The causes of death among the assured of the Scottish Widows' Fund Life Assurance Society, from 1867 to 1873 inclusive / by J. Warburton Begbie.

  • Begbie James Warburton, 1826-1876.
Date:
1874
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The causes of death among the assured of the Scottish Widows' Fund Life Assurance Society, from 1867 to 1873 inclusive / by J. Warburton Begbie. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    throat before his acceptance. The mean age of these members at death was 43, which is certainly a more advanced age than that of the usual sufferers from Diphtheria. From the institution of the Society in 1815 to the year 1866 inclusive, there had only been one claim on account of Diphtheria. The recent experience of the “ Scottish Widows’ Fund ” illus- trates two important facts : first, that the disease is more prevalent than formerly; and second, that fatal Diphtheria, in the adult, can- not be regarded as uncommon. 4. Dysentery.—This disease accounts for seven deaths, 5 in males and 2 in females. Two of the sufferers were above 80 years; one was 65; two be- tween 50 and 60 ; one 45, and one 32. One death occurred during an epidemic prevalence of the disease at Limerick in 1870. One took place at Sydney, and one at Ontario. In one instance the dysentery was of chronic character and contracted in China; in another, disease of the liver had supervened on the affection of the bowels. 5. Erysipelas.—Fifteen claims there were on account of this disease, all in males. Of these, 2 occurred between 30 and 40; 1 between 40 and 50 ; 4 between 50 and 60; 6 between 60 and 70; and 2 between 70 and 80. One of the fifteen was insured at the age of 40, with ten years added to his age on account of a damaged heart from previous Rheumatic Fever; he died at 5 3, thirteen years after his acceptance, and seventeen short of his expectation. One case resulted from wound occasioned by a fall, and in another the Erysipelas supervened on an abscess. 6. Fever.—Under the head of Fever there rank sixty-nine deaths, of which number 67 occurred in males, and 2 in females. A scrutiny of those sixty-nine claims has resulted in the fol- lowing divisions:— a. Typhus Fever, 21 b. Typhoid Fever, . . . . . . . 31 c. Senile Fever, ....... 7