Page:Transactions of the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association, volume 4.djvu/270

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168
MEDICAL TOPOGRAPHY

or about one-fifteenth of the whole—a considerably smaller proportion than in the former case, probably to be accounted for by this parish being without any large villages, while St. Paul's, on account of its large fishing villages, is in a very crowded state both as regards houses and inhabitants. In St. Hilary, however, we find that the whole deaths from small-pox, took place in eight years out of the twenty-eight, a characteristic indicative at once of the epidemic nature and fatality of the disease.

Chicken-pox.—To judge from the tables, this should be a comparatively rare disease in the Landsend district: it is, however, to be recollected, that the malady is of an epidemic character, and that the period included in the tabular view is comparatively short. I have no reason to believe that its habitudes, both as to prevalence and individual character, are in any way remarkable. The only point of importance to be noticed in its history, is the fact of its being occasionally confounded with small-pox after vaccination. I have no reason to believe that it prevailed more among one class of persons than another: it was regarded by some practitioners as more prevalent in the summer season.

Scarlatina. Cynanche maligna.—The tables represent this disease as of comparatively infrequent occurrence at Penzance. During my stay there it certainly was so, as only a single case is recorded in the dispensary registers. It appears, however, by the same register, that in the years preceding and subsequent to my abode there, the disease was more prevalent. In other parts of the district there was