+-----+------+-------+----------+ |Year.|Cases.|Deaths.|Percentage| | | | |Mortality.| +-----+------+-------+----------+ |1894 | 261 | 184 | 70.4 | |1895 | 219 | 108 | 49.3 | +-----+------+-------+----------+ 3. _Comparative Number of Laryngeal Cases which required Tracheotomy at all Hospitals, except the Fountain._ +-----+------+--------------+--------------+ |Year.|Cases.|Tracheotomies.|Percentage of | | | | |Tracheotomies.| +-----+------+--------------+--------------+ |1894 | 466 | 261 | 56.0 | |1895 | 468 | 219 | 46.8 | +-----+------+--------------+--------------+ "On these tables further comment seems unnecessary. _Summary_ "The improved results in the diphtheria cases treated during the year 1895, which are indicated by the foregoing statistics and clinical observations, are-- 1. A great reduction in the mortality of cases brought under treatment on the first and second day of illness. 2. The lowering of the combined general mortality to a point below that of any former year. 3. The still more remarkable reduction in the mortality of the laryngeal cases. 4. The uniform improvement in the results of tracheotomy at each separate hospital. 5. The beneficial effect produced on the clinical course of the disease. _Conclusions_ "A consideration of the foregoing statistical tables and clinical observations, covering a period of twelve months, and embracing a large number of cases, in our opinion sufficiently demonstrates the value of antitoxin in the treatment of diphtheria. "It must be clearly understood, however, that to obtain the largest measure of success with antitoxin it is essential that the patient be brought under its influence at a comparatively early date--if possible, not later than the second day of disease. From this time onwards, the chance of a successful issue will diminish in proportion to the length of time which has elapsed before the treatment is commenced. This, though doubtless true of other methods, is of still greater moment in the case of treatment by antitoxin. "Certain secondary effects not unfrequently arise as a direct result of the injection of antitoxin in the form in which it has at present to be administered, and even assuming that the incidence of the normal complications of diphtheria is greater than can be accounted for by the increased number of recoveries, we have no hesitation in expressing the opinion that these drawbacks are insignificant when taken in conjunction with the lessened fatality which has been associated with the use of this remedy.