left a cicatrix; nor even then, until 30 days have elapsed after vaccination. It often happens in * The writers whose names are cited must not be held responsible for the opinions expressed in the notes. They are referred to either because they have given summaries of the present state, or have extended the domain of our knowledge by original investigations. They are of course but a small number of the many eminent contributors to medical science who have adorned the present age ; but in their writings will be found the prevailing medical opinions, which will for some years guide the medical practitioners of this country in returning the causes of death. It has not been thought necessary to refer to the particular works ; but where monographs have not been published, articles by the writers on the particular subjects will be found in the Library of Medicine, the Cyclo- pedias of Medicine, Anatomy, and Surgery, the Transactions of Medical Societies, or in the Medical Journals. The various nosologies, Cooper and Copland's Dictionaries, the works on the Practice of Physic by Mason Good, Craigie, Bright, and Addison, and the Lectures of Dr. Watson might also be named. As theobject’lias been to refer to writings easily accessible to every medical practitioner who may have occnsion to return the causes of death, the names of few foreign or ancient writers have been cited. This is mentioned that the omission might not be misinterpreted. The writers a; the end of each class have generally treated of the diseases of the class.