APPENDIX A
Reading edition
We give herewith a table showing the absolute and relative mortality due to diphtheria in Paris from 1872 to 1905, out of a population of 2,500,000 inhabitants:—
Absolute.Per 100,000 Inhabitants.
1872113561
1873116462
1874100852
1875132868
1876157279
18772393117
1878199595
1879178383
1880204894
1881221199
18822244100
1883178179
1884192886
1885165574
1886151267
1887158570
1888172974
1889170672
1890166870
1891136156
1892140358
1893126652
1894100941
189543517
189644417
189729812
189825910
189933913
190029411
190173628
190270926
190339915
190426010
19052047
Let us divide this mortality due to diphtheria into three groups (in Paris per 100,000 inhabitants):—
A. Before the discovery of serotherapy, from 1872 to 1888.
B. During the period of experimentation with serotherapy, from 1889 to 1894.
C. After the generalisation of serotherapy, from 1895 to 1905.
We have then the following averages:—
Absolute.Per 100,000 Inhabitants.
Before serotherapy165780
Intermediary period140258
After serotherapy39815
And should these figures not seem sufficiently eloquent, let us set them forth in another form:—
Absolute Mortality.
Before thediscovery ofserotherapy,18881729
1styear ofserotherapy,18891706
2nd""18901668
3rd""18911361
4th""18921463
5th""18931266
6th""18941009
At this moment the practice of serotherapy, thanks to Roux, became general in Paris.
1st year, 1895—435. 2nd " 1896—444.
During the next six years there were still hesitations and uncertainties as to the best method to be employed.
The mortality during these six years, 1897-1902—439.
Then the practice was definitely established.
The mortality for the three years, 1903-1905—288.
These figures are so eloquent, so striking, so precise, that it is not possible to misunderstand them. They cannot be ignored; and when once they have been set forth, ignorance is no longer permissible, and it is for that reason we have here given them.
In Berlin and in Vienna, it is the same thing. From 1894 the mortality due to diphtheria has diminished to the extent of 150 per cent.