modern refinements of medical science, his peculiar views of matters spiritual and theological, but we cannot forget that spirit of good-fellowship, that genial camaraderie, that fine bonhomie, that was ever present with him, that made him say, "But ye whom social pleasure charms.

Whose hearts the tide of kindness warms,

Who hold your being on the terms,
Each aid the others:

Come to my bowl, come to my arms,

My friends-my brothers."

In a paper in memoriam of another member of this society some years back, Dr. Hakes, himself, used these words which we may be allowed to apply, also, to him: "The world is better that he lived. He contributed his full share to the happiness and well being of his fellow men. His example will remain an incentive for imitation, giving us our best hopes for eternal reward, making us strong in faith and courageous and fearless at last to go down to the dark waters dividing mortality from immortality, the transient life that is, from the life eternal, from the house which is temporal to 'an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.'"

GEO. W. GUTHRIE,
LEWIS H. TAYLOR,

S. M. WOLFE,

Committee.

REPORT OF CONTAGIOUS DISEASES AND
MORTUARY RECORD IN WILKES-
BARRE FOR 1904.

BY F. C. JOHNSON, M. D.

DEATHS IN WILKES-BARRE.

For the twelve months ending November 30, 1904, there were 945 deaths in Wilkes-Barre. This brought the mortality rate up to nearly 18, a figure which is greater than in any year since 1894. The number was 126 larger than in the preceding year, due mainly to the following increases: Accident, 26; consumption, 13; diphtheria, 13; heart disease, 21; croup, 7; and above all, pneumonia, which increased from 89 deaths in 1903 to 121 in 1904. Typhoid fever deaths (11) were somewhat below the average. The percentage of deaths from typhoid fever, as shown by the table, is unreliable, for while all the typhoid deaths are reported, many typhoid cases are never reported.

Cancer was less than for many years.

Consumption, in the preceding year, broke the record with 49 deaths, but 1904 exceeded even this and caused 62 deaths. Diphtheria had 316 cases, with 26 deaths. There were twice as many deaths from diphtheria as in the preceding year, and nearly twice as many cases.

Scarlet fever showed a great reduction in number of cases, and there were only eight deaths. There were but 88 cases of scarlet fever reported, whereas in the preceding five years there were from 200 to 400 cases annually.

In 10 years

Measles had 391 cases and only three deaths. there have been 1,601 cases of measles and only nine deaths. Previous to that the mortality was higher.

There were four cases of smallpox and one death.

In the years from 1890-1894, as given above, the contagious
disease cases were not reported, and only the deaths are given.

There were, in Wilkes-Barre, in 1904, two cases of small-
pox in January and two in February, with one death; also
four cases of cerebro spinal meningitis, with four deaths, and
two cases of chicken-pox.

The accompanying table gives the details by months.

222

21

21

2

14

70

4

15

7

16

5

21

23

9

30

II

II

II

*Other diseases, not included in the classification above, but included in the totals, are as
follows: Alcoholism 2, asthma 9, exhaustion 1, gangrene 3, measles 3, puerperal eclampsia I,
abscess 4, suicide 9, whooping cough 3, oedema of larynx 1, anthracosis 1, diabetes 4, neuras-
thenia 2, pleurisy 6, small-pox 1, anemia 7, inflammation of the bladder 3, rheumatism 3, atelc-
tasis 2, complication of diseases 8, erysipelas 2, intestinal indigestion 1, leucaemia 1, degenerated
uterine fibroid 1, tuberculosis of the bowels 2, obstruction of the bowels 4, spinal dropsy 1, mal-
nutrition 4, oedema of glottis 1, purpura hemorrhagica 1, murder I, arterial sclerosis 2, pelvic
cellulitis I, tonsilitis 1, pemphigus 1.