TABLE 33.-SHOWING NUMBER OF DEATHS FROM BRIGHT'S DISEASE IN NEW JERSEY, IN COUNTIES, EXCLUSIVE OF CITIES, AND IN CITIES OF OVER 5,000 INHABITANTS, FOR FIVE YEARS. Suicide. The deaths from suicide in New Jersey during the year 1904 numbered 330. In 1901 there were 265 deaths recorded from this cause; in 1902, 271, and in 1903, 314. TABLE 34. -DEATHS IN NEW JERSEY FROM SUICIDE, SHOWING MODE OF DEATH AND AGE AT DEATH, FOR THE YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 31, 1904. TABLE 35-SHOWING NUMBER OF DEATHS BY SUICIDE RECORDED IN NEW JERSEY, BY CITIES, AND BY COUNTIES, EXCLUSIVE OF CITIES, FOR THE YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 31, 1904. Notifiable Diseases.-The act approved March 31st, 1887 (paragraph 3 of section 12), authorizes local boards of health to make ordinances to prevent the spread of communicable diseases, and in many localities ordinances have been adopted requiring physicians to report certain diseases. The act approved March 22d, 1895, makes a uniform requirement, extending its provisions to every portion of the State and compelling physicians to report the following diseases: Cholera, yellow fever, typhus fever, leprosy, plague, trichinosis, small-pox, varioloid, enteric (or typhoid) fever, diphtheria, membranous croup, scarlet fever, malaria, tuberculosis (in any of its manifestations), trachoma, hydrophobia, glanders, anthrax and chicken-pox. The penalty for neglect or refusal to report to the local board of health any one of the above-named diseases is a fine of fifty dollars, and the moneys recovered in any suit instituted by a local board of health for the violation of this act are paid to the board for any uses for which it may legally expend money. If for personal or other reasons the local board is unwilling to prosecute offenders, the State board of health will begin actions for the penalty against guilty parties when evidence sufficient to secure a conviction is furnished. In some instances physicians have violated the law by failure to make reports, and afterward claimed that the diagnosis was uncertain and that the true nature of the disease was not recognized, but this defense cannot hold good for many hours in such affections as scarlet fever and diphtheria. If the faith-curers, Eddyites, vibrationists, osteopaths, &c., do not have the knowledge necessary to diagnose or treat infectious diseases, they should certainly pay the penalty for their ignorance. |